A program is now underway to develop commercial power conversion systems that use parabolic dish mirrors in conjunction with Stirling engines to convert solar energy to electric power. In early prototypes, the solar concentrator focused light directly on the heater tubes of the Stirling engine. Liquid-metal heat-pipes are now being developed to transfer energy from the focus of the solar concentrator to the heater tubes of the engine. The dome-shaped heat-pipe receivers are approximately one-half meters in diameter and up to 77-kW of concentrated solar energy is delivered to the absorber surface. Over the past several years, Sandia National Laboratories, ...
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Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Place of Publication:
Albuquerque, New Mexico
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A program is now underway to develop commercial power conversion systems that use parabolic dish mirrors in conjunction with Stirling engines to convert solar energy to electric power. In early prototypes, the solar concentrator focused light directly on the heater tubes of the Stirling engine. Liquid-metal heat-pipes are now being developed to transfer energy from the focus of the solar concentrator to the heater tubes of the engine. The dome-shaped heat-pipe receivers are approximately one-half meters in diameter and up to 77-kW of concentrated solar energy is delivered to the absorber surface. Over the past several years, Sandia National Laboratories, through the sponsorship of the Department of Energy, has conducted a major program to explore receiver designs and identify suitable wick materials. A high-flux bench-scale system has been developed to test candidate wick designs, and full-scale systems have been tested on an 11-meter test-bed solar concentrator. Procedures have also been developed in this program to measure the properties of wick materials, and an extensive data-base on wick materials for high temperature heat pipes has been developed. This paper provides an overview of the receiver development program and results from some of the many heat-pipe tests.
Adkins, D.R.; Andraka, C.E. & Moss, T.A.Development of a 75-kW heat-pipe receiver for solar heat-engines,
article,
May 1, 1995;
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc707568/:
accessed August 18, 2017),
University of North Texas Libraries, Digital Library, digital.library.unt.edu;
crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.