State-of-the-Art Measurement Instrumentation and MostRecent Measurement Techniques for Parabolic TroughCollector Fields

Abstract

The presented review gives reliable information about the currently used measurementinstrumentation in parabolic trough fields and recent monitoring approaches. The usually built-inmeasurement equipment in the solar field, clamp-on systems for flexible measurements of tempera-ture and flow, solar irradiance measurements, standard meteorological equipment, laboratory devicesfor heat transfer fluid analyses and instruments related to the tracking of solar collector assembliesare presented in detail. The measurement systems are reported with their measurement uncertainty,approximate costs and usual installation location for the built-in instrumentation. Specific findingsrelated to the installation and operation of the measurement devices are presented. The usuallyinstalled instrumentation delivers a lot of measurements all over the field at the expense of mea-surement accuracy, compared to special test facility equipment. Recently introduced measurementapproaches can improve the standard instrumentation in terms of accuracy, frequency, spatial distri-bution or can even extend the amount of measurands. The information about available measurandsis the basis for future operation and maintenance solutions based on data-driven approaches.