Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Concentrated solar thermal energy'

The research demonstrated a balanced process, energy, and techno-economic argument for the utilisation of concentrated solar thermal energy, essentially, for hydrogen production and other industrial process systems. The representative case studies undertaken in the research addressed process and solar thermal energy modelling, energy integration, process optimisation, exergy assessment, and techno-economic evaluation as it relates to renewable hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuel production. The research established that economic assessment studies, process-energy configuration, choice of renewable energy, and mixed energy options are key to the shift from fossil fuel to green energy and industrial production to significantly reduce the impact of climate change.

Hydrogen storage properties of LiBH4 may be changed by interaction with other complex hydrides due to an intimate interaction between the respective alkaline metals and boron which facilitate a relatively larger hydrogen storage capacity. The cyclic stability of the following binary complex hydride systems LiBH4-Ca(BH4)2, LiBH4-NaBH4 and LiBH4-NaAlH4 shows significant reversibility and due to their relative high gravimetric H2 storage capacity and specific heat storage capacity, they may potentially act as heat storage materials.

One of the most relevant problems to solve at a planetary scale is the access to an affordable clean source of energy as CO2 equivalent emissions should be reduced significantly. Some authors aim for a zero emissions target for 2050. Renewable energies will play a leading role in this energy transition, and solar energy with storage is a promising technology exploring a renewable and worldwide available resource. Within the present thesis component development like a new thermal storage thermocline tank design or having latent heat storage capability are technological developments that have been pursued and analyzed on a system perspective basis, focusing on reducing the LCOE value of a commercial STE plant using TRNSYS software. Material research with molten salts mixtures and cement based materials has been performed at lab scale. A fully validation should occur through a 13 partners pan-European H2020 project called NEWSOL which has been developed supported on the laboratory data obtained. Moreover, incorporation of local available material, “modern slag” from an old mine of Alentejo region, was also studied. The material could be used as an aggregate incorporated into calcium aluminate cement (CAC) or as filler. This would help to solve a local environmental complex problem related to soil, air and water pollution due to heavy metals and mining activity in Mina de São Domingos, Southeast of Portugal. The integration of these results underlies a broad energy transition model, a proposal is presented in this thesis, with the aim to foster development towards a sustainable usage of resources and promote clean technologies especially in the energy sector. This model can be locally adapted depending on the pattern of existing industries. The goal is to achieve a smooth transition into a clean tech energy society in line with the target of achieving zero emissions for 2050; Optimização Energética de uma Central de Concentração Solar com Armazenamento de Energia Resumo: Um dos problemas mais relevantes a resolver a uma escala planetária é o acesso, com um custo moderado, a fontes limpas de energia considerando que as emissões equivalentes de CO2 derão ser reduzidas drasticamente. Alguns autores ambicionam mesmo um objetivo de zero emissões em 2050. As energias renováveis irão desempenhar um papel preponderante nesta transição energética, sendo que a energia solar com armazenamento é uma tecnologia promissora que aproveita um recurso renovável e disponível em boa parte do Planeta. Na presente tese foi realizado o desenvolvimento de componentes nomeadamente o design que um novo tanque do tipo termocline, ou de novos elementos recorrendo ao calor latente, desenvolvimentos tecnológicos que foram analizados de uma perspectiva de sistema, dando o enfoque na redução do custo nivelado da electricidade (LCOE) para uma planta Termosolar usando o software TRNSYS. Foi também realizada investigação em laboratório ao nível dos materiais com várias misturas de sais fundidos inclusivé em contacto directo com materiais de base cimenticia. Uma validação completa deverá ocorrer no projeto NEWSOL do programa H2020 que reúne um consórcio de 13 parceiros europeus e que foi preparado e submetido tendo por base os resultados laboratoriais obtidos. Adicionalmente, incorporação de material disponível (escória de minério) de uma mina abandonada da região do Alentejo foi outro dos aspectos estudados. Verificou-se que este material poderá ser utilizado como agregado num ligante do tipo cimento de aluminato de cálcio (CAC) ou como “filler”. Este re-aproveitamento resolveria um problema ambiental complexo derivado do elevado conteúdo de metais pesados resultantes da actividade de mineração e que actualamente provocam poluição do solo, água e ar na área da Mina de São Domingos, Sudeste de Portugal. Estes progressos deverão ser integrados num modelo de transição energética mais amplo. Na presente tese, uma proposta concreta é apresentada, com o objectivo de incentivar o desenvolvimento na direção de uma utilização sustentável dos recursos e a promoção de tecnologias limpas nomeadamente no sector da energia. Este modelo poderá ser adaptado localmente dependendo do padrão de indústrias existente. O objectivo é atingir uma transição suave para uma sociedade de energias limpas em linha com o objectivo de atingir zero emissões de CO2 equivalente em 2050.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plant is a promising technology that exploits direct normal irradiation (DNI) from the sun to be converted into thermal energy in the solar field. One of the advantages of CSP technology is the possibility to store thermal energy in thermal energy storage (TES) for later production of electricity. The integration of thermal storage allows the CSP plant to be a dispatchable system which is defined as having a capability to schedule its operation using an innovative dispatch planning tool. Considering weather forecast and electricity price profile in the market, dispatch planning tool uses an optimization algorithm. It aims to shift the schedule of electricity delivery to the hours with high electricity price. These hours are usually reflected by the high demand periods. The implementation of dispatch optimizer can benefit the CSP plants economically from the received financial revenues. This study proposes an optimization of dispatch planning strategies for the parabolic trough CSP plant under two dispatch approaches: solar driven and storage driven. The performed simulation improves the generation of electricity which reflects to the increase of financial revenue from the electricity sale in both solar and storage driven approaches. Moreover, the optimization also proves to reduce the amount of dumped thermal energy from the solar field.

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a fast-growing technology for electricity production. With mirrors (heliostats) irradiation of the sun is concentrated onto a receiver run through by a heat transfer fluid (HTF). The fluid by that reaches high temperatures and is used to drive a steam turbine for electricity production. A CSP power plant is most often coupled with an energy storage unit, where the HTF is stored before it is dispatched and used to generate electricity. Electricity is most often sold at an open market with a fluctuating spot-prices. It is therefore of high importance to generate and sell the electricity at the highest paid hours, increasingly important also since the governmental support mechanisms aimed to support renewable energy production is faded out since the technology is starting to be seen as mature enough to compete by itself on the market. A solar power plant thus has an operational protocol determining when energy is dispatched, and electricity is sold. These protocols are often pre-defined which means an optimal production is not achieved since irradiation and electricity selling price vary. In this master thesis, an optimization algorithm for electricity sales is designed (in MATLAB). The optimization algorithm is designed by for a given timeframe solve an optimization problem where the objective is maximized revenue from electricity sales from the solar power plant. The function takes into consideration hourly varying electricity spot price, hourly varying solar field efficiency, energy flows in the solar power plant, start-up costs (from on to off) plus conditions for the logic governing the operational modes. Two regular pre-defined protocols were designed to be able to compare performance in a solar power plant with the optimized dispatch protocol. These three operational protocols were evaluated in three different markets; one with fluctuating spot price, one regulated market of three fixed price levels and one in spot market but with zero-prices during sunny hours. It was found that the optimized dispatch protocol gave both bigger electricity production and revenue in all markets, but with biggest differences in the spot markets. To evaluate in what type of powerplant the optimizer performs best, a parametric analysis was made where size of storage and power block, the time-horizon of optimizer and the cost of start-up were varied. For size of storage and power block it was found that revenue increased with increased size, but only up to the level where the optimizer can dispatch at optimal hours. After that there is no increase in revenue. Increased time horizon gives increased revenue since it then has more information. With a 24-hour time horizon, morning price-peaks will be missed for example. To change start-up costs makes the power plant less flexible and with fewer cycles, without affect income much.
Koncentrerad solkraft (CSP) är en snabbt växande teknologi för elektricitets-produktion. Med speglar (heliostater) koncentreras solstrålar på en mottagare som genomflödas av en värmetransporteringsvätska. Denna uppnår därmed höga temperaturer vilket används för att driva en ångturbin för att generera el. Ett CSP kraftverk är oftast kopplat till en energilagringstank, där värmelagringsvätskan lagras innan den används för att generera el. El säljs i de flesta fall på en öppen elmarknad, där spotpriset fluktuerar. Det är därför av stor vikt att generera elen och sälja den vid de timmar med högst elpris, vilket också är av ökande betydelse då supportmekanismerna för att finansiellt stödja förnybar energiproduktion används i allt mindre grad för denna teknologi då den börjar anses mogen att konkurrera utan. Ett solkraftverk har således ett driftsprotokoll som bestämmer när el ska genereras. Dessa protokoll är oftast förutbestämda, vilket innebär att en optimal produktion inte fås då exempelvis elspotpriset och solinstrålningen varierar. I detta examensarbete har en optimeringsalgoritm för elförsäljning designats (i MATLAB). Optimeringsscriptet är designat genom att för en given tidsperiod lösa ett optimeringsproblem där objektivet är maximerad vinst från såld elektricitet från solkraftverket. Funktionen tar hänsyn till timvist varierande elpris, timvist varierande solfältseffektivitet, energiflöden i solkraftverket, kostnader för uppstart (on till off) samt villkor för att logiskt styra de olika driftlägena. För att jämföra prestanda hos ett solkraftverk med det optimerade driftsprotokollet skapades även två traditionella förutbestämda driftprotokoll. Dessa tre driftsstrategier utvärderades i tre olika marknader, en med ett varierande el-spotpris, en i en reglerad elmarknad med tre prisnivåer och en i en marknad med spotpris men noll-pris under de soliga timmarna. Det fanns att det optimerade driftsprotokollet gav både större elproduktion och högre vinst i alla marknader, men störst skillnad fanns i de öppna spotprismarknaderna. För att undersöka i vilket slags kraftverk som protokollet levererar mest förbättring i gjordes en parametrisk analys där storlek på lagringstank och generator varierades, samt optimerarens tidshorisont och kostnad för uppstart. För lagringstank och generator fanns att vinst ökar med ökande storlek upp tills den storlek optimeraren har möjlighet att fördela produktion på dyrast timmar. Ökande storlek efter det ger inte ökad vinst. Ökande tidshorisont ger ökande vinst eftersom optimeraren då har mer information. Att ändra uppstartkostnaden gör att solkraftverket uppträder mindre flexibelt och har färre cykler, dock utan så stor påverkan på inkomst.

