With FLUXUS the sun shines into your socket.

Ensuring a safe energy supply for the future generations presents mankind with a dual problem: On one hand the resources of fossil fuels are finite and becoming scarcer, on the other, burning fossil fuels exacerbates the greenhouse effect and thus global climate change. Hence the harvesting of energy in concentrating solar-thermal power plants is one of the most important technology for covering future requirements.

NOVATEC BioSol AG has developed an innovative solar power plant concept which is to provide a crucial contribution to solving the global energy problem. Its solar power plant technology is based on the principle of the Fresnel collector. Instead of parabolic mirrors that are difficult to produce, flat mirrors are used. They can can be fabricated quickly and cost-effectively in large quantities wherever they are needed. A solar field consist of 16 parallel rows of mirrors. A simple mechanism is used to keep the mirrors adjusted to the position of the sun, while the mirror arrangement is such that it collects the sunlight into a focal line. A receiver is installed in the focal line, in which water evaporates. The vapour is routed to a steam turbine. The use of flat mirrors represents a fundamental simplification and thus reduces costs - providing many advantages, when compared to the hitherto most cost-effective methods of solar-thermal energy harvesting in the parabolic channel process. Modularity and suitability of the NOVATEC BioSol technology in serial production will stimulate a unique market expansion.

In January 2007, NOVATEC BioSol put a demonstration plant into operation in Lorca, in southern Spain; in August a plant will start production of the patented solar field components. The solar field set up in Lorca is used to test the technology under practical conditions, and to quality-test the solar field components. The system's efficiency is also tested by measuring the output performance and comparing it to the expected values. In order to perform this a flow measurement is required, for which FLEXIM'S FLUXUS ADM 7407 ultrasonic flowmeter is used.

To determine the solar plant's capacity, the generated quantity of heat is measured. Under otherwise constant conditions, this value can be derived from the flow rate of the water heated by solar radiation and the temperature difference between supply and return flows. Temperatures are measured with Pt-100 thermo probes. FLUXUS measures the water flow rate with non-invasive clamp-on technology: The ultrasonic transducers are simply clamped to the pipe with no pipe work or downtimes required. The temperature and flow rate values are then digitized and transferred to a central computer.

The advantages of non-invasive flow measurement with ultrasonics are obvious: measurement is performed without problems and in a few minutes. Clamp-on technology functions reliably and completely independently of the pressure of the fluid flowing in the pipe. It offers maximum flexibility. A single transducer pair fits a wide range of commonly used pipe diameters. Modifications to the system can be made independently of the measuring equipment.

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