SALTO Project

Acronym of Solar Assisted cooLing Toscana, it was a project Integrated Research POR Ob.3 Tuscany 2000-2006 Misura D4

The project involved the construction of a combined system for the production of cold by absorption refrigeration machines designed specifically for the power supply with solar collectors.
The general objective of the research program was to obtain cooling energy in the medium-low temperature (0/7 °C).

Project partners:

• C.R.E.A.R. (Autonomous Centre of Interdepartmental Research for Renewable Energy of Engineering Faculty, University of Florence);
• CNR-INO (then National Institute of Applied Optics - INOA);
  
• FAIT  LTD;
• C.E.V.I.T. (CONSORTIUM EMPOLESE VALDELSA IDROTERMICI).

The staff of the Collectors Solar Laboratory has dealt with the study of the optical configurations of the concentrators. The basic element of the modular system is composed of a parabolic concentrator focusing on a pipe. The contribution to the project was mainly the study of the different configurations considering the behaviour of the system in relation with the deformations of the parabola, the defocusing of the tube, the tracking errors as well as with the misalignment with respect to the North-South direction.
All analyses on the optical behaviour of the solar collector have been simulated with Zemax software. The analyses made are similar to those described in the section of the parabolic collectors.