Summary report: concentrating solar collector test results, Collector Module Test Facility

The results of tests on a series of five concentrating solar collectors from Suntec Systems, Inc.; Hexcel Corporation; General Atomic Company; McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company; and Solar Kinetics, Inc. are summarized. The Hexcel design performed better than the others primarily because of a highly reflective, precisely shaped mirror that focused almost all the reflected light onto the absorber. McDonnell Douglas, Suntec Systems, and Solar Kinetics designs were down about 10% in efficiency at temperatures near 300/sup 0/C. The General Atomic FMSC performed at a lower level at low temperatures because of large reflected light spillover, but only about 3 to 4% lower than the others near operating temperatures of 300/sup 0/C. Even the best of these collectors can be significantly improved.