WREF 2012: Service Life Prediction for ReflecTech Mirror Film

The outdoor lifetime of ReflecTech® mirror film has increased as it has advanced through various commercial versions. Quantifying its lifetime is important, and use in utility-scale power generation requires extensive testing and validation to ensure compliance with the demands of extreme outdoor service environments. A test matrix was developed and implemented with NREL; a variety of ReflecTech  samples were subjected to many accelerated exposure tests. The tests spanned several years, and include several versions of ReflecTech  , from the early versions through the newest version (ReflecTech ® PLUS) that incorporates an abrasion resistant coating. This paper describes the various tests, how they were used to determine reflector degradation rates, and how these tests lead to the quantification of outdoor service lifetimes. The analysis of accelerated test results permits the prediction of the useful lifetime of ReflecTech  under various conditions that are characteristic of Europe, China, Brazil, India, and the United States. For all these locations, the test results indicate outdoor lifetimes above 35 years.