This application is a U.S. National Stage of PCT International Application No. PCT/ES2011/00234, filed on Jul. 20, 2011, entitled “Portable Reflectometer And Method For Characterising The Mirrors Of Solar Thermal Power Plants.”
The present invention falls within the technology of optical measuring equipment or instruments.
More specifically, it relates to portable equipment for spectral characterization and in the field of coefficients of reflection of flat mirrors or with a certain degree of curvature, whether these are heliostat mirrors, Stirling, Fresnel . . . etc., all of these used in collectors for obtaining solar thermal energy. This equipment includes all the components needed to take this measurement, including data processing and sending them to a computer for storage.
Within renewable energy, the collection of solar thermal technology can be found, which is of a technologically and economically importance in the domestic and industrial sector. Solar thermal energy produces electricity with a conventional thermoelectric cycle that requires heating a fluid at high temperature. These systems require the maximization of the concentration of solar energy at the point or points of absorption thereof, by using mirrors that can be completely flat, with a certain degree of spherical curvature, parabolic or cylinder-parabolic, depending on the technology of the solar thermal power plants.
Consequently, the value of the coefficient of reflectivity of the mirrors installed in these systems plays an important role in the performance of power plants that generate solar thermal energy. Furthermore, knowledge of these reflectivity values allows, together with information on environmental conditions of the area and other technical data of the plants, to forecast the power that will be generated in the near future in order for firms to properly manage energy resources.
For the operation and maintenance of electric energy production facilities, due to the large number of mirrors installed, it is convenient to have equipment that allows the characterization of reflectivity of each mirror quickly, conveniently and easily. The equipment that carries out a measurement of this type is called a reflectometer.
Given the optical characteristics of the solar energy absorbing elements which are included in these plants (maximum energy absorption and minimum energy losses, which determine dependencies of the optical parameters with the wavelength), the equipment must provide measurements of the mirrors according to the wavelength.
Similarly, the equipment must provide precise measurement of reflection value extremes close to the unit, generally in unfavorable environmental conditions, since the ambient light intensity will usually be high and even exceed in some cases, the signal to be measured itself. In addition, the requirement of high precision of the measurements is essential in solar thermal technology to maintain the efficiency in plants that produce electricity.
On the other hand, the reflection in the mirrors can be of two characters; diffuse and specular. Diffuse reflection is omnidirectional, unlike specular reflection in which the beam is reflected at a reflection angle equal to the angle of incidence. Due to the dirt that is deposited on the surface of the mirrors of the plant, the reflection of sunlight will have diffuse and specular components, specular reflection being useful only from the viewpoint of power generation, since it is the only one that will concentrate on the absorber element. Therefore, the equipment should minimize the contribution of diffuse reflection on the measurement of the reflection coefficient of the mirrors.
Finally, the equipment must be able to correctly measure the set of types of mirrors commonly used in the power plants. Specifically, it must be able to correctly measure flat mirrors, mirrors with a certain degree of spherical curvature, parabolic and cylinder-parabolic mirrors of different thicknesses without equipment adjustments.
A conventional reflectometer uses a broad spectrum light source and a variable filtering element that allows for sequentially select different wavelengths, such as a movable diffraction grating followed by a narrow slit. This option allows for varying the wavelength in a virtually continuous way, but in turn, results in a more complex and delicate system, with a low measurement dynamic range as the power of the input light that is achieved is very low. Furthermore, conventional equipment does not minimize the contribution of diffuse reflection, and in fact, in some cases it is of interest to collect all the scattered light and integrating spheres in detection are implemented.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,254 describes a spectrophotometer device that can work in transmission measurement mode and reflection measurement mode. It uses a source of white light, halogen or Xe, optical fibers to carry the illumination light beam from the sample onto the sample surface, and a spectral analysis based on diffraction grating and a detector line.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,804 describes double beam reflectometer equipment with switching mirror included in each measurement, the correction with the standard measurement, and integrating sphere to include in the measurement of scattered light reflection. The system uses white light, the monochromator for wavelength selection, illumination with collimated beams and integrating sphere in the detection which means that all the scattered light is collected and measured in the detection.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,329 describes spectrophotometer equipment which uses a broad spectrum source, in this case ultraviolet, and various filters in fixed positions to perform a spectral measurement on a number of discrete points.
There is also a background of spectrophotometers in which a collection source of light sources of different wavelengths is used. In the patent US 2008/0144004 multiple light emitting diodes (LED) are used simultaneously to perform a transmission measurement for the detection of various analytes in blood. However, one true spectral measurement is not performed, but rather several simultaneous measurements at a few different wavelengths. Furthermore, there is no protection against ambient light nor is it possible to take measurements of reflection or reference.
None of the above equipment or other similar equipment meet the requirements necessary for measurement in the field of mirrors for solar collectors, either by range, sensitivity and/or mechanical configuration.
