A novel low-cost trough concentrator based on the same parabolic mirror unit rotating array is proposed. The optical analysis model of the concentrator is established by ray tracing method, and the influence of key parameters such as mirror focal length (f), mirror width, position of plane receiver, radius of rotating array (R₁) and number of rotating arraies (N) on its concentrating performance is studied in detail, which provides an important basis for the design and application of this concentrator. The results show that the novel trough concentrator can concentrate solar energy well, and it is different from the traditional parabolic trough concentrator, which concentrates parallel light at a certain point, but concentrates light “dispersedly”, and it has the potential to realize uniform focusing energy flux distribution on the plane receiver. The reasonable receiving position of the focusing spot will change with the change of radius of the rotating array. Generally, it is appropriate for the receiver to be located at half of the radius of the rotating array, but to obtain the minimum focusing spot, it needs to be moved down by 150--200 mm. The width of focusing spot increases exponentially with the mirror number, especially when the mirror width is large and the mirror rotating array radius is small. The larger the radius of rotating array or the smaller the mirror width is, the more concentrated the focusing energy flux distribution is and the larger the peak concentrator ratio is (50 in the calculated example). In this case, the focusing energy flux basically shows the characteristic of Gaussian distribution. In addition, the installation height of the receiver can be reduced and the energy flux uniformity can be improved by using a smaller radius of rotating array. In an calculated example, when f=8000 mm, R₁=4000 mm, N=5 and the receiver is located at 1830 mm, the energy distribution of focusing spot is very uniform and the concentration ratio in most areas is stable at 7.3, the concentrator is very suitable for concentrated photovoltaic/photothermal applications.