Fabienne Sallaberry

State of the art of performance evaluation methods for concentrating solar collectors

For the development and establishment of concentrating solar thermal collectors a reliable and comparable performance testing and evaluation is of great importance. To ensure a consistent performance testing in the area of low- temperature collectors a widely accepted and commonly used international testing standard (ISO 9806:2013) is already available. In contrast to this, the standard ISO 9806:2013 has not completely penetrated the testing sector of concentrating collectors yet. On that account a detailed literature review has been performed on published testing procedures and evaluation methodologies as well as existing testing standards. The review summarizes characteristics of the different steady-state, quasi-dynamic and fully dynamic testing methods and presents current advancements, assets and drawbacks as well as limitations of the evaluation procedures. Little research is published in the area of (quasi-) dynamic testing of large solar collectors and fields. As a complementary a survey has been ...

Standards for Components in Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Plants - Status of the Spanish Working Group

Today Spain is still the worldwide leader in the use of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology with more than 2300 MW installed solar thermal power rated in 2015, compared to the 4600 MW installed worldwide. In order to improve the quality of current plants and require the best quality for future plants, the subcommittee SC 117 “Thermoelectric Solar Energy Systems”, which is part of the committee AEN/CTN 206 for electricity production, works on different aspects of the plants since 2010. This paper gives an overview of the state of the publications in draft to qualify the performance and the durability of the main components of the solar field (receiver tubes, solar tracking systems, reflectors, heat transfer fluids, collectors and specific sensors). A summary of the main tests set for each component in the future Spanish standards is presented. The first complete standard drafts will be ready by the end of the current year 2015 and most are expected to be published within the following years.

Principles of CSP performance assessment

The performance of a concentrated solar power component of Systems describes ist capacity to accomplish ist design purpose in concentrating and(or converting solar irradiance to useful energy. Generally, this can be quantified by ist Efficiency relating the useful Output of the System or component to the nergy Input or effort. In Addition, for some Standard components, key performance indicators such as specific heat loss for parabolic trough Receivers and Focus Deviation for mirrors have been established in the past decade. The assessment of the performance of a component or System is necessarily based on the measurement of ist operational characteristics, typically involving the Evaluation of energy balances of the System itsefl and/or its heat Transfer fluid (HTF) under specific well-known operating conditions. The Information on prevailing or resulting conditions can be obtained using appropriate measurement Equipment. The key measurement challenges in concentrating solar power applications are presented by high temperature and pressure, concentrated solar Radiation, as well as Special HTF´s such as thermal oil or molten salts.

Towards standardization of in-site parabolic trough collector testing in solar thermal power plants

This paper presents a summary of the testing procedure and a validation of the methodology of parabolic trough collector in solar thermal power plants. The applied testing methodology is the one proposed within the Spanish standardization sub-committee AEN/CTN 206/SC117 working group WG2 related to the components for solar thermal power plants. This methodology is also proposed within the international committee IEC TC 117 (Standard draft IEC 62862-3-2 Ed. 1.0). This study is done at Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA) in Almeria within the European project STAGE-STE. This paper presents the results of the optical and thermal efficiency of a large-size parabolic trough collector. The obtained values are similar to the previous analysis on this collector by PSA. The results of the tracking system have a good accuracy compared to the acceptance angle of the concentrator.

Harmonization of standards for parabolic trough collector testing in solar thermal power plants

The technology of parabolic trough collectors (PTC) is used widely in concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants worldwide. However this type of large-size collectors cannot be officially tested by an accredited laboratory and certified by an accredited certification body so far, as there is no standard adapted to its particularity, and the current published standard for solar thermal collectors are not completely applicable to them. Recently some standardization committees have been working on this technology. This paper aims to give a summary of the standardized testing methodology of large-size PTC for CSP plants, giving the physical model chosen for modeling the thermal performance of the collector in the new revision of standard ISO 9806 and the points still to be improved in the standard draft IEC 62862-3-2. In this paper, a summary of the testing validation performed on one parabolic trough collector installed in one of the test facilities at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA) with this new model is also presented.The technology of parabolic trough collectors (PTC) is used widely in concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants worldwide. However this type of large-size collectors cannot be officially tested by an accredited laboratory and certified by an accredited certification body so far, as there is no standard adapted to its particularity, and the current published standard for solar thermal collectors are not completely applicable to them. Recently some standardization committees have been working on this technology. This paper aims to give a summary of the standardized testing methodology of large-size PTC for CSP plants, giving the physical model chosen for modeling the thermal performance of the collector in the new revision of standard ISO 9806 and the points still to be improved in the standard draft IEC 62862-3-2. In this paper, a summary of the testing validation performed on one parabolic trough collector installed in one of the test facilities at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA) with this new model is...