Thermal energy storage (TES) systems play a crucial part in the success of concentrated solar power as a reliable thermal energy source. The economics and operational effectiveness of TES systems are the subjects of continuous research for improvement, in order to lower the localized cost of energy (LCOE). This study investigates the use of spherical tanks and their role in sensible heat storage in liquids. In the two tank system, typical cylindrical tanks were replaced by spherical tanks of the same volume and subjected to heat loss, stress analysis, and complete tank cost evaluation. The comparison revealed that replacing cylindrical tanks by spherical tanks in two tank molten salt storage systems could result in a 30% reduction in heat loss from the wall, with a comparable reduction in total cost. For a one tank system (or thermocline system), a parametric computational fluid dynamic (CFD) study was performed in order to obtain fluid flow parameters that govern the formation and maintenance of a thermocline in a spherical tank. The parametric study involved the following dimensionless numbers: Re (500-7500), Ar (0.5-10), Fr (0.5-3), and Ri (1-100). The results showed that within the examined range of flow characteristics, the inlet Fr number is the most influential parameter in spherical tank thermocline formation and maintenance, and the largest tank thermal efficiency in a spherical tank is achieved at Fr = 0.5. Experimental results were obtained to validate the CFD model used in the parametric study. For the flow parameters within the current model, the use of an eddy viscosity turbulence model with variable turbulence intensity delivered the best agreement with experimental results. Overall, the experimental study using a spherical one tank setup validated the results of the CFD model with acceptable accuracy.

Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D.
Thermal energy storage systems as an integral part of concentrated solar power plants improve the performance of the system by mitigating the mismatch between the energy supply and the energy demand. Using a phase change material (PCM) to store energy increases the energy density, hence, reduces the size and cost of the system. However, the performance is limited by the low thermal conductivity of the PCM, which decreases the heat transfer rate between the heat source and PCM, which therefore prolongs the melting, or solidification process, and results in overheating the interface wall. To address this issue, heat pipes are embedded in the PCM to enhance the heat transfer from the receiver to the PCM, and from the PCM to the heat sink during charging and discharging processes, respectively. In the current study, the thermal-fluid phenomenon inside a heat pipe was investigated. The heat pipe network is specifically configured to be implemented in a thermal energy storage unit for a concentrated solar power system. The configuration allows for simultaneous power generation and energy storage for later use. The network is composed of a main heat pipe and an array of secondary heat pipes. The primary heat pipe has a disk-shaped evaporator and a disk-shaped condenser, which are connected via an adiabatic section. The secondary heat pipes are attached to the condenser of the primary heat pipe and they are surrounded by PCM. The other side of the condenser is connected to a heat engine and serves as its heat acceptor. The applied thermal energy to the disk-shaped evaporator changes the phase of working fluid in the wick structure from liquid to vapor. The vapor pressure drives it through the adiabatic section to the condenser where the vapor condenses and releases its heat to a heat engine. It should be noted that the condensed working fluid is returned to the evaporator by the capillary forces of the wick. The extra heat is then delivered to the phase change material through the secondary heat pipes. During the discharging process, secondary heat pipes serve as evaporators and transfer the stored energy to the heat engine. Due to the different geometry of the heat pipe network, a new numerical procedure was developed. The model is axisymmetric and accounts for the compressible vapor flow in the vapor chamber as well as heat conduction in the wall and wick regions. Because of the large expansion ratio from the adiabatic section to the primary condenser, the vapor flow leaving the adiabatic pipe section of the primary heat pipe to the disk-shaped condenser behaves similarly to a confined jet impingement. Therefore, the condensation is not uniform over the main condenser. The feature that makes the numerical procedure distinguished from other available techniques is its ability to simulate non-uniform condensation of the working fluid in the condenser section. The vapor jet impingement on the condenser surface along with condensation is modeled by attaching a porous layer adjacent to the condenser wall. This porous layer acts as a wall, lets the vapor flow to impinge on it, and spread out radially while it allows mass transfer through it. The heat rejection via the vapor condensation is estimated from the mass flux by energy balance at the vapor-liquid interface. This method of simulating heat pipe is proposed and developed in the current work for the first time. Laboratory cylindrical and complex heat pipes and an experimental test rig were designed and fabricated. The measured data from cylindrical heat pipe were used to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical results. The effects of the operating conditions of the heat pipe, heat input, and portion of heat transferred to the phase change material, main condenser geometry, primary heat pipe adiabatic radius and its location as well as secondary heat pipe configurations have been investigated on heat pipe performance. The results showed that in the case with a tubular adiabatic section in the center, the complex interaction of convective and viscous forces in the main condenser chamber, caused several recirculation zones to form in this region, which made the performance of the heat pipe convoluted. The recirculation zone shapes and locations affected by the geometrical features and the heat input, play an important role in the condenser temperature distributions. The temperature distributions of the primary condenser and secondary heat pipe highly depend on the secondary heat pipe configurations and main condenser spacing, especially for the cases with higher heat inputs and higher percentages of heat transfer to the PCM via secondary heat pipes. It was found that changing the entrance shape of the primary condenser and the secondary heat pipes as well as the location and quantity of the secondary heat pipes does not diminish the recirculation zone effects. It was also concluded that changing the location of the adiabatic section reduces the jetting effect of the vapor flow and curtails the recirculation zones, leading to higher average temperature in the main condenser and secondary heat pipes. The experimental results of the conventional heat pipe are presented, however the data for the heat pipe network is not included in this dissertation. The results obtained from the experimental analyses revealed that for the transient operation, as the heat input to the system increases and the conditions at the condenser remains constant, the heat pipe operating temperature increases until it reaches another steady state condition. In addition, the effects of the working fluid and the inclination angle were studied on the performance of a heat pipe. The results showed that in gravity-assisted orientations, the inclination angle has negligible effect on the performance of the heat pipe. However, for gravity-opposed orientations, as the inclination angle increases, the temperature difference between the evaporator and condensation increases which results in higher thermal resistance. It was also found that if the heat pipe is under-filled with the working fluid, the capillary limit of the heat pipe decreases dramatically. However, overfilling of the heat pipe with working fluid degrades the heat pipe performance due to interfering with the evaporation-condensation mechanism.
Temple University--Theses

