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A small Austrian company has created a new solar collector system. The unique features include the combined generation of high temperature heat and electricity, in addition to a special tracking system, which allows the collectors to be automatically moved into a protection/cleaning position. The company is looking for investment or industrial partners who are interested in joint further development work and industrial partners who are interested in taking over mass production.
The small Austrian company is active in
the development of renewable energy systems. This hybrid solar collector is an important
development in the solar market offering a solution which uses automatic mechanisms to both protect
and clean the mirrors and solar cells. Many mirrors break or fail due to damage or dirt caused by
bad weather conditions, so the tracking/cleaning features are particularly important and contribute
to a longer life time of the systems as well as reduced maintenance costs.
The particularly
innovative features of this new technology are as follows:
1) splitting of the light spectrum:
Light is used twice by splitting the spectrum for generating electricity on the one hand and
producing high temperature heat on the other hand.
2) advanced tracking technology which
facilitates:
• automatic cleaning of the collectors every day with minimal water consumption,
•
stable, safe positioning of the collectors with high resistance to storm, sandstorm, hail or air
pollution.
The high temperature heat can be used to operate absorption cooling systems or to
generate electricity within coupled steam turbine processes. The new solar collector system works
reliably under conditions where other systems fail. The collectors can have a variety of different
technical designs and are ideal applications for island systems but also for large scale power
plants with coupling to steam turbine cycles.
All technologies used are state of the art.
Considering the development work completed to date, the next step of installing an assembly line for
mass production could happen very quickly leading to the launch of a high quality product on the
market within two years. The main issue is to find an expert partner in production processes, for
example from the automotive industry, with sophisticated knowledge in manufacturing methods,
sourcing suppliers and organising logistics.
The small Austrian company is focused on development
rather than production and is active in the co-ordination of innovative ideas and their
implementation. In addition to the solar collector the company has done a lot of development work
and studies on connectivity devices (gas turbine process with biomass, seawater desalination,
absorption cooling plant). Co-operation partners in planning and development are sought for this
work also.
Innovative Aspects:
• Automatic mechanism for protecting mirrors and solar cells – the
collector pairs close to protect the mirrored sides from poor conditions and also during night time
when conditions are unsuitable. The collectors are hence only open during the day and when
conditions are good thus ensuring a longer life time and lower maintenance costs.
• Automatic
cleaning function with low water consumption – water used for cleaning can be collected and used for
other purposes such as irrigation
• Generates electricity combined with high temperature heat
Domain of Application
* Island systems, possibly with independent drinking water generation (sea water desalination),
heating and/or cooling nets, storage facilities with ice and/or heat puffers.
* Large-scale power
supply with coupling to plants for the combustion of biomass or fossil fuels (coal).
Stage of Development
Development
phase - Laboratory tested
Exploitation of RTD
Results
None
IPR
Patent(s) granted
The
collection system is protected by 3 patents.
Company
Details
Type: Industry
Size: < 10
Collaboration Type
- Absolutely novel process
- Adaptation to specific needs
- Change in the partner sought's currently used technologies (installations, process, facilities)
- Financial Resources
- Joint further development
- License Agreement
- New way to use an existing production line
- Testing of new applications
- Type of partner sought: Industry and SMEs
- Specific area of activity of the partner: Manufacturer of components of various types and materials. Partners in the automotive, plastics and glass industries would be suitable.
- Task to be performed by the partner sought: Further development of the technology.
Mass production of the technology.
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