A MOBILE PV FLUXMETER FOR THE OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PARABOLIC TROUGH CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER PLANTS

摘要

In this paper, we present the project of a mobile PV fluxmeter for obtaining the map of the flux density absorbed by the thermal receiver of a parabolic trough solar concentrator. The fluxmeter is shaped as a collar to be clamped around the glass tube protecting the cylindrical receiver, and is translated along the tube through a helical motion ensured by internal motors. The fluxmeter is equipped with sandwiches of calibrated concentration PV cells, coupled back to back in order to measure, during the helical motion, the flux entering and exiting the focal region of the solar collector, which, by difference, give the effective (net) flux absorbed by the thermal receiver. The flux density (in W/cm~2) is derived by measurements of the photocurrent and temperature on all the pairs of cells, recorded in an internal datalogger or directly transmitted to a remote central unit.