R&D: COMPETENCES

EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS FOR SOLAR RADIATION CONCENTRATION. OTHER R&D LINES RELATED WITH MATERIALS

• Simulation and analysis of concentrating solar technologies by Computational Fluid Dynamics
• High precision geometrical characterization of reflecting surfaces and supporting structures
• Solar Furnace(s) of 5, 40 and 60 kW from material treatments with concentrated solar energy under air and controlled atmosphere conditions. i.e, nitriding, sintering, annealing. Peak flux from 3000 to 6000 kW/m2 and focus diameter up to 26 cm.
• Laboratory for advanced Materials analysis and characterization techniques.
• Laboratory for porous materials characterization applied to volumetric receivers for high solar concentration and sensible heat storage systems
• Test bed for thermal cycling and accelerated of materials and receiver prototypes under concentrated solar radiation
• Optical Advanced Coating Technology lab (OCT Lab)
• Laboratory for characterizing optical properties of solar reflectors
• Laboratory for testing solar reflectors to assess their durability and resistance against all kind of weathering conditions (OPAC Lab)
• Optical and Thermal Qualification of Linear Solar Receivers lab.
• Microscopy lab including clear field, phase contrast, and FISH techniques and scanning electron microscope (SME) with low-high vacuum and ray-X analyser (EDX).