The design of a point focus, distributed receiver solar power system is presented. It is shown that a two axis concentrator, with a two axis solar tracker and drive, has significant advantages over other possible optical systems. It is further shown that each concentrator should have its own optical receiver attached. A new dish and mount design is presented. This design provides a much stronger, lower cost dish. It further provides an easy way to attach a cheap drive system. The new mount is a gimbal, or cradle, in which the dish is mounted. The cradle provides a polar axis mount for the dish. The dish and cradle are very strong and will survive high winds in any orientation. Several other significant improvements to other parts of the solar energy collection system are presented. These include an improvement to the receiver cavity design, a thermal shield and secondary reflector to be added to the receiver, an improved steam output system for the receiver, a plumbing system that eliminates the need for flexible couplings in the water lines, and a water distribution system that eliminates nearly half of the thermal insulation needed on the pipes going through the collector array. Two economic optimizations are presented. The first analyses the return on investment for various dish spacings. The second analyses the cost per unit area of the concentrator dish and mount. It is found that the optimum dish diameter is ten meters and the optimum packing density in a conventional array is about 13%. / Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, 1979. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Paul David Bayless. / M.S.