Infrared-Reflective Coating on Fused Silica for a Solar High-Temperature Receiver

In concentrating solar power, high-temperature solar receivers can provide heat to highly efficient cycles for electricity or chemical production. Excessive heating of the fused-silica window and the resulting recrystallization are major problems of high-temperature receivers using windows. Excessive window temperatures can be avoided by applying an infrared-reflective solar-transparent coating on the fused-silica window inside. Both glass temperatures and receiver losses can be reduced. An ideal coating reflects part of the thermal spectrum (λ>2.5 μm) of the hot absorber (1100°C) back onto it without reducing solar transmittance. The examined transparent conductive oxides (TCO) involve a high solar absorptance, inhibiting their use in high-concentration solar systems. Although conventional dielectric interference filters have a low solar absorption, the reflection of solar radiation which comes from various directions is too high. It was found that only rugate filters fulfill the requirements for operation under high-flux solar radiation with different incident angles. A thermodynamic qualification simulation of the rugate coating on a window of a flat-plate receiver showed a reduction of almost 175 K in mean window temperature and 11% in receiver losses compared to an uncoated window. Finally, a first 25-μm thick rugate filter was manufactured and optically characterized. The issue of this paper is to share the work done on the choice of filter type, filter design, thermodynamic evaluation, and deposition experiments.