Proceedings of Solar Forum 2001

Solar Energy: The Power to Choose

April 21-25, 2001, Washington, DC

EUROTROUGH DESIGN ISSUES AND PROTOTYPE TESTING AT PSA

Eckhard Lüpfert, Michael Geyer Wolfgang Schiel

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. Schlaich Bergermann und Partner (SBP)
Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) Hohenzollernstr. 1
Apartado 39 · E-04200 Tabernas, Spain · D-70178 Stuttgart, Germany
Phone: +34 950 387906 Phone: +49 711 6487120
E.LUEPFERT@DLR.DE W.SCHIEL@SBP.DE

Antonio Esteban, Rafael Osuna Eduardo Zarza Paul Nava

INABENSA, División Taller CIEMAT-PSA Flabeg Solar International
c/Manuel Velasco Pando 7 Plataforma Solar de Almería Mühlengasse 7
E-41007 Sevilla, Spain E-04200 Tabernas, Spain · D-50667 Köln, Germany
Phone: +34 95 493 6111 Phone: +34 950 387931 Phone: +49 221 925 970-0
ROSUNA@INABENSA.ABENGOA.COM EDUARDO.ZARZA@PSA.ES PAUL.NAVA@FLABEG.COM

ABSTRACT LUZ collectors LS-2 and LS-3 in California.

A parabolic trough collector has been developed for The work targeted collector development for a wide
various applications in the 200-400°C temperature range in range of applications in the 200-400°C-temperature range
solar fields up to the hundreds Megawatts range. in solar fields up to the hundreds Megawatts range:
The design of a new support structure of the collector • Solar thermal electricity generation in co-generation
included concept studies, wind tunnel measurements, finite plants
elements method (FEM) analyses and resulted in a • Solar thermal process heat applications in a wide range
structure with a central framework element. This torque of process steam
box design will have lower weight and less deformation of • Solar thermal sea-water desalination in MED
the collector structure than the other designs considered. processes
Therefore it will be possible in future to connect more
collector elements on one drive which results in reduced
total number of drives and interconnecting pipes, thus STATE OF THE ART
reducing the installation cost and thermal losses. In terms The successful parabolic trough design in the 80s has
of the degree of material usage further weight reduction been implemented in the Californian SEGS plants by LUZ,
will be possible. The presented design has a significant and the collectors still operate for grid-connected electricity
potential for cost reduction, the most important goal of the production. The operating companies have worked
EUROTROUGH project. The prototype has been set-up and thoroughly on improvement of operation and maintenance
is under testing at PSA (Plataforma Solar de Almería) for (Cohen et al., 1999). Features of the different collector
its thermal and mechanical properties. types in terms of performance and durability became
obvious.
The main characteristics of these collectors however
INTRODUCTION establish the minimum requirements for a new generation
Parabolic trough collectors have been the key element of parabolic trough collectors.
in the commercial application of concentrating solar Key elements of the existing technology are:
thermal power plants in California. Although other • support structure: steel frame-work structure with
concentrators promise higher concentration factors and central torque tube or double V-trusses
higher system efficiencies the parabolic trough will • drive: gear drive, hydraulic drive
continue paving the way for concentrating solar power. • tracking control: clock controlled, sun-sensor
Considering this importance a European consortium has controlled
developed the next generation of a parabolic trough • reflector panels: parabolic mirrors, from glass or metal
collector basing on the long experience of operation of sheets

Copyright © 2001 by ASME

• absorber tubes (heat collection element = HCE): with these experiments. Horizontal forces and pitching moments
evacuated glass envelope have been evaluated for different wind speed and direction,
• fluid: mineral oil, synthetic oil, water/steam different collector positions in the field and various
The components depend in part on the application, elevations of the collector. The evaluation of the wind
especially on the temperature range. tunnel measurements confirmed that the solar collector
The EuroTrough project consortium gained through field of a full size plant could be divided into three
the thorough research on the existing parabolic trough different wind loading zones: The shadowed inner field
collector designs an elaborate basis for the important area with approximately 95% of the total Solar Collector
design phase. Elements (SCE), the transient area (close to the edges of
the field) with about 2.5% and the high wind loaded edges
and rim areas where about 2.5% of the total SCE are
EUROTROUGH DESIGN CONCEPT located. Due to these different wind loads the collector
The concept of the EUROTROUGH collector is basing structure is designed in accordance to these different wind
on the boundary conditions mentioned above. Key zones. A solar collector field will have three different types
characteristics are given in table 1. of collector structures (a high wind loaded, a medium wind
loaded and a regular structure) depending on where the
TABLE 1: EUROTROUGH CHARACTERISTICS SCE is located in the field. The cost of a complete Solar
Collector Field will be dictated by the cost of the regular
layout parabolic trough collector SCE located in the shadowed field area. Due to this result
support structure steel frame work, pre-galvanized, the next step in finalizing the design was concentrated on
three variants; light weight, low the SCE structure in the shadowed field area.
torsion
collector length 12 m per element;
100 - 150 m collector length
drive hydraulic drive measuring
segment
max. wind speed operation: 14 m/s, stow: 40 m/s
tracking control clock + sun sensor, <2 mrad
parabola y = x2/4f with f = 1.71 m
aperture width 5.8 m
reflector 4 glass facets
absorber tube evacuated glass envelope, UVAC® or
other, application dependent
fluid oil, steam, application dependent
cost < 200 Euro/m2

