Version 1
: Received: 1 July 2024 / Approved: 1 July 2024 / Online: 2 July 2024 (02:57:49 CEST)
How to cite:
Castaldo, A.; Gambale, E.; Vitiello, G.; Cara, G. Self-Cleaning Solar Mirrors Coatings: From the Laboratory Scale to Prototype Field Tests. Preprints2024, 2024070152. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0152.v1
Castaldo, A.; Gambale, E.; Vitiello, G.; Cara, G. Self-Cleaning Solar Mirrors Coatings: From the Laboratory Scale to Prototype Field Tests. Preprints 2024, 2024070152. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0152.v1
Castaldo, A.; Gambale, E.; Vitiello, G.; Cara, G. Self-Cleaning Solar Mirrors Coatings: From the Laboratory Scale to Prototype Field Tests. Preprints2024, 2024070152. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0152.v1
APA Style
Castaldo, A., Gambale, E., Vitiello, G., & Cara, G. (2024). Self-Cleaning Solar Mirrors Coatings: From the Laboratory Scale to Prototype Field Tests. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0152.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Castaldo, A., Giuseppe Vitiello and Giuseppe Cara. 2024 "Self-Cleaning Solar Mirrors Coatings: From the Laboratory Scale to Prototype Field Tests" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0152.v1
Abstract
A low cost, scalable and robust process has been proposed as innovative method for coating solar mirrors with a self-cleaning, transparent in the full solar range and versatile material based on auxetic aluminium nitrides, previously obtained on the laboratory scale. This work presents the scaling-up of fabrication process from laboratory to prototypal scale and pre-liminary results of outdoor self-cleaning solar mirror prototypes testing in the demonstrative CSP plant ENEASHIP located in Casaccia (Rome) ENEA research centre.
Prototypes 50x40cm have shown stability in external conditions: no degradation occurs during the test campaign. Their washing restores the initial reflectance affected by soiling and the self-cleaning performance allows the utilization of a reduced quantity of water for cleaning operations with respect to uncoated glass of back surface mirrors. A similar self-cleaning AlN coating could be utilized on other solar components affected by soiling, such as glass envelopes of heat collecting elements, PV panels and everywhere are required self-cleaning performance combined to optical ones.
Keywords
solar mirrors; self-cleaning; coatings; sputtering; AlN; prototype; test on field
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Materials Science and Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