El protagonisme creixent de la tecnologia solar termoelèctrica entre el ventall de les energies renovables es centra en la seva capacitat d’adaptar la seva producció a la demanda energètica exigida. La gestionabilitat d’aquest tipus de centrals s’ha aconseguit amb la integració de sistemes d’emmagatzematge tèrmic en les mateixes. La major part dels sistemes d’emmagatzematge tèrmic, ja sigui els que s’utilitzen a nivell comercial com aquells que es troben en fase de desenvolupament proposen l’ús de sals inorgàniques foses com a medi d’emmagatzematge. Aquestes sals presenten l’inconvenient de la seva alta corrosivitat a altes temperatures. Per un costat, s’han analitzat els fenòmens de corrosió associats a les sals solars utilitzades a la planta pilot TES-PS10 mitjançant la instal·lació de racks de testimonis de corrosió als tancs de sals. A més, al finalitzar l’operació de la instal·lació pilot s’ha dut a terme un estudi post-mortem dels seus. Finalment, amb l’objectiu d’abaratir el cost de l’inventari de sals, s’ha analitzat a nivell de laboratori la corrosivitat de diferents mescles de nitrats de baixa puresa. El segon bloc de la tesi es centra en els sistemes d’emmagatzematge tèrmic en calor latent. Concretament, s’analitza la corrosió associada a la mescla peritèctica 46% LiOH-54% KOH proposta com a material de canvi de fase en un mòdul d’evaporació d’instal·lacions termoelèctriques de generació directa de vapor. D’aquesta forma, s’han dut a terme una sèrie d’assajos a nivell de laboratori amb l’objectiu d’avaluar el comportament envers la corrosió de diferents materials en contacte amb aquests hidròxids.
El creciente protagonismo de la tecnología solar se centra en su capacidad para adaptar su producción a la demanda energética exigida. La gestionabilidad de este tipo de centrales se ha conseguido mediante la integración de sistemas de almacenamiento térmico en sales fundidas. El uso de sales fundidas en sistemas de almacenamiento térmico presenta el hándicap de su corrosividad a alta temperatura. El primer bloque de la Tesis analiza los fenómenos de corrosión asociados a las sales solares en la planta piloto TES-PS10 mediante la instalación de racks de corrosión en los tanques de sales. Además, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio post-mortem de componentes de la instalación. Finalmente, se ha analizado a nivel de laboratorio la corrosividad de distintas mezclas de nitrato de baja pureza. El segundo bloque de la tesis se centra en los sistemas de almacenamiento en calor latente. En concreto, se analiza la corrosión asociada a la mezcla peritéctica 46% LiOH-54% KOH propuesta como material de cambio de fase en el módulo de evaporación en plantas de generación directa de vapor. De este modo, se han llevado a cabo ensayos de corrosión a nivel de laboratorio para evaluar el comportamiento a corrosión de distintos materiales en contacto con los hidróxidos.
The growing of concentrated solar power (CSP) within the different renewable energies is due to its ability to adapt the production to the required energy demand. The dispatchability of this type of plants has been achieved through the integration of molten salts thermal storage systems (TES). Molten salts have a handicap associated to their corrosiveness at high temperature. First block of this Thesis analyzes the corrosion phenomena associated with solar salts used in TES-PS10 pilot plant by installing corrosion racks in the salt tanks. Moreover, a postmortem study of different components was performed after facility shut down. Finally, in order to reduce the cost of the salt inventory in TES systems, the corrosivity of different low purity nitrates mixtures has been analyzed at laboratory scale. The second block of the Thesis focuses on latent heat storage systems. Specifically, it has been analyzed the corrosion associated with the proposed 46% LiOH-54% KOH peritectic mixture as a phase change material in the evaporation module of direct steam generation (DSG) CSP plants. Thus, corrosion tests have been performed at laboratory level to evaluate the corrosion performance of several materials in contact with such hydroxides.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc
Phase change material (PCM) through latent heat of molten salt, is a convincing way for thermal energy storage in CSP applications due to its high volume density. Molten salt, with (60% NaNO3 and 40% KNO3) has been used extensively for energy storage however; the low thermal conductivity and specific heat have limited its large implementation in solar applications. For that, molten salt with the additive of silver nanowires (AgNWs) was synthesized and characterized. This research project aims to investigate the thermophysical properties enhancement of nanosalt (Mixture of molten salt and silver nanowires). The results obtained showed that by simply adjusting the temperature, Silver nanowires with high aspect ratio have been synthesized through the enhanced PVP polyol process method. SEM results revealed a network of silver nanowires and TEM results confirmed the presence of silver nanowires with an average diameter of 129 nm and 16 μm in length.

