Title :
Concentrated evacuated tubes for solar-thermal energy generation using stirling engine
Author :
Madduri, Achintya ; Loeder, Denise ; Beutler, Nic ; He, Mike ; Sanders, Seth
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Abstract :
In this study a commercial evacuated tube solar hot-water system was modified to be used as a thermal-power source for a thermodynamic engine. Commercial hot-water systems are meant to operate at temperatures that are close to the boiling point of water. Single-tube non-imaging concentrators were built in order to increase the input solar-radiation per tube and therefore supply thermal-power at temperatures of 180 - 220°C. Simulations and experiments show that it is possible to use concentrators to increase the temperature range of thermal power extracted from a commercial evacuated tube system and use this modified system to increase the efficiency of solar-thermal energy generation.
Keywords :
Stirling engines; pipes; solar energy concentrators; solar power stations; thermal power stations; thermodynamics; Stirling engine; boiling point; commercial evacuated tube solar hot-water system; concentrated evacuated tubes; single-tube nonimaging concentrators; solar radiation; solar-thermal energy generation; temperature 180 degC to 220 degC; thermal-power source; thermodynamic engine; Electron tubes; Equations; Heat engines; Mathematical model; Solar radiation; Temperature measurement; Evacuated-tube Solar-Thermal Generators; Non-imaging Concentrators; Solar-Thermal Energy Generation;
Conference_Titel :
Energytech, 2012 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Cleveland, OH
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-1836-5
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4673-1834-1
DOI :
10.1109/EnergyTech.2012.6304625
