Abstract
The durability of solar mirrors is a critical factor for the deployment of concentrating solar power plants. Accelerated aging test models currently applied in the polymer, electronic, and photovoltaic fields have recently been reviewed, and the issues of their application to solar mirrors have been discussed. This article first reports the results of temperature, humidity, and light irradiance accelerated aging tests performed to assess the dependent parameters of selected models from the literature. These parameters include the apparent activation energy for the Arrhenius temperature law, the Peck and Eyring coefficients for humidity models and the Schwarzschild coefficient for the irradiance law. The experimental values were then assessed for specular reflectance loss of solar mirrors. Finally, using these parameters, acceleration factors were calculated for solar mirrors. An effective temperature considering the Arrhenius degradation law was used rather than the commonly used mean temperature. This question is also addressed for light irradiance by using the dose instead of the mean value.
Highlights
Solar energy is a renewable and carbon dioxide-free way to produce energy
In concentrated solar power (CSP) and concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) plants, sunlight is concentrated by mirrors on an absorber to heat a fluid or by Fresnel lenses on the PV module, respectively
Due to the elevated costs of technologies in the solar field, solar mirrors must retain their functional properties during the whole life of the plant, which is expected to be longer than 25–30 years.[1]
Summary
Several technologies exist, including photovoltaic (PV), concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), thermal, and concentrated solar power (CSP) systems. In CSP and CPV plants, sunlight is concentrated by mirrors on an absorber to heat a fluid or by Fresnel lenses on the PV module, respectively. Due to the elevated costs of technologies in the solar field, solar mirrors must retain their functional properties during the whole life of the plant, which is expected to be longer than 25–30 years.[1] durability is one of the main issues in bringing products to the market. Durability can be defined in many ways, but there is consensus that it corresponds to the period of time a product in its service environment will survive before requiring replacement or maintenance. The weathering resistance of mirrors exposed to all environmental and operational stresses should be evaluated to predict whether or not a technology is adapted to an implantation site
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