Dish/engine systems employ mirrors arranged in a parabolic dish to focus sunlight onto an engine that generates electricity. The dish/engine system is a concentrating solar power (CSP) technology that produces smaller amounts of electricity than other CSP technologies–typically in the range of 3 to 25 kilowatts–but is beneficial for modular use. The two primary components of the system comprise the solar concentrator and the converter unit for power.
SOLAR CONCENTRATOR
A solar concentrator, also known as a dish, collects sunlight direct from the sun. The resulting beam of sunlight is then reflected off an insulated thermal receiver which absorbs the sun’s energy. The word is set on a structure that follows the sun all day, allowing the maximum sunlight on the thermal receiver.
POWER CONVERSION UNIT
Power conversion units comprise the thermal receiver and generator/engine. The thermal receiver links to the dish’s generator or motor. It absorbs the intense solar energy radiation, converts it into heat, and then transfers it to the generator or motor. The thermal receiver may be a collection of tubes with a cooling fluid – usually hydrogen or helium- typically the medium used to transfer heat and is the fluid that works with an engine. Alternative thermal receivers can also be described as heat pipes, in which condensing and boiling of the intermediate fluid transfer energy to a machine.
The engine/generator is the subsystem that absorbs the thermal energy from the receiver’s thermal source and converts it into electrical energy conversion from thermal. The most popular kind of heat engine that is used in dish or engine systems is the Stirling engine. A Stirling engine uses hot fluid to propel pistons and generate mechanical power. The automated process of turning the crankshaft on the machine creates energy for a generator and electricity.