Doutoramento em Engenharia Mecânica
The PhD project addresses the potential of using concentrating solar power (CSP) plants as a viable alternative energy producing system in Libya. Exergetic, energetic, economic and environmental analyses are carried out for a particular type of CSP plants. The study, although it aims a particular type of CSP plant – 50 MW parabolic trough-CSP plant, it is sufficiently general to be applied to other configurations. The novelty of the study, in addition to modeling and analyzing the selected configuration, lies in the use of a state-of-the-art exergetic analysis combined with the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The modeling and simulation of the plant is carried out in chapter three and they are conducted into two parts, namely: power cycle and solar field. The computer model developed for the analysis of the plant is based on algebraic equations describing the power cycle and the solar field. The model was solved using the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software; and is designed to define the properties at each state point of the plant and then, sequentially, to determine energy, efficiency and irreversibility for each component. The developed model has the potential of using in the preliminary design of CSPs and, in particular, for the configuration of the solar field based on existing commercial plants. Moreover, it has the ability of analyzing the energetic, economic and environmental feasibility of using CSPs in different regions of the world, which is illustrated for the Libyan region in this study. The overall feasibility scenario is completed through an hourly analysis on an annual basis in chapter Four. This analysis allows the comparison of different systems and, eventually, a particular selection, and it includes both the economic and energetic components using the “greenius” software. The analysis also examined the impact of project financing and incentives on the cost of energy. The main technological finding of this analysis is higher performance and lower levelized cost of electricity (LCE) for Libya as compared to Southern Europe (Spain). Therefore, Libya has the potential of becoming attractive for the establishment of CSPs in its territory and, in this way, to facilitate the target of several European initiatives that aim to import electricity generated by renewable sources from North African and Middle East countries. The analysis is presented a brief review of the current cost of energy and the potential of reducing the cost from parabolic trough- CSP plant. Exergetic and environmental life cycle assessment analyses are conducted for the selected plant in chapter Five; the objectives are 1) to assess the environmental impact and cost, in terms of exergy of the life cycle of the plant; 2) to find out the points of weakness in terms of irreversibility of the process; and 3) to verify whether solar power plants can reduce environmental impact and the cost of electricity generation by comparing them with fossil fuel plants, in particular, Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) plant and oil thermal power plant. The analysis also targets a thermoeconomic analysis using the specific exergy costing (SPECO) method to evaluate the level of the cost caused by exergy destruction. The main technological findings are that the most important contribution impact lies with the solar field, which reports a value of 79%; and the materials with the vi highest impact are: steel (47%), molten salt (25%) and synthetic oil (21%). The “Human Health” damage category presents the highest impact (69%) followed by the “Resource” damage category (24%). In addition, the highest exergy demand is linked to the steel (47%); and there is a considerable exergetic demand related to the molten salt and synthetic oil with values of 25% and 19%, respectively. Finally, in the comparison with fossil fuel power plants (NGCC and Oil), the CSP plant presents the lowest environmental impact, while the worst environmental performance is reported to the oil power plant followed by NGCC plant. The solar field presents the largest value of cost rate, where the boiler is a component with the highest cost rate among the power cycle components. The thermal storage allows the CSP plants to overcome solar irradiation transients, to respond to electricity demand independent of weather conditions, and to extend electricity production beyond the availability of daylight. Numerical analysis of the thermal transient response of a thermocline storage tank is carried out for the charging phase. The system of equations describing the numerical model is solved by using time-implicit and space-backward finite differences and which encoded within the Matlab environment. The analysis presented the following findings: the predictions agree well with the experiments for the time evolution of the thermocline region, particularly for the regions away from the top-inlet. The deviations observed in the near-region of the inlet are most likely due to the high-level of turbulence in this region due to the localized level of mixing resulting; a simple analytical model to take into consideration this increased turbulence level was developed and it leads to some improvement of the predictions; this approach requires practically no additional computational effort and it relates the effective thermal diffusivity to the mean effective velocity of the fluid at each particular height of the system. Altogether the study indicates that the selected parabolic trough-CSP plant has the edge over alternative competing technologies for locations where DNI is high and where land usage is not an issue, such as the shoreline of Libya.
O projeto de Doutoramento aborda o potencial de usar centrais de energia solar concentrada (CSP) como um sistema de produção de energia alternativa disponível na Líbia. Uma análise nas vertentes exergética, energética, económica e ambiental foi realizada para um tipo particular destas centrais – um sistema de 50 MW com receção parabólica, porém ela é suficientemente geral para ser aplicada a outras configurações. A originalidade do estudo, para além da modelação e análise da configuração selecionada encontra-se na utilização do estado da arte em termos da análise exergética combinada com a avaliação do ciclo de vida (LCA). A modelação e simulação da central CSP selecionada são efetuadas no terceiro capítulo tendo em consideração as duas componentes: ciclo de potência e campo de coletores solar. O modelo computacional para a análise do sistema foi desenvolvido com base em equações algébricas que descrevem o sistema, e que são resolvidas usando o software EES. Deste modo, são definidas as propriedades em cada ponto de interesse para os diferentes elementos do sistema, o que assim permite determinar as energias, eficiências e irreversibilidades desses elementos. O modelo desenvolvido tem o potencial de se tornar uma ferramenta de grande utilidade para o projeto preliminar de engenharia de centrais CSP, e também para a avaliação da eventual reconfiguração de centrais elétricas solares comerciais em operação. Além disso, o modelo pode ser utilizado no estudo de viabilidade da operação de centrais CSP, através da análise energética, económica e ambiental, para regiões diferentes da que foi escolhida no presente estudo -Trípoli (Líbia). O cenário total da viabilidade da operação da central CSP é completado através da análise horária com base anual apresentada no quarto capítulo. Esta análise permite a comparação de diferentes sistemas e, eventualmente permite fazer a seleção com base nas componentes económicas e energéticas, que são determinadas dentro do contexto do software greenius. A análise também toma em conta o impacto de financiamento e incentivos dados aos projetos no custo da produção de energia. O principal resultado desta análise é a verificação que o desempenho é mais elevado, com o consequente menor custo nivelado da eletricidade, para a Líbia em comparação com o Sul da Europa (Espanha). Assim a Líbia tem o potencial de se tornar um candidato atrativo para o estabelecimento de centrais CSP com o objetivo, como foi considerado em várias iniciativas europeias, de exportar eletricidade gerada através de fontes de energia renováveis de países do Norte de África e Médio Oriente para a Europa. A análise apresenta uma breve revisão do custo corrente da eletricidade e o potencial para reduzir o custo da energia a partir da tecnologia de receção parabólica de centrais CSP. A avaliação do ciclo de vida com base exergética (ELCA) e a avaliação do ciclo de vida convencional são realizadas para a centrais CSP específicas no quinto capítulo. Os objetivos são 1) avaliar o impacto ambiental e custo, em termos de do ciclo iv de vida exergético do sistema; 2) identificar pontos fracos em termos da irreversibilidade dos processos; e 3) verificar se as centrais CSP podem reduzir o impacto ambiental e o custo de geração de eletricidade em comparação com centrais que consomem combustível fóssil. O capítulo ainda apresenta uma análise termoeconómica com base na metodologia do custo específico da exergia (SPECO), que avalia o custo relacionado com a destruição de exergia. A análise verificou que o impacto mais importante é a contribuição apresentada pelo campo solar (79%), e os materiais com maior impacto são: aço (47%), sal fundido (25%) e óleo sintético (21%). A análise ELCA mostra que a maior demanda de exergia é devida ao aço (47%); a análise existe uma considerável demanda de exergia relacionada com o sal fundido e ainda o óleo sintético. Em comparação com as centrais que consomem combustível fóssil (NGCC e óleo) a central sistema CSP apresenta menor impacto ambiental, enquanto o pior desempenho ambiental é o da central com queima de óleo seguida pela central a gás natural (NGCC). Na central CSP, o campo solar apresenta o custo mais elevado, enquanto o gerador de vapor, entre os componentes do ciclo de potência, apresenta o maior custo. O armazenamento de energia térmica permite que as centrais CSP superem a intermitência de radiação solar para responder à procura de energia elétrica independentemente das condições climáticas, e também possam estender a produção de eletricidade para além da disponibilidade da radiação solar diária. A análise numérica do transiente térmico de um sistema de armazenamento de gradiente térmico é realizada durante a fase de carregamento. O sistema de equações que descreve o modelo numérico é resolvido através da utilização de diferenças finitas implícitas no tempo usando o software Matlab. Os resultados da análise indicam que as previsões estão em boa concordância com os dados experimentais para a evolução no tempo da região de gradiente térmico, em particular para regiões mais afastadas da entrada. Nesta região os desvios observados são provavelmente causados pelo alto nível de turbulência devido à penetração do jato no seio do tanque de armazenamento. O modelo analítico simples para simular a turbulência que foi desenvolvido melhora os resultados. Esta abordagem não requer esforço computacional adicional e determina a difusidade térmica efetiva ao longo do tanque.

Solar Tower Power Plants with thermal energy storage are a promising technology for dispatchable renewable energy in the near future. Storage integration makes possible to shift the electricity production to more profitable peak hours. Usually two tanks are used to store cold and hot fluids, but this means both higher related investment costs and difficulties during the operation of the variable volume tanks. Another solution can be a single tank thermocline storage in a multi-layered configuration. In such tank both latent and sensible fillers are employed to decrease the related cost by up to 30% and maintain high efficiencies.  The Master thesis hereby presented describes the modelling and implementation of a thermocline-like multi-layered single tank storage in a STPP. The research work presents a comprehensive methodology to determine under which market structures such devices can outperform the more conventional two tank storage systems. As a first step the single tank is modelled by means of differential energy conservation equations. Secondly the tank geometrical design parameters and materials are taken accordingly with the applications taken into consideration. Both the steady state and dynamic models have been implemented in an existing techno-economic tool developed in KTH, in the CSP division (DYESOPT). The results show that under current cost estimates and technical limitations the multi-layered solid PCM storage concept is a better solution when peaking operating strategies are desired, as it is the case for the two-tier South African tariff scheme. In this case the IRR of an optimal designed power plant can be decreased by 2.1%. However, if a continuous operation is considered, the technology is not always preferred over the two tank solution, yet is a cheaper alternative with optimized power plants. As a result the obtained LCOE can be decreased by 2.4%.

Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D.
A desirable feature of concentrated solar power (CSP) with integrated thermal energy storage (TES) unit is to provide electricity in a dispatchable manner during cloud transient and non-daylight hours. Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) offers many advantages such as higher energy storage density, wider range of operating temperature and nearly isothermal heat transfer relative to sensible heat thermal energy storage (SHTES), which is the current standard for trough and tower CSP systems. Despite the advantages mentioned above, LHTES systems performance is often limited by low thermal conductivity of commonly used, low cost phase change materials (PCMs). Research and development of passive heat transfer devices, such as heat pipes (HPs) to enhance the heat transfer in the PCM has received considerable attention. Due to its high effective thermal conductivity, heat pipe can transport large amounts of heat with relatively small temperature difference. The objective of this research is to study the charging and discharging processes of heat pipe-assisted LHTES systems using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental testing to develop a method for more efficient energy storage system design. The results revealed that the heat pipe network configurations and the quantities of heat pipes integrated in a thermal energy storage system have a profound effect on the thermal response of the system. The optimal placement of heat pipes in the system can significantly enhance the thermal performance. It was also found that the inclusion of natural convection heat transfer in the CFD simulation of the system is necessary to have a realistic prediction of a latent heat thermal storage system performance. In addition, the effects of geometrical features and quantity of fins attached to the HPs have been studied.
Temple University--Theses

