At the heart of the collector system lies a high performance absorber. Sunlight, intensified to the equivalent of 13 suns, is focused onto a spherical absorber surface, which is vacuum insulated behind glass. Inside the sphere, a capillary layer (similar to heat pipe technology) ensures that condensate is naturally redistributed based on solar input, where it evaporates again. The steam is returned in a saturated state.
This is a purely steam driven heating and cooling system, ideal for applications such as climate control. Effective operation begins at steam temperatures of 145°C. It is feasible to first route the 235°C saturated steam from the collectors through a steam engine in a pre-stage, reducing it to 165–145°C, after which it can be used to drive an absorption cooling system.
This is an innovative valve controlled system that responds optimally to load fluctuations. As a result, the efficiency remains consistently high even in partial load operation. With a solar thermal output of 300 kW-TH (10 Oktosol), approximately 90 kW-EL can be produced. All components are easy to manufacture according to the current state of the art. A detailed process calculation is available.