Concentrating solar collectors: Mirrored surfaces concentrate sun

radiations (DNI) onto a receiver where it heats a transfer fluids that subsequently
exchanges its absorbed heat to water to produce steam to power a steam turbine
generator.

4 typical collector types:

- Line focusing technology: parabolic trough collector
Linear Fresnel collector

- Point focusing technology: solar tower collector

Solar dish collector

1. Parabolic trough (PT) collector:

- Foundation and metallic structure: support the collectors and fix them to
the ground so that the whole structure can support the collector.

- Parabolic trough reflector: this is the concentrating part of the collector. It

reflects the solar radiation and transfers it to the receiver tube. Main
reflective materials that are used include silver and alluminium, which are
normally placed on a glass plate.

- Absorber tube or receiver: it converts concentrated light

energy into thermal energy in the heat transfer fluid. It presents selective
features to maximize energy conversion process.

- Transmission and tracking system: collectors moves so that their opening

plane is pointed towards the plane of sun rays. A tracking system is used to
change and focus the collector as the sun is moving.

- Heat transfer fluid: thermal oil is the most used working fluid in solar
thermal plants. However, different fluids as water steam can also be used.
This fluid is the medium to transport the concentrated thermal energy that
permits to generate the steam to operate the turbine, thus producing
electricity.

General info:

Trough systems predominate among todays commercial solar power plants.

Because of their parabolic shape, troughs can focus the sun at 30 to 60 times
its normal intensity on a receiver pipe located along the focal line of the
trough. Synthetic oil captures this heat as the oil circulates through the pipe,
reaching temperatures as high as 390C (735F). The hot oil is pumped to a
generating station and routed through a heat exchanger to produce steam.
Finally, electricity is produced in a conventional steam turbine.

Parabolic trough solar power plants produce electricity from the heat of the
sun. Trough technology is the most cost-effective solar technology available
today, with potential for significant cost reduction. This technology has the
advantage over other renewable technologies (e.g., wind) in that it can be
augmented with fossil fuels or with the addition thermal storage, allowing
trough technology to provide electricity on demand.

Parabolic trough solar power plants produce electric power by converting the
sun's energy into high-temperature heat through the use of parabolic-trough
collectors. The sun's energy is concentrated by the parabolic-shaped mirrors
(or reflectors) with focus light onto a receiver pipe running located at the
focus of the collector mirrors. This energy heats oil flowing through the pipe,
and the heat energy is then used to generate electricity in a conventional
steam turbine.

A collector field comprises many troughs in parallel rows aligned on a north-

south axis. This configuration enables the single-axis troughs to track the sun
from east to west during the day to ensure that the sun is continuously
focused on the receiver pipes. Individual trough systems currently can
generate about 80 megawatts of electricity, enough to power a city of
110,000 people. Of course, individual systems can be grouped to provide
more power.

Because trough technology relies on sunshine, it is often "hybridized" with

fossil fuel systems to allow generation of power around the clock. Typically a
natural gas-fired heat or a gas steam boiler/reheater is used; troughs also can
be integrated with existing coal-fired plants or high efficiency combined-cycle
plants. Trough designs can incorporate thermal storage-setting aside the heat
transfer fluid in its hot phase-allowing for electricity generation several hours
into the evening.
 These attributes, along with impressive solar-to-electric conversion
efficiencies, make trough technology an attractive renewable energy option in
the Southwest and other sunbelt regions worldwide.

Advantages:
Solar parabolic trough systems are the most developed and commercially tested concentrating
solar power technology. Between 1985 and 1991, approximately 350 MW of solar parabolic trough
power plants were put into operation in the Mojave Desert as SEGS (Solar Electric Generating
System) I through IX. These 9 solar parabolic trough power plants have been generating solar
electric power since then.
Since solar parabolic trough systems produce steam to generate electricity with a conventional
Rankine steam cycle, these systems can be readily hybridized, that is, they can be set up to use a
fossil fuel (typically natural gas) as a supplementary fuel, so that electricity can be generated
when the sun isn't shining.
The solar parabolic trough system is suitable for use in an Integrated Solar Combined Cycle
System (ISCCS) with potential to reduce the cost and increase the overall solar to electric
efficiency.
Disadvantages:
The solar parabolic trough system doesn't produce fluid temperature as high as some of the
other concentrating solar power technologies, which makes its efficiency for electricity production
lower.

2- Fresnel collector:
Linear Fresnel is a line-focusing technology similar to the parabolic trough in that it consists of
reflectors that track the sun in one axis and focus the beam radiation onto fluid-carrying receiver
tubes. The difference is that Fresnel uses a series of long flat or slightly curved ground-mounted
mirrors, and the receiver tube is elevated above the mirrors and fixed. Flat reflectors and fixed
receivers lead to lower capital costs relative to a traditional trough-based plant.

