Development and characterization of small scale Concentrated Solar Power collector for residential and industrial heat

Decarbonization of emission has been a focus of global and EU policies, with both residential and industrial sector having trouble to reach their goals, both in demand reduction through efficiency gains and increase in renewables share in their energy mix used. Together these two sectors account for two thirds of total energy demand, with heating accounting for 60% of residential needs and 74% of industrial needs, yet renewable direct heat sources account only for 2% and 0.1% share of those demands. Commercially available technologies are focused on low temperature heat production on the small scale with simple yet limited by maximum temperature and efficiency at high end temperatures, while big scale system are complex and necessitate of vast open field installation, which can be difficult to find in high density industrial areas. The objective is to develop and validate a small scale CSP system capable of supplying heat both at lower and higher temperatures, that could be competing with existing technologies while covering also industrial heat needs up to 300 °C. The m-PTC module is characterized by a small dimension (4.12m2), with four mirrors for a net total absorber area of 3, 008m2, small diameter absorber tubes, high rim angle (100°), short focal length (83.9mm), concentrating ratio of 40. The absorber tube is one ended, with both inlet and outlet on the same side, the module has its own tracking system, two motor for the movimentation of the mirrors, which rotate around the fixed absorber tube. Experimental tests were conducted using the Steady State method of ISO 9806:2017 norm to both validate the benchmark and evaluate the performance of the m-PTC module. A benchamrk test was built, with a rotating platform to add another tracking axis to the tested system(s). A python program to aid in the search and selection of valid datapoints was also developed and used. The benchmark was validated comparing tests results on a Evacuated Tube Collector system with its certification values. Tests on the m-PTC module assessed a peak optical efficiency above 72%, with efficiency above 40% for temperatures above 200 °C.