The present invention takes into account the specific characteristics of the problem mentioned above, to obtain portable, robust, and easy to use equipment, that takes measurements quickly, with an adequate sensitive and dynamic range, with sufficient tolerance in curvature and thickness of the mirror to be measured and that minimizes the contribution of the diffuse reflection in the measurement.
The equipment takes the measurement of the coefficient of specular reflection of mirrors at different wavelengths, these determined by light emitting diodes LED. The mirrors object of characterization may be flat or curved, and may be first or second side mirrors with different thicknesses.
Each wavelength constitutes a reflectance measurement optical channel in the equipment. For each reflectance measurement optical channel, the device performs two measurements, a reference measurement on a percentage of the light, emitted by the LED and a direct measurement of the light specularly reflected by the mirror. The equipment performs simultaneous measurement of reference and direct in each measurement optical channel to adequately correct the variations in the power of the LED emission of said channel.
The number of optical channels can be variable, with at least one and covering the desired spectral range with commercial LEDs in the ultraviolet range to near infrared. With the usual requirements for spectral characterization of a facility of solar thermal energy production, it may be sufficient to have about five measurement wavelengths.
For each optical channel, the angle of incidence of the light beam from the LED and the collection angle of the light beam reflected by the mirror is the same, to ensure measurement of specular reflection. The size of the illuminated area on the mirror determines the amount of scattered light that may be introduced on the reflectance measurement. To minimize this amount of undesired scattered light, the illuminated area on the mirror should be as small as possible. For this, the numerical output aperture of the illumination beam from the LED is limited, by a diaphragm with a certain diameter and length, placed at the output of the LED and oriented on the optical axis of the system to ensure the angle of incidence of the light beam required on the mirror.
The beam reflected by the mirror in specular reflection is collected by a lens which focuses the beam onto a detector for the direct measurement of the specularly reflected light by the mirror. This lens and detector system is oriented on the optical axis of the system to ensure the collection angle of the light beam in specular reflection. The size of the lens relative to the size of the beam at this point determines the tolerance of the system against the curvature of the mirror and against the position of the mirror surface with respect to the measuring equipment determined by the thickness of the glass that protects the mirror face. If the size of the lens is not larger than the size of the beam at that point, the conditions of curvature of the mirror or of the thickness of the mirror for the correct measurement, would be unique and variations thereof would mean that not all of the light beam specularly reflected by the mirror would be collected by the lens and reached the detector, leading to an error of reflectance measurement. In order to have sufficient tolerance in curvature and thicknesses of the mirrors typical in a solar energy production facility, a size of lens that is twice the size of the beam at that point may be sufficient.
The combination of the optical parameters of the numerical aperture of the illumination beam, lens size and focal length of the lens, determines the relative positions of the set of LED, mirror, lens and detector and hence the size of the equipment. In order to achieve manageable portable equipment, it is desirable that it has lenses with a focal maximum of 15 mm and maximum diameter of half an inch.
To obtain a measurement with high sensitivity, that allows accurately resolving values of the reflection coefficients very close to unit, it is necessary for the acquisition system to have a relation signal to noise ratio large enough. Since the optical signal is primarily from the environmental sunlight, that is, it is a high intensity signal, it is essential to perform some type of treatment to said signal that allows for the signal to noise ratio to be high. It is most appropriate in this case that the signal processing by implementing an extraction algorithm such as synchronous detection or lock-in. To perform a treatment of this type, it is necessary that the signal measurement can be easily distinguished from background noise, which is usually achieved by applying some type of modulation thereof.
Another essential feature in equipment of this type is the possibility of treatment and export of data in a convenient and flexible way, that they can be stored in the manner deemed most appropriate. This can be solved through wireless communication with a standard network protocol, by means of conventional cable connection type via USB port or also by using conventional computer memory sticks.
The general scheme of the measuring equipment is as follows:
One of the advantages and advancements provided by the invention is the fact that the system is capable of performing measurements of reflectance of the mirrors with ambient light and in the field, without special darkness or protection conditions.
Another of the advantages and advancements provided by the invention is the fact that the system is able to characterize mirrors of different curvatures and different thicknesses with a high tolerance in these parameters without needing to make any adjustments in the equipment.
Another very important advancement is to minimize the contribution of reflected scattered light in the measurement, a point of great interest in measurements in plants where the dirt on the mirrors is relevant.
In order to aid a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, attached to this specification is a series of figures where, in a purely indicative and not limiting manner, the following has been represented:
With regard to the references used in the figures:
In order to achieve a better understanding of the invention, the following described a series of preferred embodiments of the claimed invention.
It proposes a preferred embodiment based on an optical system with the configuration shown in
The mirrors (1) for solar collectors are commonly second face mirrors, in such a way that on the mirror surface, there is a glass with a thickness of between approximately 3 mm and 5 mm. These mirrors may be flat, spherically curved in the case of power plants for solar concentration at a point, or cylinder-parabolic, as in the case of solar concentration on core tubes. The mirror must have a very high reflection coefficient in the solar spectrum.
