Dr. Daniela Fontani

phone: +39 0552308231

e-mail: daniela.fontani@ino.cnr.it

Personal information on CNR-INO website

Publications on CNR-INO database

1992 Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florence.
1998 Specialization in Optics at the Postgraduate School of Optics in Florence.

Researcher at the National Institute of Applied Optics (now National Institute of Optics of CNR ) from 1st December 2004.
Since 2016 Head of the Laboratory Solar Collectors.
Since 2011 represented for the CNR of the Joint Programme Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) of European Energy Research Alliance (EERA).
Since 2004 member of the Laboratory Photometry and Lighting.

2004-2002. Research grants from the INOA (National Institute of Applied Optics) for the development of instrumentation devoted to the characterization of solar light collectors and for the characterization of image instrumentation.
1998-2002. Two term-contracts as a researcher at the Consortium CEO (Center of Excellence Optronics), in two European projects. Within the structure of the CEO, I held the position of Computer Network Manager.
1995-1997. Fellowship at the National Institute of Optics for the study of electro-optical devices in the field of control systems.

Currently my work at the INO goes from industrial and environmental applications of optoelectronics to studies of alternative energy and in particular the exploitation of solar energy. Within this line of research I have participated in projects related to the applications of solar collectors in energy field, both thermal and photovoltaic, in the fields of lighting technology and cultural heritage.

The main areas of research activity currently are:

• Solar collectors: the study of solar collectors for systems Concentration PhotoVoltaic (CPV), heliostats and systems Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). Optical design, performance analysis, experimentation and testing for the development of solar-type CPV and CSP.
• Optical Test: realization of optoelectronic devices for the measurement of the characteristics of lenses, solar concentrators and other optical components. Field tests of Fresnel lenses and other solar collectors.
• Pointers for solar tracking: development of methods and devices for tracking. Design and test of sun-finders.
• Profilometry: design and test Profilers particularly applied to linear solar collectors.
• Photometry and Lighting: optical characterization of materials, color measurements; consulting for optical measures or optical controls in industrial applications

From 1995 to 2004, during my activities at the CEO and INOA, have collaborated on the development of optoelectronic devices for quality control in industry

The main areas of research have been:

• Agriculture: development of a sensor for the study of the flux emitted by the sprinklers.
• Textiles: realization of vision systems and the development of original measurement techniques.
• Holography: realization of computer-generated holograms with low-cost techniques.
• Optical Test: realization of prototype of an ellipsometer. Development of devices to measure the characteristics of lenses, solar concentrators, optical fibers and other optoelectronic elements. Test of industrial optical processes with interferometry. Field and laboratory tests of Fresnel lenses, solar collectors and systems for the concentration of solar light on the photovoltaic cells.
• Mechanical: development of optical systems for measuring the roughness of mechanical pieces with scattering techniques.
• Industrial realization of tracking systems of mechanical parts. Development of a data fusion system for the control of the wood production.
• Systems engineering: creation of PCs communication modules for data exchange using both the TCP / IP protocol and RS232 serial communication.
• Cultural heritage: application of the system with solar collectors and optical fibers to illuminate the windows of a museum.