PSA SF60 solar furnace renewed

Abstract

The solar furnace of the Plataforma Solar de Almería, PSA SF60 from now on, has been improved in recent years to become a better, multipurpose installation, ready to work modularly in research testing, ranging from the surface treatment of materials with different vacuum chambers to the generation of solar heat for high temperature processes, or hydrogen production, going through the accelerated aging of materials, or testing and characterization of concentration PV cells. After more than 20 years in operation, some of its main components suffered mechanical wear, and others became obsolete, as the flat facets of the heliostat, which were very affected by corrosion. All these factors made us change those equipment and systems that hindered the operation of the solar furnace and did not allow us to carry out the test plans with guarantee, as the test table and the attenuator drive and their control, or the facets of the heliostat, that were entirely changed. Another improvement has been the installation of a new rail system in the test area to facilitate the interchangeability of receivers and equipment used in the tests. Finally, after all these changes, the new flux distribution in focus was measured on both, the vertical and the horizontal plane and is presented in this report.