Major effort was put on the design of the metallic Figure 1: Experimental set-up of the wind tunnel test. Cp
collector support structure of the concentrator. Apart from values have been measured at different positions of the
survival of the structure, the stiffness of the collector is collector element, different locations in the field and
important to keep up collector performance with wind- various pitching angles of the SCE as well as different wind
loads during operation. This has been examined from two directions.
aspects:
• wind tunnel experiments for determination of the
forces and moments 2. Structural Analysis
• Finite Element Method calculations (FEM) to Detailed FEM investigations on the structural behavior
determine collector deformation and estimate under different load cases (dead load, wind loads under
losses (spillage of radiation due to wind). different pitching angles of the collector and different wind
directions) for different designs were performed for
1. Wind Tunnel Evaluation obtaining results on the expected deformation of the
In a first step detailed wind tunnel tests have been structure under different operation conditions. From these
conducted for getting a reliable database for the expected results the expected optical performance of the new
wind loads at different locations in the collector field. collector design was derived. A lot of effort was spent on
Figure 1 shows the experimental set up of the wind tunnel evaluating the optical performance of the new collector
test. Bending and torsion forces have been determined in design:

Copyright © 2001 by ASME

 80 16

70 14

60 12

50 10

wind speed (m/s)

LS-3 average twist of SCE on wind
spillage in %

40 8
ET4 average twist of SCE on wind
ET6 average twist of SCE on wind
30 spillage losses due to twisting 6

5 m/s
20 4
LS-3

10 2
ET-4

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Twist in mrad

Figure 2: Analysis of angular twist and radiation spillage as result of wind load on the Solar Collector Assembly for
EuroTrough collector with 100 and 150 m (ET4, ET6), and the reference collector (LS-3).

Computer modeling of the optical performance was 12 (150m) is feasible. This decreases the total number of
done with ray tracing of the structure deformed due to required drives for a collector field as well as the number
bending and twisting, evaluation of tracking error, of interconnecting pipes and will have a positive impact on
deformation and misalignment of the absorber tube. the total collector cost.
Different operating wind velocities from 3 to 14 m/s The actual EUROTROUGH collector support structure
(causes different induced twisting moments on the design is shown in figure 3. It is composed of a rectangular
structure) were investigated in order to estimate the torque box with mirror support arms. The rotational axis is
influence of a windier site on optical system performance. in the center of gravity, a few millimeters above the torque
For comparing the obtained results with the data and box.
experience gained in the US and on the Plataforma Solar de The central element of the box design is a 12-m long
Almería with other collector designs the same FEM steel space-frame structure having a squared cross section
analysis was also performed for those structures. Three that holds the support arms for the parabolic mirror facets.
design variants have been worked out and compared to The torque box is much simpler than the LS-3 space frame
each other by detailed FEM calculations, and cost structure. The box is built out of only 4 different steel parts.
approximates. This will lead to an easy manufacturing and will decrease
required efforts and thus cost for assembling and erection
on site. Transportation requirements have been optimized
RESULTS for maximum packing.
Based on these studies a so-called torque-box design The design comprises mirror supports that make use of
has been selected as the most promising concept. The the glass facets as static structural element, but at the same
torque-box design proves to allow less deformation of the time reduce the forces onto the glass sheets by a factor of
collector structure due to dead weight and wind loading three. This promises less glass breakage with highest wind
than the other designs. This reduces torsion and bending of speeds.
the structure during operation and results in increased Due to an improved design of the drive pylon the Solar
optical performance and wind resistance. An extension of Collector Assembly could be mounted on an inclined site
the number of SCEs per drive unit from today 8 (100m) to (3%). Thus cost for site preparation will be reduced.

