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Review of Different Reflectors materials used for Concentrated Solar Energy

Collectors

Conference Paper · May 2014

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National conference on emerging technology on renewable energy, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Bidar, Karnataka 12 to 13 may 2012

Review of Different Reflectors materials used for

Concentrated Solar Energy Collectors

Mr. H. B. Kulkarni1, Prof. N. N. Shinde2 ,Mr. S. P. Biradar3 ,Mr. V. P. Kulkarni4
1
M. Tech Scholar, Department Of Technology, Shivaji University Kolhapur
2
Professor, Department Of Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur
3
P.G.Student., M.G.M's College Of Engineering, Nanded
4
P.G. Student , J.N.E.C. Aurangabad
1
hbkulkarni.coeo@gmail.com
2
energyunishivaji@gmail.com
3
biradar_s@rediffmail.com
4
srujankala@gmail.com

Abstract:- Today’s World is in need of generating energy i.e. electricity at higher rate but at
the same time we have to face the challenges like climate change, depletion of fossil fuels
and ensure a sustainable future. Renewable energy technologies produce marketable energy
by converting natural phenomena into useful forms.
The solar energy option has been identified as one of the promising alternative energy
source. The solar energy can be used directly or indirectly for electricity, solar thermal and
power production. Concentrated solar energy collectors are capable of generating steam
which can be for power generation. The main challenge is to reduce cost of project because
one third of project cost is utilized for choosing good reflecting material and manufacturing.
so it is important to find different low cost reflector material that will reduce cost of project
and capable of reflecting maximum solar radiation that falls on it.

Keywords:- climate change, Renewable energy technologies, solar energy, low cost reflector
etc.

1. Introduction
The solar energy can be utilized directly (solar radiation) and indirectly(wind, falling
water and biomass) for producing energy. These resources have massive energy potential,
however, they are generally diffused and not fully accessible, most of them are intermittent,
and variable in nature. These characteristics give rise to difficult, but solvable, technical and
economical challenges. Nowadays, significant progress is made by improving the collection
and conversion efficiencies, lowering the initial and maintenance costs, and increasing the
reliability and applicability.
Parabolic trough solar technology is the most proven and lowest cost large-scale solar
power technology available today, primarily because of the nine large commercial-scale solar
power plants that are operating in the California Mojave Desert and referred to as Solar
Electric Generating Systems , range in size from 14–80 MW and represent 354 MW of
installed electric generating capacity.
The widespread application of concentrating solar power generation depends largely
on developing a durable, low-cost reflector. The concentrating solar power Program has the
goals for a solar reflector with a lifetime of at least 10 years under outdoor service conditions.
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National conference on emerging technology on renewable energy, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Bidar, Karnataka 12 to 13 may 2012

The cylindrical trough solar collectors made up of parabolic reflectors, the metal
support structure; the receiver tubes; and the tracking system that includes the drive, sensors,
and controls.
The solar field in a parabolic trough power plant is made up of hundreds, and
potentially thousands, of parabolic trough collector. All these components are in continuous
development, aiming at further cost reductions to enhance market opportunities.

