Laboratory Erosion Simulation of Antisoiling Glass Mirror

Abstract

the deposition of the dust films on the surface of the solar reflectors significantly reduces their efficiency of reflecting sunrays and then a decrease in the global performance of the solar plant. The solar industry has been developing antisoiling surface coatings to enhance sunrays reflection and mitigate the impacts of soiling. Besides their hydrophobic property, the antisoiling coating should demonstrate a good resistance to the weather and environment strains, namely erosion and corrosion phenomenon. In this work we are interested in the evaluation of the resistance of antisoiling coatings glass mirrors towards erosion degradation. The erosion degradation is simulated in laboratory using a test bench helping to reproduce the environmental conditions of an arid and windy site. Results of laboratory’s simulation show that the optical properties of the antisoiling coating are more degraded than the standard glass mirrors. The surface and hydrophobic properties are also investigated.