Finland’s Savo-Solar and Denmark’s Hydro Aluminium Precision Tubing impressed the jury of this year’s Intersolar Awards so much with their joint project – the Savo-Solar Al-MPE absorber – that it scooped one of the three awards in the Solar Thermal Technology category.

These were the fourth annual Intersolar Awards to be made by Solar Promotion GmbH and Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH (FWTM) in cooperation with the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) recognising ground-breaking product innovations in the areas of photovoltaics, solar thermal technologies, and PV production technology.

Savo-Solar’s full Al direct flow absorbers, used in the company’s Savosolar SF-100-03 collectors, are manufactured entirely of corrosion-resistant HyLife aluminium alloy specially developed for solar thermal applications. The collectors feature integrated riser tubes in the shape of a double harp, while the collectors are coated with a selective PVD MEMO coating as ready-assembled units.

The integrated riser tubes and MEMO coating provide very uniform temperature distribution, avoiding hotspots where excessive conductive and radiative heat loss could take place. The absorbers also offer low weight and a rapid thermal response.

Savo-Solar’s patented MEMO selective absorber coating consists of three thin ceramic layers based on Si, Al, and Ti, and is deposited by PVD and PECVD technology in a vacuum. The resulting coating has a solar absorbance factor of more than 96%.

MEMO coatings can be exposed to ambient air temperatures of several hundred degrees centigrade without losing their optical and mechanical properties, outperforming the limitations of most competing products. They also perform well in marine and other aggressive environments within normal operating limits.

Savo-Solar’s award-winning full Al direct flow absorber offers improved heat transfer compared to traditional designs and a highly effective, selective PVD MEMO coating applied to the complete absorber to guarantee stable efficiency throughout a collector’s lifetime. Photo courtesy of Savo-Solar.

For more about Savo-Solar, see the company’s Web site.

Print aa