Building Concentrated Solar Power
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The Auroville Concentrator
More Info: Sunreign Solar Bowl Pages
This is an excellent example of the technology buildingcsp wants to enable. The radius of this bowl is 8,6 meter creating an aperture (at 120 degrees angle) of 15 meter. At the local insolation estimated ar 2000 W/m2/day that means under optimal circumstances 350 Kwh energy is available for heating. The design is not optimal, but easier to build than tracking parabolic mirrors.
The structure of the concentrator consists of prefabricated ferrocement elements joined in-situ. The mirrors are ordinary mirrors (15cm x 15cm)lined with ordinary glass at the back (using araldite) to protect the silver layer. The lined mirrors were stuck on the masonry structure using 9 silicone dots. To point them properly we used a simply laser pointer was used for slide shows.
The steel arm holding the receiver is rotating around a two axis pivot at the centre of the sphere. It is balanced (thanks to a counterweight) and polar mounted. It moves thanks to two stepper motors, each one connected to a wormgear (1:3,000).
It was originally intended to heat a special oil in a closed loop with a storage tank, with a second stage heating water for cooking. This setup proved to cumbersome so it was decided to use water directly in the reciever.
The reciever itself consists of a copper coil wound around a 4m long stainless steel sleave.
The energy is used for cooking of 330 meals a day, but only on sunny days. It is only used in the morning as meals are prepared before 11:30 am. Because of this requirements it works alongside a diesel heating installation. The total steam output is 450 Kg/day.
According to the builders the system has been working since 2001 in two stage and since 2004 with direct water injection. "The experience has been largely trouble free and quite rewarding in its simplicity.". The condition of the glass mirrors is still excellent after 8 years and the life of the mirrors is expected to be at least 5 years, and more for the other components.
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This is an excellent example of the technology buildingcsp wants to enable. The radius of this bowl is 8,6 meter creating an aperture (at 120 degrees angle) of 15 meter. At the local insolation estimated ar 2000 W/m2/day that means under optimal circumstances 350 Kwh energy is available for heating. The design is not optimal, but easier to build than tracking parabolic mirrors.
The structure of the concentrator consists of prefabricated ferrocement elements joined in-situ. The mirrors are ordinary mirrors (15cm x 15cm)lined with ordinary glass at the back (using araldite) to protect the silver layer. The lined mirrors were stuck on the masonry structure using 9 silicone dots. To point them properly we used a simply laser pointer was used for slide shows.
The steel arm holding the receiver is rotating around a two axis pivot at the centre of the sphere. It is balanced (thanks to a counterweight) and polar mounted. It moves thanks to two stepper motors, each one connected to a wormgear (1:3,000).
It was originally intended to heat a special oil in a closed loop with a storage tank, with a second stage heating water for cooking. This setup proved to cumbersome so it was decided to use water directly in the reciever.
The reciever itself consists of a copper coil wound around a 4m long stainless steel sleave.
The energy is used for cooking of 330 meals a day, but only on sunny days. It is only used in the morning as meals are prepared before 11:30 am. Because of this requirements it works alongside a diesel heating installation. The total steam output is 450 Kg/day.
According to the builders the system has been working since 2001 in two stage and since 2004 with direct water injection. "The experience has been largely trouble free and quite rewarding in its simplicity.". The condition of the glass mirrors is still excellent after 8 years and the life of the mirrors is expected to be at least 5 years, and more for the other components.
Subscribe to our info services to recieve information and assistance with your local initiative.
Comment
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Comment by Vipen Mahajan on October 15, 2009 at 6:04pm - Yes it has been pretty successful. In India the Schefeller (sp?) parabolic solar collect dish, has caught on. In Rajasthan, they are using a battery of 2x7 of these collectors ( 5m dia, I think), for generating steam for community cooking at a temple.
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Comment by scp2 on July 10, 2009 at 8:09am - It sure would be handy if you could turn that heat into electricity cheaply even at a loss of some efficiency. That's quite a bit of heat. Cost? In dollars or euros. Knowledge level to build? Time and number of workers?
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