New set-up to test secondary concentrators under real solar radiation with high concentration

CSP plants are best suited to locations with high Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI), however this is usually coincident with high aridity among others variables and therefore with high degradation of the materials. The RAISELIFE project aims to raise the lifetime of functional materials for Concentrated Solar Power Technology. The new set allows design and operation of solar test bench homogeneizer under real operation conditions with high concentration. It includes a cooling system, temperature sensors to apply the solar flux as homogeneous as possible on the samples to be tested. Also, the radiation flux is measured. This paper outlines experimental results from setting up a solar homogenizer test bench for this particular application, as well as the methodology to be applied, and describes the behavior of the new device under different temperatures and solar flux radiations recreated in a controlled environment at the CIEMAT-PSA solar furnace to test mirrors for secondary concentrators.