Copyright © 2001 by ASME

 The accuracy of the concentrator is achieved by a
combination of prefabrication with jig mounting on site.
The majority of the structural parts is produced with steel
construction tolerances. The accuracy for the mirror
supports is introduced with 6 drillings in each of the
cantilever arms. Two of them serve for positioning and
keep available for later alignments. The other four holes
are used for the mirror support brackets and define the
position of the parabola with a relatively simple erection
jig.
An important objective was the cost reduction of
parabolic trough collectors. The weight of the steel
structure has been reduced about 14% as compared to the
available design of the LS-3 collector. Additional cost
reduction in the order of another 10 % is assumed by
reduction of the variety of parts and by more compact
transport. Series production cost of the total collector
installation below 200 Euro(€) per square meter of aperture
is anticipated.

PROTOTYPE TESTING AT PSA

The construction and workshop drawings have been
Figure 3: Sketch of the EUROTROUGH collector torque-box finished and the first prototype collector has been mounted
design: Central element is a steel construction which in a strong version (for high wind load) at PSA, see figures
absorbs torsion and bending forces. The reflector panels 4 and 5. The collector is set-up in east-west direction and
are supported with attached arms, using a type of fixation with careful temperature sensor installation for improved
to reduce breakage. testing capabilities. Due to budget limitations only half a
collector (drive pylon with collector elements to one side
One of the objectives of the design was weight only) has been prepared (figure 5).
reduction as compared to the LS-3 collector structure. The
following table shows weight figures for the EuroTrough
Collector Element:

TABLE 2: EUROTROUGH SOLAR COLLECTOR

ELEMENT WEIGHTS:

EuroTrough Collector strong “field”

Component SCE SCE

Glass mirrors kg 747 747

HCE (incl. oil) kg 73 73
Torque box kg 597 597
End Plates kg 186 130
Cantilever Arms kg 384 231
HCE supports kg 113 90
Torque Transfer kg 32 32 Figure 4: View of the EUROTROUGH support structure
Total weight steel structure only kg 1,312 1,080 taken during mirror assembly.
Specific weight steel only kg/m² 19.0 15.6
Total weight kg 2,132 1,900
incl. mirrors and HCE
Specific weight kg/m² kg/m² 30.9 27.5

Copyright © 2001 by ASME

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support of the European Commission (JOR3
CT98 0231) and the consortium partners is gratefully
acknowledged.
The presented work has been performed by the
EUROTROUGH consortium partners Instalaciones Abengoa,
S.A. (INABENSA), Schlaich Bergermann und Partner
(SBP), Fichtner Solar GmbH, FLABEG Solar
International, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
e.V. (DLR), Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas,
Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), and Centre
for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES).
Figure 5: The EUROTROUGH collector prototype tested at
PSA has currently four, later six collector elements to one
side of the hydraulic drive. REFERENCES
Cohen, G., Kearney, D., Price, H. (1999) “Performance
The test program for the prototype includes initial history and future costs of parabolic trough solar
thermal performance tests with synthetic oil up to 390°C. electric systems”, 9th Int. Symposium on Solar Thermal
Further tests aim at optical and mechanical evaluation of Concentrating Technologies, Odeillo, France, June
the collector. 1998, J. Phys . IV France 9 PR3 pp. 169-179.
Esteban, A.; Lüpfert, E. (2001) “Final Report EuroTrough
project JOR3-CT98-0231”, public version.
OUTLOOK Pilkington Solar (1996) “Status Report on Solar Thermal
As wind influence is highly transient and difficult to Power Plants - Experience, Prospects and
measure with the thermal output, stress and acceleration Recommendations to Overcome Market Barriers of
sensors as well as angular encoders on several pylons are Parabolic Trough Collector Power Plant Technology.”
foreseen. Cologne 1996. ISBN 3-9804901-0-6.
Additional outcome from the prototype development
phase goes towards economic fabrication technologies for
mass production.
Performance data from the testing and other recent
project information will be available in Internet
(www.eurotrough.com).
Basing on the current design with lower cost and
higher performance of the parabolic trough collector, a next
step towards better competition of solar power with
conventional fossil technologies has been achieved.
Like in other European project work on trough
collectors, e.g. direct steam generation, the project aims at
further cost reduction and market penetration for near term
future.
Worldwide interest in solar thermal technology is the
driving force for the ongoing work on the parabolic trough
collector design. The design is available for interested
license takers. The main challenges for the EUROTROUGH
technology are electricity generation, and process heat in a
wide temperature range, including desalination.

Copyright © 2001 by ASME