2. Reflectors materials and development

The Luz LS-3 parabolic trough concentrator uses a glass mirror reflector supported by
the truss system that provides its structural integrity. The glass mirrors, manufactured by
Flabeg Solar International; formerly Pilkington Solar International Germany, are made from a
low-iron 4-mm float glass with a solar-weighted transmittance of 98%. The glass is heated on
accurate parabolic molds in special ovens to obtain the parabolic shape. The mirrors are
silvered on the back and then covered with several protective coatings.
Ceramic pads used for mounting the mirrors to the collector structure are attached
with a special adhesive. The high mirror quality allows more than 98.5% of the reflected rays
to be incident on the linear receiver. When new, the mirrors have a solar-weighted reflectance
of 93.5%. The operational experience with the mirrors has been very good. After more than
15 years of service, the mirrors can still be cleaned to their as-new reflectivity. With the latest
design, mirror failures have been infrequent. Still, failures have been experienced on the
windward side of the field where there is no wind protection.
In addition to presenting a safety hazard, mirror failures can cause damage to the
receiver tube and can actually cause other mirrors to break. FSI is working with the operator
of the SEGS VIII and IX plants to test a stronger and thicker reflector. Mirror for high wind
perimeter locations. The company is also developing new mounting hardware to help transfer
wind loads to the steel structure. New collector designs will also likely move the pad-
mounting locations for glass mirrors closer to the corners of the mirrors to further reduce
loads on the mirrors. [1]
Alternatives to glass mirror reflectors have been in service and under development for
more than 15 years. NREL has been working on polymeric reflectors since the 1980s.
Polymeric reflectors are attractive because of their light weight; they can easily curved and
low cost. However, until recently none of these materials has demonstrated cost,
performance, and lifetime characteristics required for commercial trough development. [2]
3M is developing a nonmetallic, thin-film reflector that uses a multilayer Radiant
Film technology. The technology employs alternating co-extruded polymer layers of differing
refractive indices to create a reflector without the need for a metal reflective layer. The
alternating polymer layers enable multiple Fresnel reflections at the interfaces of the
respective layers, which results in a very high overall reflection over the visible wavelength
bandwidth. This technology has the potential for very high reflectance 99%. Over more
broadband wavelength regions with no metal reflective layer that can corrode. Spectral
characteristics can be tailored to the particular application. Current samples under evaluation
have exhibited high reflectance in a narrow band but have had a problem with ultraviolet
durability. 3M plans to develop an improved solar reflector with improved UV screening
layers and a top layer hard coat to improve outdoor durability.[3]
ReflecTech and NREL are jointly developing a laminate reflector material that uses a
commercial silvered-polymer reflector base material with a UV-screening film laminated to it
to result in outdoor durability. The initial solar-weighted specular reflectance is 93%, and the
cost is projected to be $10– 15/m2, depending on volume. The reflective film, which
possesses excellent mechanical stability, is not subject to the tunneling problems that have
plagued other reflective film constructions.

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National conference on emerging technology on renewable energy, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Bidar, Karnataka 12 to 13 may 2012

NREL has completed water-immersion tests that have shown no signs of

delamination, tunneling, or degradation. Initial prototype accelerated-exposure test results
have also been promising, although additional work on material production is needed. The
material would also benefit from a hard coat for improved wash ability.[4]
Luz Industries Israel created a front surface mirror that consists of a polymeric
substrate with a metal or dielectric adhesion layer; a silver reflective layer; and a proprietary,
dense, protective top hard coat. The reflector has excellent initial reflectance. Durability
testing of the Luz prototype demonstrated outstanding durability with solar-weighted
reflectance 95% for more than five years of accelerated-exposure testing and 90% for more
than six years. The accelerated exposure testing subjects the prototype to at least three times
the normal exposure rate and to an elevated temperature as high as 60°C, making the test
equivalent to nearly 20 years of outdoor exposure. Although Solel Solar Systems LTD has
supplied new samples for evaluation, the company has not yet demonstrated the same
performance as seen on the initial Luz samples.
Commercial plastics do not have a surface finish sufficiently smooth to be used as
efficient reflectors, but they can be a good substrate for a reflector mirror. A metallic surface
finish (thin coat) is applied to a plastic substrate by chemical or vacuum deposition. Silver
and aluminum are the most efficient reflective materials. The plastic substrate may be in the
form of sheet or film. Plastic films offer the attractive option of making very thin and thus
lightweight mirrors. When front-surface mirrors are used, the change in transparency is not
critical but the problem of bending fatigue still exists. In actual and experimental
installations, plastic films are normally used with the aluminum or silver coating applied to
the backside, thus functioning as a second-surface mirror. The metalized plastic films that
have been used or tested for use in solar reflector applications are based on polyethylene
terephthalate(PET),PVF(polyvenylflouride),PMMA(polymethy1methacrylate),FEP(fluorinat
ed ethylene-propylene) and cellulose acetate buyrate(CAB) polymer.
Some data have been reported on initial total reflectivity on these metalized films, but
no results are available on reflectivity as a function of time for extended periods under
service conditions. Neither is there any information on long-term weathering of these films
when used in mirrors of solar reflectors. In this application, aging is greatly accelerated
because the sunlight passes through the plastic twice.
A number of collaborative cost-shared R&D efforts have been initiated with industrial
partners. These include a directly deposited reflective surface, a metal polymer multilayer
stack construction, an enhanced version of ECP-305, a metallized fluoropolymer reflector,
and an all-polymeric solar reflector material.
Acrosolar, This company uses and has a large supply of the 3M SA-85 reflective
material that the company uses on solar concentrators. (Solar Laser Mirror) They have the
material in 48-inch wide rolls. The material has an adhesive backing. Cost of the material
from Acrosolar is $2 per square foot. Since the material is 3M SA-85 and 3M has informed
FSEC that they are no longer being producing the material, there is no use considering it.
Alanod Aluminum, This is a German company that manufactures a variety of
aluminum grades. It does market one product specifically for solar applications. This material
reflects super intensive spectral areas. The materials curve of the spectral reflectance follows
the spectrum of the sun and it guarantees reduced diffusion together with high reflection
values. Alanod states that their tests have proved the weather durability of the additional
lacquer used to provide external protection in demanding conditions. They also state that the
lacquer does not reduce the optical properties of the material.

