Novel concentrating PV/T & T solar collector and automated production methods

Purpose and goal

The main goal of the Eureka Eurostars project E10625 (Solar CPC PVT Production) was to develop both the design of a unique CPVT solar collector as well as the required production techniques in order to be competitive in the market with already established energy production methods such as fossil fuels or PV solar cells. What is a CPVT solar collector? It is a solar collector that produces electricity (PV) and heat (T) from the same area. Additionally, this collector concentrates the sunlight in order to reduce costs.

Expected results and effects

The two main result of this project are a novel CPVT solar collector that is ready for mass production and an automatized production line for this collector. The production line is subdivided into: 1) Collector box production line and 2) receiver production line. The receiver is the heart of the solar collector that absorbs the solar energy and converts it to heat and electricity for your house. The collector box serves both as a means to redirect the energy towards the receiver and as a protection to the receiver. A new thermal collector (heat only) was also designed using the same box.

Planned approach and implementation

The design of both the CPVT and the CT collector was heavily investigated. And battery of different collectors prototypes were designed, constructed and tested in order to achieve the best results not only in terms of heat and electrical output but also taking into consideration other critical aspects such as material costs, production process reliability and production times. And additional point in which the project invested heavily was the durability and certification conformity. The project was carried out over 3 years with the work being divided over 14 work packages.

External links

This link contains the website of Solarus where all project information and the project results can be seen.