A promising and novel solar concentrator design has been thoroughly investigated and optimised. A prototype concentrator based on this novel geometry was validated using ray tracing techniques. This ray tracing demonstrated the comparative performance of this novel concentrator in regards to equivalent parabolic dishes. The effect of mirror surface normal errors on performance was established using Monte-Carlo based ray tracing code, which agreed well with the optical performance of this prototype which was determined experimentally. A need for low-cost solar cookers to replace bio-mass worldwide was identified, and the concentrator design was then developed as a low-cost solar oven. Despite existing in some number, no current design is able to achieve high performance at low-cost. An industrial partner, Dytecna, was initially involved in the process of this development of the system as a solar cooker. In support of a field trial for the solar cooker developed with Dytecna, a detailed thermal model of the oven was developed. A low-cost lightmeter was constructed and calibrated in order to measure the direct normal irradiance during the field trial in Italy. Laboratory work provided baseline results for the heating of various thermal masses in the oven. The Italian field trials provided a wealth of feedback into the design of the system and many valuable results. The solar cooker was able to bring 0.75L of water to the boil in 33 minutes with an average heat throughput of 203W. Important benchmark results and practical experience of several competing receiver materials was obtained; further lab testing provided more accurate measurements of the receivers' performances. The experiences of the Italian field trial were fed back into the design of a subsequent prototype, intended for a much larger field trial in Tanzania. Improvements in the hotplate, receiver material, and the oven were all incorporated into the design. Additionally, the structure of the solar cooker was redesigned to incorporate a low-cost wooden construction. Supporting work was conducted for the month long trial in which 8 solar cookers would be distributed to families in Tanzania. The field trial in Tanzania provided a wealth of user feedback into the design. At the same time the new solar cooker exceeded previously established performances in Italy. The new design was able to provide an average of 246W of heat to 1kg of water, which was brought to boiling point in 25 minutes. This represents a heating efficiency of 66% compared to the incident solar flux on the hotplate. In response to findings during the Tanzanian trials, further laboratory work was conducted into establishing the reflectivities of low-cost candidate mirror materials. Throughout all phases of the project the design of the solar cooker was refined and improved with the goal of a solar cooker design that could reach price-point, performance, and usability standards which would ensure market success.

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Most rural African villages enjoy high levels of sunlight, but rolling out solar power generation technology to tap into this renewable energy resource at remote rural sites in Africa pose a number of design challenges. To meet these challenges, a project has been initiated to design, build and test/evaluate a knock down 3 kW peak electrical stand-alone self-tracking dual-axis concentrating solar power system. This study focusses on the mechatronic engineering aspects in the design and development of a dynamic mechatronic platform and digital electronic control system for the stand-alone concentrating solar power system. Design specifications require an accurate automatic positioner and control system for a motorized parabolic solar reflector with an optical solar harnessing capacity of 12 kWt at solar noon. It must be suitable for stand-alone rural power generation. This study presents a conceptual design and engineering prototype of a balanced cantilever tilt-and-swing dual-axis slew drive actuation means as mechatronic solar tracking mobility platform for a ∼12 m2 lightweight parabolic solar concentrator. Digital automation of the concentrated solar platform is implemented using an industrial Siemens S7-1200 programmable logic controller (PLC) with digital remote control interfacing, pulse width modulated direct current driving, and electronic open loop/closed loop solar tracking control. The design and prototype incorporates off-the-shelf components to support local manufacturing at reduced cost and generally meets the goal of delivering a dynamic mechatronic platform for a concentrating solar power system that is easy to transport, assemble and install at remote rural sites in Africa. Real-time experiments, conducted in the summer of South Africa, validated and established the accuracy of the engineering prototype positioning system. It shows that the as-designed and -built continuous solar tracking performs to an optical accuracy of better than 1.0◦ on both the azimuth and elevation tracking axes; and which is also in compliance with the pre-defined design specifications. Structural aspects of the prototype parabolic dish are evaluated and optimized by other researchers while the Stirling and power handling units are under development in parallel projects. Ultimately, these joint research projects aim to produce a locally manufactured knock down do-it-yourself concentrated solar power generation kit, suitable for deployment into Africa.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Landelike gebiede in Afrika geniet hoë vlakke van sonskyn, maar die ontwerp van betroubare sonkrag tegnologie vir die benutting van hierdie hernubare energie hulpbron by afgeleë gebiede in Afrika bied verskeie uitdagings. Om hierdie uitdagings te oorkom, is ’n projek van stapel gestuur om ’n afbreekbare 3 kW piek elektriese alleenstaande selfaangedrewe dubbel-as son-konsentreeder te ontwerp, bou en te toets. Hierdie studies fokus op die megatroniese ingenieurs-aspekte in die ontwerp en ontwikkeling van ’n dinamiese megatroniese platform en ’n digitale elektroniese beheerstelsel vir die alleenstaande gekonsentreerde sonkrag stelsel. Ontwerp spesifikasies vereis ’n akkurate outomatiese posisionering en beheer stelsel vir ’n motor aangedrewe paraboliese son reflekteerder met ’n optiesekollekteer- kapasiteit van 12 kWt by maksimum sonhoogte, en veral geskik wees vir afgeleë sonkrag opwekking. Hierdie studie lewer ’n konsepsuele ontwerp en ingenieurs-prototipe van ’n gebalanseerde dubbelas swaai-en-kantel swenkrat aandrywingsmeganisme as megatroniese sonvolg platform vir ’n ∼12 m2 liggewig paraboliese son konsentreerder. Digitale outomatisering van die son konsentreerder platform is geimplementeer op ’n industriële Siemens S7-1200 programmeerbare logiese beheerder (PLB) met ’n digitale afstandbeheer koppelvlak, puls-wydte-gemoduleerde gelykstroom aandrywing en elektroniese ooplus en geslote-lus sonvolg beheer. Die ontwerp en prototipe maak gebruik van beskikbare komponente om lae-koste plaaslike vervaardiging te ondersteun en slaag in die algemeen in die doel om ’n dinamiese megatroniese platform vir ’n gekonsentreerde sonkrag stelsel te lewer wat maklik vervoer, gebou en opgerig kan word op afgeleë persele in Afrika. Intydse eksperimente is gedurende die somer uitgevoer om die akkuraatheid van die prototipe posisionering sisteem te evalueer. Dit toon dat die sisteem die son deurlopend volg met ’n akkuraatheid beter as 1.0◦ op beide die azimut en elevasie sonvolg asse, wat voldoen aan die ontwerp spesifikasies. Strukturele aspekte van die prototipe paraboliese skottel word deur ander navorsers geëvalueer en verbeter terwyl die Stirling-eenheid en elektriese sisteme in parallelle projekte ontwikkel word. Die uiteindelike doel met hierdie groepnavorsing is om ’n plaaslik vervaardigde doen-dit-self sonkrag eenheid te ontwikkel wat in Afrika ontplooi kan word.

This thesis presents advances in the design of solar concentrators. Based on the study of the Compact Linear Fresnel Re ector Concentrator "Etendue-Matched" (CLFREM), this thesis developed optical solutions based on the Simultaneous Multiple Surface method (SMS) and new approaches of analysis of the characterizing parameters of a solar concentrator. This thesis is organized into ve sections. In the rst section (Chapters 1 and 2) an introduction to the topics addressed in this work is presented together with a revision of the underlying basic optics. In the second section (Chapters 3, 4, and 5) a study of the concentrator CLFR-EM is presented. In the third section (Chapters 6 and 7) a XX SMS concentrator for continuum primaries is developed and presented. In the fourth section (Chapter 8) the application of the concept XX SMS for Fresnel primaries is explained and shown. Finally, in the fth section (Chapters 9 and 10) prospects for future developments and conclusions concerning this work are presented; Avan cos no desenho de concentradores solares para aplicações termicas Resumo: Esta tese apresenta desenvolvimentos na an álise de concentradores solares térmicos. Partindo do estudo realizado sobre o concentrador Compact Linear Fresnel Re ector "Etendue-Matched" (CLFR-EM), esta tese propoem solucoes opticas baseadas no método de Simultaneous Multiple Surface (SMS) e novas abordagens a análise dos parâmetros caracterizadores de um concentrador solar. A tese está organizada em cinco secções. Na primeira secção (Cap itulos 1 e 2) e realizada uma introdução aos temas abordados neste trabalho e uma revisão dos conceitos básicos de optica. Na segunda sec ção (Capitulos 3, 4 e 5) e apresentado um estudo do concentrador CLFREM. Na terceira secção(Capitulos 6 e 7) e apresentado um concentrador XX SMS para primários continuos para concentração máxima e receptores xos. Na quarta secção(Capitulo 8) mostra-se a aplicação do conceito XX SMS a prim arios Fresnel. Por ultimo, na quinta secção(Capitulos 9 e 10) são apresentadas perspectivas para desenvolvimentos futuros e realizadas conclusões sobre este trabalho.

