Methods for Medium Temperature Collector Development Applied to a CPC Collector

Collectors for low temperature applications (< 100°C) and power generation (CSP) are already in a mature development stage. Although the medium temperature range (100-250 °C) offers a large potential for solar thermal applications, there are only few cost-effective and highly efficient collectors available. Partly, this is due to a lack of advanced experimental and theoretical tools that allow for an exact 3D heat loss analysis. In this contribution we present the work of a 3-year research project culminating in a complete tool-kit for medium temperature collector development, which was finally applied to a CPC collector. First measurements of a prototype collector will be shown.