Publications related to Solar updraft tower

Thermochromic solar absorber coatings with elevated transition temperature

Due to their simple design and operation, solar thermal collectors for domestic hot water gener-ation and space heating are one of the most common solar energy harvesting systems in use today. Dur-ing cold periods all the absorbed energy is useful. During ...

EPFL2020

Practical challenges in the development of photoelectrochemical solar fuels production

Sophia Haussener, Miguel Antonio Modestino

This article addresses the challenges presented by photoelectrochemical solar fuels technology in a discussion that begins with a functioning device and proceeds to the more fundamental science of its component parts. In this flow of discussion issues are ...

2020

Criteria and policies to master the visual impact of solar systems in urban environments: The LESO-QSV method

Christian Roecker, Maria Cristina Munari Probst

Increased use of solar collectors in buildings is necessary but poses major challenges in existing built environ ments, especially where architectural quality is an issue. The large size of solar systems at the building scale requires careful planning, as ...

2019

Infrared Optical Properties of Doped and Pure Thermochromic Coatings for Solar Thermal Absorbers

Anna Krammer, Josef Andreas Schuler, Fabrice Thierry Demière

A new generation of solar collectors is based on thermochromic thin film technology, where the remarkable optical changes of vanadium dioxide, through its reversible semiconductor-to-metal phase transition, are exploited. This study reports on the infrared ...

ISES2018

Thermochromic coatings for overheating protection of solar thermal collectors - novel type of doping (TARGET95)

Andreas Schueler, Anna Krammer

Overheating and the resulting stagnation of solar thermal collectors is a common problem even in central European latitudes. During stagnation, high temperatures lead to water evaporation, glycol degradation and stresses in the collector with increasing va ...

2018

Comparison-Based Optical Assessment of Hyperboloid and Ellipsoid Reflectors in a Beam-Down Solar Tower System With Linear Fresnel Heliostats

Meng Lin

Beam-down concentrating solar tower (BCST) is known for its merits in easy installation and maintenance as well as lower convection heat loss of the central receiver (CR) when comparing to a traditional concentrated solar tower system. A point-line-couplin ...

ASME2017

Thermochromic coatings for overheating protection of solar thermal collectors - novel type of doping (TARGET95)

Andreas Schueler, Anna Krammer

Overheating and the resulting stagnation of solar thermal collectors is a common problem even in central European latitudes. During stagnation, high temperatures lead to water evaporation, glycol degradation and stresses in the collector with increasing va ...

2017

SCCER-FURIES - Report on the role of multi-carrier, multi-services, multi-grids integrated energy conversion systems and their possible role in the Swiss energy 2050 - Deliverable D1.5.3

François Maréchal, Luc Girardin, Paul Michael Stadler

The optimisation of distributed and renewable energy systems in buildings has shown that zero energy systems, using existing technologies, is within reach in the household sector where the thermal and the systems can support each other to increase renewabl ...

2017

Hybrid Heterojunctions of Solution-Processed Semiconducting 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Kevin Sivula, Nestor Guijarro Carratala, Xavier Adrian Jeanbourquin, Natalie Renuka Banerji, Xiaoyun Yu, Muhammad Aiman Bin Rahmanudin Hamdan

Exfoliated transition metal dichalcogenides (2D-TMDs) are attractive light-harvesting materials for large-area and inexpensive solar energy conversion given their ability to form highly tolerant heterojunctions. However, the preparation of large-area heter ...

Amer Chemical Soc2017

Thermal solar collector with VO2 absorber coating and V1-xWxO2 thermochromic glazing – Temperature matching and triggering

Andreas Schueler, Rosendo Sanjines, Antonio Paone, Mario Geiger

Overheating is a common problem both with the use of active and passive solar energy in thermal solar energy systems and in highly glazed buildings, even in central European latitudes. In solar thermal collectors, the elevated temperatures occurring during ...

2014

Reactively sputtered coatings on architectural glazing for coloured active solar thermal façades

Jean-Louis Scartezzini, Andreas Schueler, Martin Joly, Stefan Mertin, Virginie Hody-Le Caër

Covering a standard solar thermal collector with a coloured glazing, which is opaque to the human eye but highly transparent to solar energy, permits a perfect architectural integration of solar panels into glazed building façades. The colours are based on ...

Elsevier2014

Modelling of the receiver transient flux distribution due to cloud passages on a solar tower thermal power plant

Daniel Favrat, Germain Augsburger

As more and more solar tower thermal power plants are being operated, built or planned, effort is put both on the development and research to bring costs down and increase the plant efficiency. In those plants, the central receiver is one of the key compon ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2013

Thermo-economic optimisation of large solar tower power plants

Germain Augsburger

Given the growing number of solar tower power plants in operation, under construction and under planning, the assessment and the optimisation of their performance are required both at the energy level and the economic level. In other words, the same way as ...

EPFL2013

Switchable Selective Absorber Coatings for Overheating Protection of Solar Thermal Collectors

Antonio Paone

Overheating is a common problem both with the use of active and passive solar energy in solar thermal energy systems and in highly glazed buildings. In solar thermal collectors, the elevated temperatures occurring during stagnation result in reduced lifeti ...

EPFL2013

Optical and morphological characterisation of low refractive index materials for coatings on solar collector glazing

Jean-Louis Scartezzini, Andreas Schueler, Marie Schaer, Martin Joly, Stefan Mertin, Estelle De Chambrier, Virginie Hody-Le Caër

Nanostructured coatings based on the elements Si, O, Mg, and F have been deposited as thin films by solegel dip-coating in a particle-free atmosphere. The refractive index of the prepared SiO2 and quaternary MgeFeSieO thin films has been determined from sp ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2013

Thermoeconomic Analysis of a Solar Enhanced Energy Storage Concept Based on Thermodynamic Cycles

Samuel Henchoz

Large scale energy storage may play an increasingly important role in the power generation and distribution sector, especially when large shares of renewable energies will have to be integrated into the electrical grid. Up to now pumped-hydro is the only t ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2011

Thermoeconomic optimization of a combined-cycle solar tower power plant

Daniel Favrat, Germain Augsburger, James Spelling

A dynamic model of a pure-solar combined-cycle power plant has been developed in order to allow determination of the thermodynamic and economic performance of the plant for a variety of operating conditions and superstructure layouts. The model was then us ...

2012

Passivating surface states on water splitting hematite photoanodes with alumina overlayers

Michael Graetzel, Kevin Sivula, Nicolas Tétreault, Thomas Moehl, Florian Le Formal, Maurin Cornuz

Hematite is a promising material for inexpensive solar energy conversion via water splitting but has been limited by the large overpotential (0.5-0.6 V) that must be applied to afford high water oxidation photocurrent. This has conventionally been addresse ...

2011

Thermo-economic Optimisation of the Heliostat Field of Solar Tower Thermal Power Plants

Daniel Favrat, Germain Augsburger

A method of optimising the thermodynamic and economic performance of heliostat field within a solar tower thermal power plant has been developed. The method includes the generation of a heliostat field given a set of design variables, the assessment of its ...

2010

Bringing colours to solar collectors: a contribution to an increased building "integrability"

Andreas Schueler, Christian Roecker, Maria Cristina Munari Probst

One main obstacle to facade integration of solar thermal collectors lies in the formal characteristics and low flexibility of available products. Major problems are the black and irregular appearance of their absorbers, their low dimensional flexibility an ...

Università luav di Venezia2010