ECEN 5007 SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS Lecture 8. Parabolic Dishes

July 27, 2012 Manuel J. Blanco, Ph.D., Dr.Ing. - Manuel A. Silva, Dr.Ing.

TWTH 17:00-19:30 - Class Room: ECCR 1B55 Office Hours: TWTH 15:30-16:30

Parabolic dish systems

}  Combine a paraboloidal concentrator (parabolic dish) with a Power Conversion Unit (PCU) directly attached to the concentrator

}  Types of PCU }  Gas Turbines }  Direct Steam Generation }  Stirling Engine

Advanco ('82-'85)"

MDAC ('83-'88) Boeing/SES (‘98-’99)"

SBP/Almeria"('88-'99)"

Cummins"('89-'96)"

SBP/Solo"

SAIC/STM"

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Parabolic Dish + Gas Turbine

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}  Cummings 1996

Parabolic dish - Direct Steam Generation

Dish collector field at Shenandoah, GA •  Industrial process heat project. •  7 meters diameter, •  aluminized film reflector Heat from the field was used in a textile plant for air conditioning and process heat.

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Solar Village (Arabia Saudí)

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Parabolic dish – Stirling engine experiences (source: Mancini et al. JSEE 2003)

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Parabolic dish – Stirling engine

} High performance }  High concentration ratio }  High temperature }  Modularity }  No water consumption

•  High capital costs – Stirling engine and concentrator

•  High O+M costs – H2 refilling, engine maintenance

•  Durability of the engine SBP/Solo-PSA"

10-kW EuroDish

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Dish – Stirling systems. Main elements }  Structure }  Concentrator }  Tracking system }  PCU }  Control

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Structure

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Structural optical surface

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Space frame structures

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Stretched membrane

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Concentrator

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Glass mirror-faceted

}  Spherically curved mirrors }  Individually alignable }  Parabolic shaped structure

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Full surface paraboloid }  The entire surface forms a paraboloid }  Usually made of a number of ‘petals’

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Stretched membrane. Single facet }  Membrane

}  Preshaped (vacuum not enough) }  Thin reflective plastic }  Thin metal sheet + reflective surface

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Stretched membrane - multifaceted }  Avoid the need for preshaping }  Difficult alignment

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Mounting

Pedestal Carrousel

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Tracking

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Polar tracking

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Elevation - azimuth tracking

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Receiver }  Absorbs concentrated solar energy and converts it to thermal

energy that heats the working fluid (gas) inside the engine. }  External (low temp.) }  Cavity (high temp.)

}  Directly illuminated tubes }  Reflux

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Directly illuminated tubes receiver

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Reflux receiver }  Intermediate heat transfer fluid }  Decouple receiver and engine

}  Pool boiler. The absorber surface is always immersed in a liquid

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Reflux receiver }  Heat pipe. A wick draws the liquid metal from a small sump

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Stirling Engine }  The Stirling cycle

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Stirling engines }  Kinematic }  Free piston

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Cleanergy, 10 kW

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Performance of Eurodish System

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Performance of the Eurodish System

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State of the art }  Most efficient solar to electric technology (>30%). }  Pre-commercial experiences

}  Increase reliability }  Reduce costs

}  Three (four) main manufacturers / systems today }  Tessera Suncatcher (SES) 25 kW }  Cleanergy / SBP Eurodish 10 kW }  Infinia Corp 3 kW }  (Ripaso Energy) 25 kW

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SES / Tessera Suncatcher http://www.tesserasolar.com/

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SES / Tessera Solar, Maricopa 1.5 MW

Infinia http://www.infiniacorp.com/

}  3 kW Free piston engine

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Infinia

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Eurodish sbp.de

}  10 kW kinematic Stirling engine (SOLO V161) }  8.5 m diameter concentrator

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Projects (Tessera Solar / SES)

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}  Imperial Valley (Solar 2) | Imperial County, California | San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) 750MW | Total of 30,000 SunCatcher™ Power Systems.

}  Calico (Solar 1) | San Bernardino County, California | Southern California Edison (SCE) 850MW | Total of 34,000 SunCatcher™ Power Systems. .

}  Western Ranch Solar | West Texas | CPS Energy 27MW |Total of 1,080 SunCatcher™ Power Systems.

}  Maricopa Solar | Maricopa County - Peoria, Arizona | Salt River Project (SRP) 1.5MW |Total of 60 SunCatcher™ Power Systems.

Projects (Infinia)

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}  Infinia }  100 kW demo plant, Vllarrobledo, Spain }  70 MW (2 projects) in Spain }  SD G&E (demonstration projects)

}  Cleanergy }  SOLARDIS (5 units x 10 kW)

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}  Free piston engine. }  http://www.infiniacorp.com/howitworks.html }  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl8iNXsjsbI&feature=fvw

}  Tessera /SES }  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-MJrJpW2M0

}  Infinia }  http://www.infiniacorp.com/powerdish.html

}  Cleanergy

}  Eurodish