Study of Accelerated Degradation Tests for Parabolic Trough Receiver Vacuum Lifetime

Parabolic trough receiver, the key component in the parabolic trough solar thermal plant, must maintain vacuum condition in order to guarantee high thermal efficiency. It must be used for 25 years. Based on the structure and operation environment of parabolic trough receiver, the factors affecting the vacuum lifetime are analyzed. Then accelerate degradation tests are developed to analysis the vacuum lifetime of parabolic trough receiver, and the organization and implementation of tests are given. The data processing method are also discussed in this paper.