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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34742 |
| Date | 02 March 1995 |
| Creators | Cordy, Clifford B., 1938- |
| Contributors | Rathja, Roy |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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