Felice Rubino

About the research project «innovative COatings for enhanced PERformance of coNcentratIng solar teChnOlogies (COPERNICO)»

Research Line: New Materials for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants

Mentor:  Prof. Pedro Poza

Second year of applied research at CENER (National Renewable Energy Center), mentor Fritz Zaversky.

Abstract

The aim of the project is identifying the most promising materials that can be efficiently used as coating layer for solar radiation collectors and energy storage systems in the concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, developing a methodology and a manufacturing process for synthesizing these materials as coatings. The selected novel materials have to satisfy the requirements for usage in CSP plant in terms of optical properties (solar absorptance and thermal emittance) as well as structural integrity at the operating temperature and in aggressive environment. Ceramics and cermet are the most promising candidates for the application in CSP systems. In addition, the adopted manufacturing process needs to be suitable for the selected materials allowing achieving the highest efficiency and preserving and/or improving their performance, it should be also low cost and allows using in-situ. Compact plasma spray and cold spray are promising solutions to deal with this issue. The process parameters can affect significantly the resultant properties of the coating, it allows tuning up the coating characteristics for the specific application, but on the other hand the deposition process need to be deeply investigated to gain knowledge of the impact of parameters on coating performance. Therefore, a thoroughly characterization of the manufactured coatings is required investigating optical, microstructural and mechanical properties as well as corrosion and wear resistance not only in lab-scale but also in the real work conditions. Considering the high variability of working conditions, assessment of these properties during the lifetime of the components also represents a key factor.

About Felice Rubino

Felice Rubino received his PhD in Industrial Engineering in 2018 at the University of Salerno, Italy, under the supervision of Prof. Pierpaolo Carlone. The thesis project focuses on numerical simulation and the experimental analysis of the manufacturing processes of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP), with particular attention to the liquid composite molding processes (LCM). In 2018 he joined the Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Engineering (IISE) of the University of Derby, as post-doc research associate working in the EU funded project related to the experimental analysis and the multi-scale modelling of real components made using bio-composites based on bio-based resin. In 2019 he joined the Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering of the University Federico II of Naples. Here, his research activity was focused on the optimization and characterization of Cold Spray process to functionalize the surfaces using metal or ceramic powders surfaces. The study consisted in the analysis of mechanical, chemical, corrosion and tribological properties of the as-produced cold spray coatings and after a post-deposition treatment (such as laser, friction stir processing). In the same context, research was devoted to the application of the Cold Spray as additive manufacturing technology to produce metal matrix composites and metal foams. Presently, Felice is developing his research project related to the manufacturing of advanced coatings to enhance the performance of Concentrating Solar Power plants as a GET-COFUND Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Rey Juan Carlos and CENER Solar Thermal Energy Department.

More about felice: ResearchGate profile