The all-in-one test facility
The requirements for performance testing of solar collectors and thermal solar systems are different. Therefore, it is common practice to use specifically designed test facilities for testing these two categories of solar thermal products. This results in at least two test facilities, each containing a large number of measuring equipment. Besides the fact that the set-up of the two test facilities requires a very substantial investment it also results in relatively high operational costs for the maintenance of the two facilities and the calibration of all the different sensors.
In order to decrease the number of test facilities and thus to decrease the initial investment and the operational costs an all-in-one test facility was developed by SWT. A further requirement for this facility was some degree of mobility. It is possible to dismantle the whole facility within a couple of hours, load and ship it to any place and set it up again within a short time. This mobility also offers the advantage that the facility can be delivered as a ready to use turn-key product to the customer and put in operation within one day. Furthermore, the test facility is designed in such a way that it can be operated independent from a fresh water or cooling water net. Most importantly, the [9]
test facility conforms to the requirements of the standards ISO 9459-2 and ISO 9459-5 for system tests, and to the standards 12975-2 or ISO 9806 respectively for solar collectors. This offers significant advantages concerning the accreditation of the test facility.
