Technological Quantum Leap – Automation of Collector Production

Robert Goerge, Head of Collector Products Division, Flagsol GmbH

50 HelioTrough collectors per day, each around 20 meters long and over seven meters high, a total length of one kilometer for a collector row –we’ll reach a new best in production time with computer-supported automation. With the manual assembly technology used so far, up to 30 units of the smaller Skal-ET collectors at twelve meters long and six meters high were produced per day. These were used in our Andasol 3 power plant.

In addition to productivity, we are also setting new standards when it comes to quality. The assembly of our parabolic mirrors means precision work down to tenths of millimeters. The new, highly modern production line is being built in Germany, and after successful test results will be dismantled and shipped to the U.S.A. It consists of five stations synchronized to the same cycle. Our cranes will be replaced by automatically controlled ground conveyors for transport between stations. Each sub-process, such as assembling, bolting and cementing, will be performed in the future by robots, with absolute repeat accuracy with regard to quality and time. The automated steps ensure that every mirror is placed in exactly the right position, every joint is tightened with the same defined torque, and so on. This allows us to minimize tolerances and results in our collectors working with even greater optical precision.

By the end of 2009 we were already developing our first ideas for automation. These became reality in the first half of 2010, when our partner delivered the production concept and the results of a successful feasibility study. We officially began in September 2010. The first parabolic mirrors will roll off the assembly line at the start of construction of the Blythe solar field. For every 250 MW block in Blythe, we will need more than 11,000 collectors, which will be built in just nine months.

We are investing double-digit millions in automation. This technology will be used not only in the U.S.A., but in all future power plants, giving them even higher performance. According to our research, our collector production will be at least 50 percent faster than the market standard. Nearly two million square meters of collector surface can be produced per year and line.

I’ve been with Flagsol in Cologne since July 2010 and am thrilled to be able to carry over my experience from optimizing established serial production in mechanical engineering to the still young industry of solar-thermal power plants. I also very much enjoy the international nature of the work; within the Solar Millennium Group, our American teams are involved in the HelioTrough project and our German production partner is likewise supported by the expertise of its American partner. In a highly motivated team made up of some two dozen internal and external employees, I am doing my part to help the parabolic trough technology achieve its global breakthrough, including on the economic side.