Can Fresnel outperform parabolic trough?

http://social.csptoday.com/technology/can-fresnel-outperform-parabolic-trough

Advantages
Flat solar mirrors used in the solar fresnel technology are less expensive than the parabolic

shaped solar mirror of the parabolic trough or the parabolic dish.

 The absorber tube is simpler and less expensive than that of the parabolic trough system,
because multiple solar mirrors reflect solar power to a single absorber tube and the absorber tube
doesn't need couplings as the receiver tubes for the parabolic trough and parabolic dish systems
do, because the absorber tube is fixed.
A linear solar fresnel solar plant can be hybridized with fossil fuel backup to be used for
electrical generation when the sun isn't shining.
Flat solar fresnel reflectors don't need to support the absorber tube, so they are structurally
simpler than the parabolic trough and parabolic dish systems.
Disadvantages
A linear solar fresnel solar plant doesn't produce a fluid temperature as high as the parabolic
trough or parabolic dish solar concentrators, so its thermal efficiency for conversion of solar power
to electricity is lower.

3- Solar tower collector:

General Configuration of the Heliostat Solar Tower Power Plant

The heliostat solar tower power plant uses a field of two axis, tracking
solar mirrors called heliostats. Each heliostat reflects the incoming solar radiation and
focuses it on a receiver at the top of a tall tower. The picture at the left shows a heliostat
solar power plant that began operation in 2009. This 20 MW solar power plant has 1255
heliostat mirrors, all reflecting to the top of the 160 m tall solar tower. Each heliostat has
120 m2 of surface area.

The picture at the right shows a single heliostat solar mirror from the Solar Two array. Solar
One and Solar Two were successive versions of a 10 MW demonstration heliostat solar tower
plant that produced solar power near Barstow, CA. Solar One produced solar power using
water/steam as the heat transfer fluid from 1982 to 1988. This solar plant was upgraded to
Solar Two and operated from 1996 to 1999 heating molten salt to over 1000oF in the receiver
at the top of the solar tower. Using hot molten salt as the heat transfer fluid for Rankine
cycle generation of solar electricity allowed thermal energy storage, so electricity could be
produced continuously.

Advantages:
Although the heliostat solar tower approach to solar power production isn't as commercially
developed as the solar parabolic trough system, it is more commercially developed than either the
parabolic dish - stirling engine or linear fresnel systems.
Since the heliostat solar tower system produces steam to generate electricity with a
conventional Rankine steam cycle, this system can be hybridized. In other words, it can be
designed to use a fossil fuel (typically natural gas) as a supplementary fuel, allowing electricity to
be generated when the sun isn't shining.
DisAdvantages:
The heliostat solar tower system produces a fluid temperature greater than that of the single
axis tracking, parabolic trough and linear Fresnel system, but less than that of the two axis
tracking, parabolic dish - Stirling engine system. Thus it cannot achieve an efficiency for
conversion of electricity from thermal energy as high as that of the parabolic dish - Stirling engine
system.

4- solar dish collector:

An individual solar parabolic dish - stirling engine unit consists of a

two axis tracking, parabolic dish reflector that focuses incoming sunlight onto a stirling cycle
engine/generator. The engine/generator uses the Stirling thermodynamic cycle to produce
electricity without producing steam as

an intermediate step. The parabolic dish reflector which moves to

continuously face the sun, thus producing a high temperature (~1452F) in the fluid receiving
the focused solar energy. Individual solar parabolic dish - stirling engine units, like the one
shown in the image at the left, typically produce 3 to 25 kW each. By using a great many
units in an array for a solar plant, as shown in the image at the right, solar power can be
produced at the MW level in a solar plant.
Advantages:
The high fluid temperature attainable by the two axis tracking solar parabolic dish leads to
high conversion efficiency of solar power to electricity (for a heat engine). Conversion efficiency
approaching 30% has been achieved. This is the highest conversion efficiency of the concentrating
solar power technologies.
The solar parabolic dish - stirling engine system can be used as a relatively small distributed
power source, because a single unit is self-contained. By combining a lot of the units, MW levels of
electricity from solar power can be produced.
The solar parabolic dish - stirling engine system has only a very minimal water requirement.
The engine is air cooled, so no cooling water is needed and the performance penalty associated
with dry air condenser cooling for a steam power plant doesn't enter into the picture.
disadvantage:
Due to the distributed nature of the solar parabolic dish - stirling engine system, with many
individual units, this type of system doesn't lend itself well for thermal energy storage, to allow
electricity generation when the sun isn't shining.