Concentrating solar power (CSP) is a unique renewable energy technology. CSP systems have the ability to provide electricity, refrigeration and water purification in one unit. This technology will be extremely helpful in improving the quality of life for many people around the world who lack the energy needed to live a healthy life. An economic parabolic dish concentrating system was built at the Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering Center (SESEC) at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. The goal of the project was to provide 6.67 kW of thermal energy. This is the amount of energy required to produce 1 kW of electricity with a conventional micro steam turbine. The system had a price goal of $1000 per kW and must be simple enough to be maintained by non-technical personnel. A 14 m^2 fiberglass parabolic concentrator was made at SESEC to ensure simplicity of production and operation. The concentrator was coated with a highly reflective polymer film. The cavity type receiver was filled with sodium nitrate to act as a heat storage and transfer medium. The collection efficiency of the cavity was estimated at 70%. The gross thermal conversion efficiency of the system was 39%, which represented a 333% improvement over the first concentrator assembled at SESEC. At peak insolation 5.46 kW of thermal energy was produced. The material cost for the system was $3,052. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: March 26, 2009. / Solar Thermal Collector, Aborber, Tilt Angle, Receiver Cavity Optimization / Includes bibliographical references. / Anjaneyulu Krothapalli, Professor Directing Thesis; Brenton Greska, Committee Member; Juan Carlos Ord´o˜nez, Committee Member; William S. Oates, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_169015 |
| Contributors | Dascomb, John (authoraut), Krothapalli, Anjaneyulu (professor directing thesis), Greska, Brenton (committee member), Ord´o˜nez, Juan Carlos (committee member), Oates, William S. (committee member), Department of Mechanical Engineering (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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