Renewable energy for energy production, like Solar, is turning out to be very pertinent in today's world [1]. It is very clear that Solar Energy is going to emerge as one of the key sources of energy in future. Moreover, the storage option is going to play an essential role to the future deployment of solar power plants. Concentrated solar power plants with thermal storage, photovoltaic plants integrated with battery energy storage, and hybrid plants are attractive solutions to obtain a stable and dispatchable energy production. Investors or policymakers usually find it challenging to come up with the most feasible solar storage technology because they need to consider techno-economic feasibility, and at the same time, from a market or administrative perspective as well. So, this thesis study will address the key problem which is aimed at investors or policymakers since there is a need to choose the best solar storage technology at a utility level in future based on so many attributes. The thesis project was carried out in two phases which includes forecast modelling & estimations and techno-economic assessment of virtual plants. These two phases helped to address various questions in relation to the problem statement of this study. The entire thesis study broadly covered seven countries spanning across four major regions around the world. The first phase of the thesis, forecast modelling estimations shows how the seven countries will look in future (2020 – 2050) with respect to installed capacity and costs for PV, CSP, and BESS technologies. Some major results from phase 1 include, in low-cost estimates, China will remain to be the market leader in PV & CSP by 2050. In U.S.A and India, the installed costs of PV are projected to decline by 70% by 2050. By 2050, the installed costs of Solar Tower technology are estimated to drop by about 65% in China and Spain. In U.S.A, the prices of BESS technology are likely to fall by around 58 – 60 % by 2050. In the second phase of thesis study, a techno-economic evaluation of virtual plants addressed the aspects which are to be considered for a solar project if it is deployed in future across seven specific countries. Results from this analysis helps investors or policymakers to choose the cheapest solar storage technology at a utility level across seven specific countries in future (2020 – 2050). Key results from this analysis show that, in the U.S.A, by 2050, PV+BESS will be the cheapest storage technology for 4 – 10 storage hours. Addition of another renewable technology will add up more viability to the comparison. In China, Hybrid will be the cheapest storage technology for 4 – 8 hrs by 2050. There is huge potential for deployment of CSP & hybrid plants in future than PV. In South Africa, CSP will be the cheapest storage technology by 2050 for 4 – 10 hours of storage. It is assumed that deployment of BESS projects at utility level starts from 2025 in South Africa. Beyond this, market forces analysis was carried out which offers insights especially for the policymakers of how various drivers and constraints are influencing each solar technology across the specific countries in future. Overall, the entire thesis study provides guidelines/insights to investors or policy makers for choosing the best solar storage technology in future at a utility scale for a particular country.
Förnybar energi för energiproduktion, liksom Solar, visar sig vara mycket relevant i dagens värld [1]. Det är mycket tydligt att solenergi kommer att framstå som en av de viktigaste energikällorna i framtiden. Dessutom kommer lagringsalternativet att spela en väsentlig roll för den framtida distributionen av solkraftverk. Koncentrerade solkraftverk med värmelagring, solcellsanläggningar integrerade med batterilagring och hybridanläggningar är attraktiva lösningar för att få en stabil och skickbar energiproduktion. Investerare eller beslutsfattare brukar tycka att det är utmanande att komma på den mest genomförbara solcellstekniken eftersom de måste överväga teknikekonomisk genomförbarhet, och samtidigt, ur ett marknads- eller administrativt perspektiv också. Så denna avhandlingsstudie kommer att ta itu med nyckelproblemet som riktar sig till investerare eller beslutsfattare eftersom det finns ett behov av att välja den bästa solenergilagringstekniken på en användningsnivå i framtiden baserat på så många attribut. Avhandlingsprojektet genomfördes i två faser som inkluderar prognosmodellering och uppskattningar och teknikekonomisk bedömning av virtuella anläggningar. Dessa två faser hjälpte till att ta itu med olika frågor i samband med problemstudien i denna studie. Hela avhandlingsstudien omfattade i stort sju länder som sträcker sig över fyra stora regioner runt om i världen. Den första fasen i avhandlingen, prognosmodelleringsuppskattningar visar hur de sju länderna kommer att se ut i framtiden (2020 - 2050) med avseende på installerad kapacitet och kostnader för PV-, CSP- och BESS -teknik. Några viktiga resultat från fas 1 inkluderar, i lågkostnadsuppskattningar, att Kina kommer att vara marknadsledande inom PV och CSP år 2050. I USA och Indien beräknas de installerade kostnaderna för PV minska med 70% år 2050. Av 2050 beräknas de installerade kostnaderna för Solar Tower -teknik sjunka med cirka 65% i Kina och Spanien. I USA kommer priserna på BESS -teknik sannolikt att sjunka med cirka 58 - 60 % år 2050. I den andra fasen av avhandlingsstudien behandlade en teknikekonomisk utvärdering av virtuella anläggningar de aspekter som ska övervägas för ett solprojekt om det används i framtiden i sju specifika länder. Resultaten från denna analys hjälper investerare eller beslutsfattare att välja den billigaste solenergilagringstekniken på en användningsnivå i sju specifika länder i framtiden (2020 - 2050). Viktiga resultat från denna analys visar att i USA, år 2050, kommer PV+BESS att vara den billigaste lagringstekniken på 4 - 10 lagringstimmar. Tillägg av en annan förnybar teknik kommer att öka jämförbarheten. I Kina kommer Hybrid att vara den billigaste lagringstekniken i 4-8 timmar fram till 2050. Det finns en enorm potential för distribution av CSP & hybridanläggningar i framtiden än PV. I Sydafrika kommer CSP att vara den billigaste lagringstekniken år 2050 för 4 - 10 timmars lagring. Det antas att distributionen av BESS -projekt på verktygsnivå börjar från 2025 i Sydafrika. Utöver detta genomfördes marknadskravsanalys som ger insikter speciellt för beslutsfattarna om hur olika drivkrafter och begränsningar påverkar varje solteknik i de specifika länderna i framtiden. Sammantaget ger hela avhandlingsstudien riktlinjer/insikter till investerare eller beslutsfattare för att välja den bästa solenergitekniken i framtiden i en nyttoskala för ett visst land.

In a proposed design for a concentrated solar power tower, sand is irradiated by solar energy and transfers its energy to another fluid stream by means of a finned tube heat exchanger. To maximize heat transfer and minimize potential damage to the heat exchanger, it is desired to have a very uniform flow through the heat exchanger. However, performing full scale flow tests can be expensive, impractical, and depending upon the specific quantities of interest, unsuitable for revealing the details of what it happening inside of the flow stream. Thus, the discrete element method has been used to simulate and study particulate flows. In this project, the flow of small glass beads through a square pyramid shaped hopper and a wedge shaped hopper were studied at the lab scale. These flows were also simulated using computers running two versions of discrete element modeling software – EDEM and LIGGGHTS. The simulated results were compared against the lab scale flows and against each other. They show that, in general, the discrete element method can be used to simulate lab scale particulate flows as long as certain material properties are well known, especially the friction properties of the material. The potential for increasing the accuracy of the simulations, such as using better material property data, non-uniform particle size distributions, and non-spherical particle shapes, as well as simulating heat transfer within a granular flow are also discussed.

This study aimed at evaluating and demonstrating the feasibility of using Concentrated Solar Thermal technology combined with biomass energy technology as a hybrid renewable energy system to supply the process heat requirements in small scale industries in Sri Lanka. Particularly, the focus was to apply the concept to the expanding hotel industry, for covering the thermal energy demand of a medium scale hotel. Solar modules utilize the rooftop area of the building to a valuable application. Linear Fresnel type of solar concentrator is selected considering the requirement of the application and the simplicity of fabrication and installation compared to other technologies. Subsequently, a wood-fired boiler is deployed as the steam generator as well as the balancing power source to recover the effects due to the seasonal variations in solar energy. Bioenergy, so far being the largest primary energy supply in the country, has a good potential for further growth in industrial applications like small hotels.  When a hotel with about 200-guests capacity and annual average occupancy of 65% is considered, the total annual CO2 saving is accounted as 207 tons compared with an entirely fossil fuel (diesel) fired boiler system. The annual operational cost saving is around $ 40,000 and the simple payback period is within 3-4 years. The proposed hybrid system can generate additional 26 employment opportunities in the proximity of the site location area.   This solar-biomass hybrid concept mitigates the weaknesses associated with these renewable technologies when employed separately. The system has been designed in such a way that the total heat demand of hot water and process steam supply is managed by renewable energy alone. It is thus a self-sustainable, non-conventional, renewable energy system. This concept can be stretched to other critical medium temperature applications like for example absorption refrigeration. The system is applicable to many other industries in the country where space requirement is available, solar irradiance is rich and a solid biomass supply is assured.