The reflection measurement is obtained from measurements performed by the reflection detector (3) after the beam generated by the LED emitter (2) passes through the outer glass (1″), is reflected on the mirror surface specularly (1′) and passes through the outer glass (1″) again.
The LED (light emitting diode) (2) is oriented on the optical axis (7) of the system with a defined angle of incidence on the mirror (1), so that it coincides with the direction of the maximum emission of the LED with the orientation of the mirrored surface. In this preferred embodiment the angle of incidence is 15°. This LED output beam in the direction of the mirror is limited in numerical aperture by a diaphragm (5) to ensure the beam size on the mirror surface. Furthermore, the system obtains a reference signal from the measurement of part of the light emitted by the LED in a different direction by means of the detector (4).
The specular reflection of the beam on the mirror is collected by the lens (6) of double the size of the beam size at this point. This lens (6) is oriented according to the optical axis of the system, and focuses the light beam on the direct light measuring detector (3).
In this first preferred embodiment the arrangement of the reflectance optical channels for reflectance measurement is in a line. The emitters (2) and direct light detectors (3) are placed on the upper face of the piece (8). On the underside, the lenses (6) and diaphragms (5) are placed which, in this embodiment, are holes made on the same piece that connects to the LED position. The rubber O-rings (10) placed along the lower profile of the support pieces (9) ensure the correct support of the equipment on the mirror without damaging it. The reference detectors (4) are placed on the LED emitters (2) for measuring the light beam emitted by them in that direction, and are supported on the same printed circuit board (11) containing the electronics of the equipment.
In the preferred embodiment 5 LED's have been chosen at wavelengths of 435, 525, 650, 780, 949 that cover the spectral region of interest plus an LED that emits white light for a faster integrated measurement of the visible spectrum.
The photodetectors (3, 4) are followed by two amplification stages (19) whose gain depends on the value of the resistances they have. One of these resistances may be a digital potentiometer whose value can be controlled via software, allowing for the adjustment of the gain of each channel at any time using the digital outputs (20) of the analog-to-digital conversion system (17).
The frequency filtering is carried out by synchronous detection (lock-in) in the signal detection and processing system (12). The synchronous detection system involves amplification of the signal exclusively to the modulation frequency, whose frequency is obtained from an electrical reference signal. The synchronous detection can be analog or digital.
In the case of synchronous analog detection, the signals detected in the photodetectors (3,4) are processed in a lock-in amplifying analog circuit, whose output (a continuous signal) is directed to the analog-to-digital converter (17). The analog-to-digital conversion is performed with a data acquisition board DAQ which also responsible for the control via digital outputs (20) of the power supply of the boards of the emitters (2) and detectors (3, 4), as well as of the selection of the optical channel to be measured at each time.
In the case of synchronous digital detection, the first step is the digitization of the modulation signals (21) and those from the photodetectors (3, 4) by means of the DAQ for subsequent introduction into a digital processing system of the signal, such as a DSP (digital signal processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), a microcontroller capable of digital signal processing, or a computer that performs synchronous detection algorithm.
The detection and signal processing system (12) communicates with the data processing and equipment control system (14) which can be a conventional external computer.
Another possibility is to replace the control computer by a system built into the actual equipment, such as a microcontroller, which can also be used to replace the analog-to-digital converter (17). In the case of performing the processing in digital form, the same element used to perform the synchronous processing (FPGA, DSP, microcontroller capable of digital signal processing) can replace both the DAQ and the control computer (14). In the latter case, the processor element can also replace the local oscillator used in the modulation generator (18), which eliminates the need to acquire the modulation signal (21), as it is generated by the same processing system.
A program installed on the data processing equipment control system, allows for the use of commands (24) which programmed into the signal detection and processing system (12) to perform all the necessary functions in the measurement process, including the measurement channel selection for the corresponding LED modulation and reading the data (25) obtained for further processing and storage. It also enables the storage of relevant data in the storage system (15) and management of the data and commands with the user interface system (23). A specific example of measurement corresponding to a flat mirror is shown in
The equipment operation method comprises the following steps for obtaining the reflection and transmission coefficients of the tubes:
A second preferred embodiment is proposed, which is identical to the first preferred embodiment except for the arrangement of the optical channels which is in a circle instead of being in line as shown in
A third preferred embodiment is proposed, which is identical to the first preferred embodiment except that the lens is removed in each measurement channel and in its place, the detector is directly placed as shown in
A fourth preferred embodiment is proposed, which is identical to the second preferred embodiment except that the lens is removed in each measurement channel and in its place, the detector is directly placed as shown in
Although the main application of this invention is the use of the equipment for the control in situ of the optical characteristics of flat and cylinder-parabolic mirrors of solar thermal power plants, its extension to other industrial fields that require measurement equipment similar characteristics is not ruled out.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201000942 | Jul 2010 | ES | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/ES2011/000234 | 7/20/2011 | WO | 00 | 3/21/2013 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2012/010724 | 1/26/2012 | WO | A |
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