On the feasibility of colored glazed thermal solar collectors based on thin film interference filters

Glazed thermal solar collectors, typically equipped with black, optical selective absorber sheets, exhibit good energy conversion efficiency. However, the black color, and sometimes the visibility of tubes and corrugations of the metal sheets, limit the architectural integration into buildings. In order to overcome this drawback, interference filters are considered as a promising approach. Multilayered thin film stacks deposited on the cover glass can produce a colored reflection hiding the black absorber without a great loss of energy. These interference filters are designed and optimized by numerical simulation. Such coatings are deposited by vacuum processes (e.g. magnetron sputtering) and also via the SolGel method. Optical measurements, such as real-time laser-reflectometry and spectrophotometry, are suitable to determine film thicknesses and optical constants of individual layers, and to measure color coordinates and solar transmittance for the multilayer stacks. Advantages and disadvantages of the different coating processes are discussed.