Process heat generation
Solar energy is becoming increasingly important for the
generation of process heat which, carried by appropriate heat
transfer fluids, can be used to drive solar heating or cooling
and seawater desalination systems and can also be
converted into electricity.
Combined solar systems for the simultaneous generation of heat
and electrical power are also becoming more and more
interesting for decentralized energy supply.
The heart of Concentrated Solar Power applications is the
absorber tube: it absorbs the concentrated solar radiation
and converts it into heat. The more efficient the absorber, the
greater the collector's output.
Drawing on its 20 years long experience of absorber surfaces,
ALMECO SOLAR has developed a new concept in absorber
tubes,TiNOX tube 2.0, a high efficiency
aluminium alloy tube aimed at establishing a new reference
point for performance, durability and cost.
Designed for medium temperature applications up to 200°C, it is
ideally suitable for almost all such CSP systems;
available in different lengths and diameters it has the best
optical performance currently available in the
market.
Manufactured from high temperature resisting aluminium
alloys, TiNOX tube 2.0 uses an
improved highly selective vacuum deposited absorber coating in
order to guarantee the lowest thermal emissivity in
the market while maintaining excellent absorption of solar
energy for conversion to heat.
Innovative Aluminium solution
The aluminium tubes are produced by combining a special drawing
process with a high temperature and pressure
resistant aluminium alloy giving an outstanding performance that
guarantees:
- High corrosion stability for water and oil based heat
exchanger fluids
- High heat conductance
- High pressure resistance (up to 30bar depending on diameter
and wall thickness)
- Excellent brazing and welding properties
The tubes can be easily brazed or welded, but for more convenient
installation on site, appropriate fittings are
available for easier assembly and dismantling.
Like an “energy trap”, the highly selective blue coating
of TiNOX tube 2.0 absorbs 95% of
the concentrated solar radiation while its extremely low hermal
emissivity of less than 6% at 200°C minimises loss
of the captured solar energy as heat radiation.
Over 89% of the incoming solar radiation energy can be used as
heat at an operating temperature of 200°C. Due to the
high heat conduction of the aluminium tubes compared to
stainless steel tubes this heat is transferred very
efficiently to the heat exchanger fluid.