Industrin står för 32% av den globala energianvändningen och majoriteten av industrins utsläpp sker vid förbränning av fossila bränslen för värmeanvändning. Hälften av industrins värmeanvändning uppskattas vara i temperaturer upp till 400 °C vilket är lämpligt för värme från solfångare.Klädesindustrin står för 10% av de globala växthusgasutsläppen och majoriteten av de utsläppen sker vid textilproduktion och flera av textilindustrins processer är i temperaturintervall som kan använda värme från solfångare likt Absolicons T160.Data från energianvändning hos textilfabriker har samlats in och beräkningar på energianvändning och utsläpp har gjorts för erhållna data. Solfångarnas energiberäkningar har gjorts med hjälp av simuleringar från Absolicon applikation Field Simulator. En 3-stegs plan gjordes för 2 stora textilfabriker i Indien som visar hur de skulle kunna eliminera sina utsläpp från energianvändning.Kartläggningen visar att textilindustrin till stor del använder fossila bränslen och de 5 största textilfabrikerna i denna rapport visar en energifördelning mellan värme och el på 85% respektive 15%. Utsläppen per producerad massa varor i kg för de 5 fabrikerna uppskattas vara i snitt 6,1 kgCO2e vilket motsvarar en förbränning av 2,1 kg brunkol.De två stora textilfabriker i Indien samlade utsläpp från energianvändning redovisas vara 686 ktCO2e. Värmeanvändningen i fabrikerna sänks i 3-stegsplanen med 17% och fossila bränslen ersätts med värme från solfångare och biomassa. För att täcka 68% av det nya värmebehovet med värme från solfångare så behövs det solfångarfält med en termisk effekt på cirka 400 MW och en yta på cirka 1,3 km2. De resterande 32% av värmebehovet ska komma från förbränning av cirka 100 000 ton biomassa per år.Industrin har möjlighet att sänka stora delar av sina utsläpp genom att ersätta fossila bränslen i värmeanvändningen med till exempel värme från solfångare och biomassa. För att täcka stora delar av värmeanvändningen med solfångarfält behövs lediga ytor runt om och på fabrikerna. Fossila bränslen har i dagsläget ett lågt pris i förhållande till dess utsläpp och tillämpning av globala utsläppsrätter eller skatter bör appliceras för att påskynda omställningen till utsläppsfri energi och lägre utsläpp.
The industry sector accounts for 32% of the global energy usage where the majority of the energy is being used as heat. Most of the heat is generated by burning fossil fuels which leads to heat use being the largest source of emissions in the sector. About half of energy used as in the industries are in temperatures up to 400 °C which is suitable for heat provided by solar collectors.The apparel industry accounts for 10% of the global carbon emissions and multiple of the industry processes used in textile production are in temperature ranges reachable with solar collectors such as Absolicons T160.Energy data was collected from textile factories and calculations of energy usage and emissions was made. The calculations for solar collectors was made with Absolicons web application Field Simulator. A 3-step plan was created to demonstrate how two textile factories in India could reach zero CO2 emissions.The analysis shows that the textile industry’s majority of energy is being used from fossil fuels to generate heat where the 5 largest factories in this report average energy is 85% as heat and 15% as electricity. The emissions per produced mass of goods in kg is an average of 6,1 kgCO2e at these 5 factories which is comparable to burning 2,1 kg of black coal.The two large textile factories combined emissions from energy usage is reported to be 686 ktCO2e. In the 3-step plan the heat usage is reduced by 17% and heat from fossil fuels are replaced by heat from solar collectors and biomass. To cover 68% of the new energy demand it would require solar fields with a total thermal capacity of about 400 MW and an area of 1,3 km2. The remaining 32% of heat demand would be covered by burning 100 000 tonne of biomass per year.The conclusion is that he industry sector has a huge potential of reducing their emissions by replacing fossil fuels for generating thermal energy by thermal energy from e.g. solar collectors or biomass. It will require available spaces close to or on top of the factories to be able cover large portions of the heat demand with solar collectors. The current prices of energy from fossil fuels is low compared to their emissions and a global carbon market or taxes should be applied to accelerate the change to clean energy and lower emissions.

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As alterações climáticas tem fomentado a busca por fontes renováveis de energia. Assim, novos coletores solares têm sido o foco de pesquisadores em todo o mundo para novos concentradores, novas configurações de instalação e o estudo da estratificação térmica para melhorar o desempenho do sistema de armazenamento térmico. O sistema proposto, ou seja, utilizando concentrador solar com tubo evacuado, proporciona linearidade e constância na sua eficiência em relação aos coletores de placas planas. A alteração proposta, ou seja, tubo com duas aberturas, uma para entrada do líquido frio e outra para saída do líquido aquecido, elimina a interface física entre a água quente na região voltada para o fluxo de calor solar e a água fria na região inferior do tubo. Essa alteração provoca redução na eficiência térmica, porém aumenta o volume de água aquecida por dia. O concentrador CPC mostrou-se um importante equipamento do sistema, uma vez que a os raios solares incidem em uma região longitudinal definida no tubo coletor solar, direcionado pela geometria do CPC. Com a utilização desse equipamento elimina-se a necessidade de espelhos com seguidores solares, tornando o sistema vulnerável a oscilações elétricas, encarecendo o projeto e consumindo energia elétrica. O desempenho do coletor é avaliado a partir de testes experimentais utilizando a Primeira Lei da Termodinâmica como análise da eficiência. Esses resultados são comparados aos conceitos teóricos descritos na literatura científica. O espaço anular evacuado do tubo também se mostrou um importante aliado na linearidade do coletor, reduzindo a resistência térmica do ar. A estratificação térmica é avaliada tanto pelo número de MIX (Primeira Lei da Termodinâmica) como pela proposta de um novo coeficiente de estratificação utilizando a exergia (Segunda Lei da Termodinâmica). Das seis configurações propostas para o sistema estudado, a mais viável foi obtida na configuração 3, ou seja, tubo evacuado com CPC.
Climate change has encouraged the search for renewable energy sources. Thus, new solar collectors have been the focus of researchers around the world with new hubs, new installation settings and the study of thermal stratification to improve the performance of the thermal storage system. The proposed system, ie using evacuated tube solar concentrator provides linearity and stability of efficiency compared to flat plate collectors. The proposed change, i.e. a tube with two openings, one for cold liquid inlet and the other for hot liquid outlet, eliminates the physical interface between the hot water in the region facing the solar heat flow and the cold water in the lower region of the tube. This change causes a reduction in thermal efficiency, however increases the volume of water heated per day. Two radiometers were also developed, one thermal and the other optical, and the thermal radiometer was chosen because it had a similar behavior to the solar collectors, thus reducing the cost of the experimental bench. The CPC concentrator proved to be important equipment, once the concentration of sunlight focus on a longitudinal region defined in the solar collector tube, directed by the CPC geometry. Using this equipment eliminates the need for mirrors with solar trackers, making the system vulnerable to electrical oscillations, making the project more expensive and consuming electricity. The collector performance is evaluated from experimental tests using the First Law of Thermodynamics as an efficiency analysis. These results are compared to the theoretical concepts described in the scientific literature. The annular evacuated space in the tube also proved to be an important ally in the linearity of the collector, reducing the thermal resistance of the air. Thermal stratification is evaluated both by the MIX number (First Law of Thermodynamics) and by the proposal of a new stratification coefficient using exergy (Second Law of Thermodynamics). Of the six configurations proposed the most efficient was obtained in the complete configuration, i.e. evacuated tube with CPC.

One of the traditional approaches to reduce costs of solar energy is to use inexpensive reflectors to focus the light onto highly efficient solar cells. Several research projects have resulted in designs, where the excess heat is used as solar thermal energy.

Unlike a solar thermal system, which has a selective surface to reduce the radiant heat loss, a CPV/T (Concentrating PhotoVoltaic/Thermal) system uses a receiver covered with solar cells with high thermal emittance.

This project analyzes whether the heat loss from the receiver can be reduced by covering parts of the receiver surface, not already covered with solar cells, with an optically selective coating. Comparing different methods of applying such a coating and the long-term stability of low cost alternatives are also part of the objectives of this project.

To calculate the heat loss reductions of the optically selective surface coating a mathematical model was developed, which takes the thermal emittances and the solar absorptances of the different surfaces into account. Furthermore, a full-size experiment was constructed to verify the theoretical predictions.

The coating results in a heat loss reduction of approximately 20 % in such a CPV/T system and one of the companies involved in the study is already changing their design to make use of the results.

