Experience from reliability field trails

Abstract

SolFocus has been conducting field trials of the SF1100 CPV systems for over three years and has a large installed base at commercial sites in operation for two years. Detailed data gathered from the field trials is used as a basis to predict long-term performance of the commercial population. This paper details the experience gained through running these long term field trials. Specifically, a couple of receiver related failure mechanisms were encountered through these field trials. Failure analysis methods are explored along with the correlation of these field failures to accelerated test methods. A review of manufacturing processes and a survey of commercial populations were conducted to confirm that the exposure of commercial population to these failures was very limited and associated with early process development issues. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.