35
National conference on emerging technology on renewable energy, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Bidar, Karnataka 12 to 13 may 2012

Clear Dome Solar – Solar Flex material, Triple-laminated, tear-resistant metallic

fabric. Clear Dome states that this product is an offshoot of NASA research. Manufacturer
states that in comparison heat tests, their reflective material continuously beat any other
material such as aluminum foil, glass mirrors, Mylar, etc. by 18-20% in heat generation. This
is stated as being due to the excellent IR reflection properties that the other surfaces do not
seem to reflect as well. The manufacturer also states that since their material reflects most of
the IR, and because it has a metallic surface and not a plastic surface, there is little or no
effect from IR exposure. In regards to degradation, the manufacturer has had samples
outdoors for the past year in all types of weather, and except for a very slight loss in visible
reflection, there have been no changes in the products heating capabilities.
Heatshield (R+Heatshield) This material is manufactured for use as radiant barrier. It
contains 99% pure aluminum on both sides. Also contains a layer of polyethylene film for
puncture resistance as well as polyolefin scrim for tear resistance. The material is available in
solid or perforated structure. The material has the following specifications: 97% reflectivity,
3% emissivity.
Mirroflex, Mirroflex is a composition of rigid high impact plastics, vacuum metalized
and bonded together to create highly reflective, unbreakable mirror-like sheets. Mirroflex is a
Reflective, impact resistant plastic with unusual surface treatments including silver, gold,
brass, brushed metallics, wood grains and granites. This material is very easy to fabricate.
Sol-Gel coated silver/aluminum, these materials, fabricated in the CIEMAT labs in
Madrid consist of different kinds of substrate materials (glass, aluminum), a reflective film
(aluminum, silver) and an oxidation protective layer processed via the sol-gel route.

3. Summary
To make a number of solar concentrator technologies economically viable, a clear
need exists for inexpensive, optically durable reflector materials. Such mirrors must meet
fairly severe performance and lifetime criteria while maintaining low cost. A wide range of
candidate advanced solar reflector materials have been identified and are being tested to
achieve the goals.

4. Conclusion
In this paper review has been made to identify the low-cost, high-performance,
reflector material capable of extended service lifetime in an outdoor environment.

5. References

[1] Hank Price, Eckhard Lupfert, David Kearney, Eduardo Zarza, Gilbert Cohen,
Randy Gee, Rod Mahoney 2002, ‘Advances in parabolic Trough Solar Power
Technology’ Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 124/ 109.

[2] C. E. Kennedy, K. Terwilliger, 2005, ‘Optical Durability of Candidate Solar

Reflectors’, Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 127/ 263.

[3] Michael DiGrazia, Gary Jorgensen, 2010, ‘Refletech mirror film designFlexibility
and durability in reflecting solar application’, SOLAR 2010Conference Proceedings,
American Solar Energy Society.

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 National conference on emerging technology on renewable energy, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Bidar, Karnataka 12 to 13 may 2012

[4]Carl M. Lampert, ‘Innovative solar optical materials’, Lawrence Berkeley Lab,

University of California, Optical Engineering 23(1),092-097(January/February
1984).

[5]Lucas Alves and Norman Boling, ‘High-Efficiency Solar Coatings.’ Solar Novus
Today, www.solarnovus.com.

[6] Gary Jorgensen, ’Reflective Coatings for Solar Applications’, Prepared for the
Society of Vacuum Coaters, 36th Annual Technical Conference, April 27-29, 1993.

[7] A. Blaga, ‘USE OF PLASTICS IN SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS’, SOLAR

ENERGY Vol. 21, NO. 4, 1978, pp. 331-338 , Pergamum Press, Oxford, New York,
Toronto, Frankfurt, Paris.

[8] John Harrison, ‘Investigation of Reflective Materials for the Solar Cooker’, Florida
Solar Energy Center,24 December 2001.

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