Arc deposited TiAlN selective absorber for high temperature CSP applications

The paper presents preliminary results of a partnership project between academic research groups and industrial partners. The LFR500 project aims at developing a prototype of Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) solar power plants able to work above 500°C providing Direct Steam Generation (DSG) under 90 bars. LFR plants usually operate at 300°C, but at 500°C the efficiency is raised by more than 50%. Since thermal losses are mainly radiative at this working temperature, the absorber layers must satisfy both conditions of solar absorption and low thermal emittance in the infrared (IR) domain (beyond 2450nm…). The paper will present both modeling, design of the absorptive multilayer and experimental demonstration of an absorbing tube at industrial scale. Furthermore, characterization and aging testing will be considered and presented