Flow measurement system concentrated in Online Tower Plants (eFeCTO)

Date

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Brief relate

eFeCTO project was carried out through collaboration between private companies and public research organizations. The consortium consisted of: COBRA Instalaciones y Servicios SA; EGATEL SL ; MESUREX SL ; CENER (National Renewable Energy Centre); IMDEA Energía ; and AICIA (ETSi-US).

The main objective of the eFeCTO has been the development of an advanced concentrated solar flux measurement system for concentrated solar power plants with central receiver or tower technology. This system has pursued the following objectives related to plant operation:

  • Improving the operation and maintenance of solar receivers by measuring the incident flux with greater accuracy and reliability.
  • Reduced start-up times and increased safety at work points, thanks to better control of the receiver's surface temperature.
  • Improved peak performance of solar receiver, due to the possibility of taking the operating flow to the permissible limit.
  • Improved durability of the solar receiver through the ability to measure and control the incident concentrated solar flux and its distribution across the entire surface.
  • Improved integration of the solar field and receiver, with optimized plant control.

The work carried out to achieve the aforementioned objectives has been structured into five main tasks:

  1. Technical definition of the solar flux measurement system. In this task, the technical specifications of the system have been established, in which the measurement systems have been selected and the most suitable methods for the construction of the eFeCTO .
  2. Development of components and software for the measurement system. This task involved the development of point measurement sensors, visible and thermographic cameras, and calculation software, as well as the analysis of their implementation in the control systems of commercial plants. In particular, ETSi-US has developed a series of optical sensors for measuring concentrated solar flux and high temperature.
  3. Integration of all components and software of the measurement system. This task involved integrating all signals provided by the sensors and cameras, along with the calculation software, through the development of specific hardware and software for measuring concentrated solar flux in the eFeCTO .
  4. Testing of the demonstrator prototype. The design, instrumentation, assembly and fine-tuning of the receiver prototype has been carried out along with all the necessary equipment (sensors, cameras, data acquisition system, etc.) to perform the tests and the subsequent evaluation of results.
  5. Detailed technical specifications of the equipment at a commercial level. In this task, you have completed the analysis and evaluation of the functional technical specifications of the design at a commercial level. The reports detail the commercial design of the solution (using an operational commercial solar thermal power plant as a reference), analyze the economic viability of the solution, and detail the functionalities that the developed commercial tool would have.