Monika Adsten

Optical Characterization Of Industrially Sputtered Nickel–Nickel Oxide Solar Selective Surface

Abstract Tandem absorbers are often used in the design of solar absorbers for photo thermal conversion. They consist of a thin coating, selectively absorbing in the wavelength range of the solar spectrum, on a metal substrate. The optical performance of a tandem absorber depends on the optical constants and thickness of the absorbing coating and also on the reflectivity of the underlying metal. A very high solar absorptance is achieved when the coating has a non-uniform composition in the sense that the refractive index is highest closest to the metal substrate and then gradually decreases towards the front surface. This type of composition suppresses coating interference and gives a low front surface reflection if the refractive index at the front surface is low. We report on optical analysis of a solar absorber with a graded index coating of sputtered nickel–nickel oxide deposited on aluminium. The optical constants have been determined from reflectance, transmittance and ellipsometry data by fitting the data to a two-layer model of the coating. The optical constants of the two layers can be regarded as effective optical constants for the lower and upper part of the graded index coating respectively. It is found that the effective refractive index of the top layer is somewhat lower than for the base layer. The extinction coefficient is higher in the lower part of the coating. Both effective refractive index and extinction coefficient of the base layer increase monotonically with increasing wavelength as for metallic materials.

The influence of climate and location on collector performance

The influence of annual climate variations on the performance of solar thermal collectors in the northern part of Europe has been investigated. The annual solar collector energy output has been calculated with the MINSUN simulation program using hourly, measured climatic data for the years 1983–98 for three cities situated in the south (Lund), central (Stockholm) and north (Lulea) of Sweden. A synthetic year created with the Meteonorm weather simulation program was also used in the simulations. Two solar thermal collectors were modelled: a flat plate solar collector and a tubular vacuum collector, both of commercial standard.