New Mars Forums

kbd512

Administrator

Registered: 2015-01-02

Posts: 6,989

Re: Trough Solar Collector- Design- Construction- Operation- Maintenance

SpaceNut,

It would make more sense to use oil instead of water in places with extremely cold temperatures, or to use gases that don't freeze, such as air without humidity / pure Nitrogen / CO2.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 27,890

Re: Trough Solar Collector- Design- Construction- Operation- Maintenance

The oil would go to a heat exchanger for home use heating to keep oil quantity as low as possible. I seem to remember that oil circulates through a heat exchanger, turning a refrigerant into steam, which drives a turbine that, in turn, drives a generator. Here it is...How To Build a Solar Generator, Affordable solar power using auto parts could make this electricity source far more available.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 27,890

Re: Trough Solar Collector- Design- Construction- Operation- Maintenance

Heat engines and how to make use of temperature difference to achieve the goal.

The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) converts thermal energy into electricity.

https://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/I … _Final.pdf
DESIGN AND BUILD OF A 1 KILOWATT ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE POWER GENERATOR

https://www.popularmechanics.com/scienc … 0/4232571/

A group of recent graduates and grad students from MIT is reconfiguring parts from old cars to create a simple turbine that runs on the heat of the sun instead of the oil drum. They hope to make it available in off-the-grid regions such as remote parts of the African country of Lesotho--where they recently completed a prototype (pictured above)--as a clean, inexpensive source of electricity, hot water and even refrigeration. The team was co-founded by former Peace Corps volunteer Matt Orosz, who was inspired by a locally made parabolic solar bread cooker during his stint in the country.

The solar turbine has three main parts: an array of shiny parabolic troughs that track the sun, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engine and an electrical control system. Rather than converting light to electricity using photovoltaics, this system employs solar heat: The four large troughs focus sunlight onto a continuous loop of pipes. Circulating through the pipes is a thermal absorption fluid, such as glycol, the anti-freeze fluid used in car radiators. Reaching temperatures up to 300 degrees F, the glycol passes through a heat exchanger, where it transfers its heat to a working fluid--a refrigerant, such as the R134 found in a car's air conditioner--which vaporizes and spins turbines in the ORC. The turbines generate enough juice (about 1000 watts) to charge a bank of batteries, while the excess steam heats water for domestic use. Add an absorption chiller, and you've got refrigeration as well, rounding out the typical range of energy needs: heating, cooling and electricity.

They kept prices low by using junk auto parts. The ORC's turbines are made from a salvaged turbo charger, which is coupled to an alternator to create electricity.

Organic Rankine cycle engines are not new. In large power plants, they're currently used to convert energy from low-grade, second-stage steam heat. And some very large solar-thermal power plants rely on ORCs, including the recently completed Nevada One, capable of generating 64 mW of power (enough for 40,000 homes). The Solar Turbine Group (STG) is taking an entirely different approach, scaling its equipment way down so that it can be installed in remote locations. Orosz and three partners recently spent a year in the Lesotho mountains working with locals to install a prototype solar turbine at a remote girls' school.

https://www.osti.gov/etdeweb/servlets/purl/894040

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 27,890

Re: Trough Solar Collector- Design- Construction- Operation- Maintenance

Here are the 4 troughs that create 10kw hot water and 1 kw of power with crude auto parts.

Here is another view of the troughs collecting heat energy