Absorber system
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing absorber systems are complex, expensive, and prone to heat loss and material stress due to inefficient heat transfer and exposure to weather, with complications in production and measurement.
Innovation Solution
An absorber system with a thermally and electrically insulating clip and support elements, featuring a spring crosspiece for impact cushioning, and a rail system with rollers and spring crosspieces for movement, along with a protective absorber cover that encloses the suspension, reducing heat loss and material stress while allowing precise alignment and easy assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the absorber tube is suspended on a rail element using a support carriage, then the absorber tube can be moved to avoid compression or excess stretching, but the support carriage is exposed to weather influences leading to increasing wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a protective hood (absorber cover) that encloses the support carriage and rail element, protecting them from weather influences. This flexible enclosure design allows the moving components to remain shielded while maintaining their mobility function, resolving the contradiction between stability and durability.
2Strength
If the absorber tube is held by a clip that overlaps the tube, then the absorber tube is securely held, but heat transfer from the absorber tube to the clip occurs causing increased material demands and heat emission
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a thermally insulating intermediate element between the clip and the absorber tube. This intermediary component allows the clip to securely hold the tube while preventing direct heat transfer, thus maintaining holding strength without the energy loss associated with heating the clip and support carriage.
Solution Approach 2:
The support carriage is designed as a composite structure with thermally insulating materials integrated into the clip and support elements. This composite design enables the system to maintain mechanical strength for secure holding while minimizing thermal conduction to reduce heat loss.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the absorber cover is formed as a welded construction with multiple hood parts, then the structure is stable, but production becomes complicated and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The absorber cover is designed as a modular structure consisting of multiple hood parts that can be separately manufactured and then assembled. This segmentation allows each part to be produced more easily while maintaining overall structural stability through the coordinated assembly of standardized components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple functional elements into integrated hood parts that serve both protective and structural functions. By merging the protective cover function with structural support functions into unified components, the design reduces the number of separate parts needed while maintaining stability.
4Temperature
If the support carriage and clip are made from heat-resistant materials to withstand high temperatures, then thermal resistance is improved, but weight and material costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies heat-resistant materials only in the specific areas where high temperature exposure occurs, such as the clip contact points and immediate support elements. Other parts of the support carriage that are not directly exposed to high temperatures use lighter, less expensive materials, thus maintaining thermal resistance where needed while reducing overall weight and cost.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system minimizes heat loss and material stress, enhances durability and efficiency by reducing unnecessary heat emission and protecting components from weather, while allowing precise alignment and simplified assembly and measurement.
Implementation Method 1
Spring tabs are formed in one piece with these holding frames, which tabs connect the elements braced between the individual load-bearing supports with the load-bearing supports. On the basis of these spring tabs, which form solid-body articulations with regard to the load-bearing supports, equalization can take place if length changes occur due to temperature differences
Implementation Method 2
a double-T rail, into which roller elements engage on both sides, which elements carry a carriage that can move along the rail
Implementation Method 3
a clip for overlapping the absorber tube is assigned to the support carriage, which clip holds the absorber tube in place, with the interposition of a plurality of support elements distributed over the inside circumference of the clip, which elements are thermally insulating
Data Source
AI summary
An absorber system solves problems of known absorber systems for use in solar fields in that the absorber tube is suspended on a rail below an absorber cover. The design also makes it possible to move measuring and cleaning robots and the like along the absorber tube more and allows the absorber tube and the secondary reflector to be jointly suspended, whereby an exact mutual alignment between the two components is enabled.