Steam is the most common heat carrier in industry. The Industrial Solar Fresnel Collector is optimized for solar steam generation and is thus the cleanest option for process heat supply. The steam generator can be easily integrated into the customer's existent steam network and operate automatically and independently from the conventional boiler.
Alternatively, our solar process heat solutions can be designed to operate using pressurized water or thermal oil as heat carrier.
Water is pumped through the collector field and partly evaporates due to the concentrated solar irradiation. In a continuous process, the fluid enters the steam drum where steam accumulates at the top and water at the bottom. This reservoir runs at a higher pressure and temperature providing up to 1 hour of storage, compensating for fluctuations in the demand or eventual shading in the collector field. When steam is released to the factory, feed water is pumped into the steam drum to keep the mass balance.
The system is designed with sensors for monitoring the temperature, pressure and irradiation, which permit a safe and automatic operation throughout the day.
Solar steam is smoothly integrated in an existing fuel fired steam supply without the need to alter existing boiler control. The solar generated steam is stored in the steam drum at a pressure above the operating pressure in the boiler. Steam is released to the factory through a pressure-controlled valve which has a slightly higher set-point than then boiler. Thus, solar steam is always used first while the fuel fired boiler remains available and automatically starts when solar steam is not sufficient.