Towards standardized testing methodologies for optical properties of components in concentrating solar thermal power plants

Precise knowledge of the optical properties of the components used in the solar field of concentrating solar thermal power plants is primordial to ensure their optimum power production. Those properties are measured and evaluated by different techniques and equipment, in laboratory conditions and/or in the field. Standards for such measurements and international consensus for the appropriate techniques are in preparation. The reference materials used as a standard for the calibration of the equipment are under discussion. This paper summarizes current testing methodologies and guidelines for the characterization of optical properties of solar mirrors and absorbers.

Simplified analysis of solar-weighted specular reflectance for mirrors with high specularity

The most relevant parameter to properly characterize solar mirrors is the solar-weighted near-specular reflectance. As this parameter cannot be directly measured with off-the-shelf instruments, a simplified procedure to be applied for highly specular solar mirrors is proposed in this paper. The approach, based on two criteria, was experimentally employed to check a wide variety of solar reflector materials. Only those mirrors with known high specularity passed the criteria, indicating that the proposed method is suitable.

Analysis of the energy demand of the Chilean mining industry and its coverage with solar thermal technologies

Abstract The mining industry represents more than half of Chile’s foreign exchange earnings and its increasing expansion will demand a continuous development of its energy supplies. Mostly, all the mines in Chile are located in the desert regions, having a large surface with one of the highest solar radiations levels and clearest skies in the world. Covering the mining industry’s energy demand with solar energy is thus an obvious and promising approach. In this paper, the implementation of solar thermal heating is studied in every mining process and the solar thermal electricity generation for the entire mine demand is considered as well. The work concludes that the installation of flat plate collectors to heat water for mine processes, especially for electrowinning, is strongly recommended. Additionally, the installation of solar thermal power plants can satisfy the mining electricity demand.

Parabolic trough receiver heat loss and optical efficiency round robin 2015/2016

A round robin for parabolic trough receiver heat loss and optical efficiency in the laboratory was performed between five institutions using five receivers in 2015/2016. Heat loss testing was performed at three cartridge heater test benches and one Joule heating test bench in the temperature range between 100 °C and 550 °C. Optical efficiency testing was performed with two spectrometric test bench and one calorimetric test bench. Heat loss testing results showed standard deviations at the order of 6% to 12 % for most temperatures and receivers and a standard deviation of 17 % for one receiver at 100 °C. Optical efficiency is presented normalized for laboratories showing standard deviations of 0.3 % to 1.3 % depending on the receiver.

Comparative Analysis of Domestic Water Heating Thermosiphon Systems Tested According to the Standard ISO 9459-2

The Standard ISO 9459-2 is a standard for the characterization of thermal performance of domestic water heating systems without auxiliary heating. In this study, 18 domestic water heating thermosiphon systems have been tested according to this international standard. The objective of the paper is to carry out a comparative analysis of the results obtained in these systems as a function of their volume and type of heat exchanger (tubular and double jacket). A comparative analysis of systems performance will be carried out by calculating the performance without thermal loss (a1/A) and solar fraction fSOL in different reference locations for different volume/area ratios. Also, a comparative analysis of systems performance and solar fraction will be carried out at different locations between a tubular heat exchanger tank and a double jacket heat exchanger tank. The different values obtained will be compared for the storage tank’s heat loss coefficient (Us). It will determinate the useful energy (energy with temperature above 45oC) for the degree of mixing in the storage tank during a draw-off test.