The MinWaterCSP project partners address the challenge of significantly reducing water consumption at CSP plants, while maintaining a high efficiency of the solar plant. To reach these targets measurement devices to assess the cleanliness of the solar collector field are used.
One device for cleanliness control is the new pFlex portable reflectometer, developed at Fraunhofer ISE (Germany) together with the company PSE (Germany). The instrument is easy to operate and offers precise measurements as well as simple data storage and transfer. The reflectometer is operated via a user interface on a mobile phone, further simplified by optional operating buttons on the instrument itself. pFlex is used for manual assessment of soiling at parabolic trough fields, heliostats and linear Fresnel collectors in the MinWaterCSP project. The research team at Fraunhofer ISE works now together with the company ECILIMP at an enhanced and fully automated version to be integrated into the ECILIMP cleaning systems. Questions about the degree of soiling and the efficiency of the cleaning process of the mirrors can now be answered more quickly and precisely. The assessment of soiling in the solar field with our measurement device gives the possibility to adjust to the individual needs of clients and helps to save time and water resources of solar fields.
Measurement of soiling and cleanliness at parabolic trough solar mirror with pFlex mobile device
Author of this blog is: Fraunhofer ISE, Dipl.-Ing. Anna Heimsath
About PSE, the company which sells pFlex: http://www.pse.de/test-equipment/photovoltaic-modules/sensors/sensors/pflex-portable-handheld-reflectometer/
About Fraunhofer ISE:
Fraunhofer is Europe’s largest solar energy research institution. In the solar thermal field, Fraunhofer ISE is pursuing R&D on materials research and component development for both improved flat-plate and concentrating collectors since about 15 years, but also on process integration and systems.