La responsabilité de notre activité dans les récentes et parfois brutales modifications climatiques est avérée. Maîtrise de la demande en énergie et énergies renouvelables apparaissent comme les deux solutions pour remédier à cette catastrophe. Dans ce travail, nous nous intéressons à la cogénération appliquée aux bâtiments résidentiels. Deux zones géographiques sont concernées, l'Afrique de l'Ouest et la France. Il n'existe pas de système de cogénération solaire de très faible puissance (< 10 kWe). La solution envisagée dans ce travail consiste à produire de la chaleur à environ 150 °C et un rendement supérieur à 50 %, de l'utiliser ensuite dans un ORC pour produire électricité et chaleur à basse température. Le système complet doit être résistant et à bas coût. Or pour atteindre ces performances, la concentration solaire est obligatoire. Une partie de ce travail consiste donc au développement d'un panneau à concentration solaire qui répond à ces deux contraintes thermiques, mais aussi au fait d'être robuste, fiable et facilement intégrable à l'enveloppe d'un bâtiment. Dans ce cadre, la technologie cylindro-parabolique a été retenue, adaptée et miniaturisée. En ce qui concerne la partie thermodynamique, le verrou technologique se trouve principalement dans le groupe turboalternateur. L'objet de la seconde partie de cette thèse consiste ainsi à la conception d'un organe de détente également robuste, nécessitant qu'une maintenance simplifiée et réalisable par les équipes de SIREA. La turbine Tesla, brevetée en 1913 par Nikola Tesla, devrait satisfaire à ce cahier des charges. Sa particularité est qu'à l'opposée des autres turbines, son rotor ne possède pas d'aubage, mais seulement des disques parallèles. Son fonctionnement est basé sur l'adhésion du fluide aux surfaces des disques
The responsibility of our activity in the recent and sometimes brutal climate changes is recognized. Energy demand management and renewable energies appear as two solutions to overcome this disaster. In this work, we focus on combined heat and power applied to residential buildings. Two geographical areas are concerned, West Africa and France. For the moment, no system of very low power (< 10 kWe) solar cogeneration exists. In this work, considered solution consists to produce heat at 150 °C and with an efficiency greater than 50 %, then to use it in an ORC for producing electricity and low temperature heat. The whole system has to be resistant and low-cost. But to reach those performances with solar radiation, concentration is necessary. The first part of this thesis is to elaborate a solar concentrating panel which answer to these two thermal constraints. The new solar panel must be robust, reliable and easily integrable on the building envelope. In this context, parabolic trough is adopted, adapted and miniaturised. Regarding the thermodynamic part, technological lock is found mainly in the turbogenerator. The purpose of the second part of this thesis consists of the design of a an expansion equipement, requiring simplified maintenance and achievable by the team of Sirea. The Tesla turbine, patented in 1913 by Nikola Tesla, should satisfy this specification. Its characteristic is that the opposite other conventional turbines, the rotor is not bladed or vaned, only parallel disks. Fluid exerts shear stress on the disk surfaces resulting in a torque at the shaft

Dans le contexte énergétique qui se profile, la production d’électricité par voie solaire thermodynamique s’avère une solution prometteuse, que ce soit pour des considérations économiques, d’échelle de production ou environnementales. Une voie d’amélioration du rendement des centrales solaires à tour consiste à utiliser des cycles thermodynamiques à haut rendement type cycles combinés. Cela nécessite de pouvoir fournir un fluide de travail pressurisé à très haute température (10bar et 1000°C minimum). Ce manuscrit présente les travaux menés afin de développer et de viabiliser un concept d’absorbeur solaire surfacique modulaire en céramique (carbure de silicium) capable de répondre à ces exigences. Le choix du carbure de silicium s’est imposé pour sa résistance aux hautes températures et aux problèmes d’oxydation. Cependant, l’utilisation d’une céramique comme matériau implique un risque de casse des modules. Les céramiques sont en effet fragiles lorsqu’elles sont soumises à des contraintes de traction. C’est la connaissance et la maitrise de ce risque qui fait l’objet de cette étude. L’approche adoptée combine le développement d’outils numériques et d’études expérimentales réalisées sur le site de la centrale solaire Thémis (Targassonne, 66, France). La méthodologie desimulation développée permet de prédire le comportement thermique et le comportement mécanique de l’absorbeur. Ceci permet de réduire les risques encourus par l’absorbeur et d’en connaitre les performances. Cette méthodologie a été éprouvée à l’aide des résultats expérimentaux
For the future, using thermodynamical solar power plant seems to be a good solution to ensure electrical production. Solar tower plants are able to produce electricity in significant amount, are environmentally friendly and economically competitive. One way to increase the yield of these plants is using high efficiency thermodynamical cycles, like combined cycle. That requires to providing a working fluid at high temperature and high pressure (10bar and 1000°C at least). This PHD thesis presents the works performed to develop and enhance a concept of modular plate solar ceramic absorber that can ensure the required air production. We chose the silicon carbide as material due to its resistance to high temperatures and oxidation problems. The drawback is ceramic modules are weak to traction stresses. The study focuses on the knowledge and the control of this phenomenon. This work combines the developments of numerical tools and experimental studies performed at Thémis power plant (Targassonne, 66, FRANCE). The numerical method permits simulations to predict the thermal behavior and the mechanical behavior of a solar module absorber. It allows the reduction of the mechanical stresses undergone by solar receiver and the prediction of its performances. This methodology was tested using experimental results

This master’s thesis presents the work performed during a four-month long internship at Azelio AB in Gothenburg. Energy performance models for common energy technologies in microgrid energy systems were developed and validated. The investigated technologies are traditional and bifacial PV modules, wind turbines, Li-ion battery energy storage systems and diesel generators. Subsequently, they were utilised to simulate the energy supply of two remote communities in Queensland, Australia. Azelio’s CSP technology, which combines heliostats, thermal energy storage with phase change materials and Stirling engine, was introduced as well. By means of scenarios and key performance indicators, the possibility of disconnecting such towns from the local electricity distribution network was investigated. Both technical and economic aspects were analysed. This led to the conclusion that 10 MW CSP system would be sufficient to achieve grid independence if extra backup capacity, e.g. diesel generators, or demandside control strategies, are introduced. Sensitivity analysis performed on the possibility of dividing the CSP park into two clusters, the smaller one being subject to a power threshold, was investigated as well. In terms of economic feasibility, off-grid systems resulted more expensive than maintaining the grid connection.
Denna master’s uppsats presenterar alla resultat från examensarbetet hos Azelio AB i Göteborg. Energy performance models för de vanligaste energiteknologerna i microgrid energisystemen designades och validerades. De forskade energiteknologerna var traditionella och bifacial solpaneler, vindkraft, energilagring genom Liion batterier och dieselgeneratorer. Modellerna användes för att simulera energiförsörjning av olika energisystem som representerar två isolerade byar i Queensland, Australia. Azelio’s CSP teknologi, som består av heliostater, värmenergilagring med phase change material och en Stirlingmotor, introducerades också. Genom att designa olika scenarier och key perfomance indicators, möjligheten att koppla av byarna ifrån det lokala kraftnätsystemet utforskades. Båda tekniska och ekonomiska synpunkter värderades. Det beslutades att 10 MW CSP kapacitet kan vara nog mycket för att nå energisjälvständighet om ytterligare backupkapacitet, t.ex. en dieselgenerator, eller demand side control strategies introducerades. Känslighetsanalys utforskade möjligheten att dela CSP systemet i två olika delar, där den med lägre kapacitet kunde avkopplas för att undvika onödig energiförsörjning. Om ekonomiska utförbarhet, off-grid system verkade dyrare än sådana system där byarna var fortfarande kopplat till det lokala kraftnätet.

El concentrador solar Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (FMSC) apareció en los años 70 con la finalidad de reducir costes en la producción de energía termoeléctrica. Este diseño consiste en un concentrador de reflector estacionario y foco móvil, presenta buena integrabilidad en cubiertas, y es capaz de alcanzar temperaturas entre 100 y 200ºC manteniendo una eficiencia aceptable. En esta tesis se expone una metodología para determinar el comportamiento del FMSC. Se ha desarrollado una herramienta de cálculo basada en el método de ray-tracing, que simula el trazado de los rayos solares en el sistema óptico. Con esta herramienta se ha analizado el comportamiento óptico y térmico del FMSC, y de la versión con espejos curvos Curved Slats Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (CSFMSC). Se ha realizado un análisis paramétrico para conocer la influencia de los distintos parámetros en el modificador de ángulo (IAM), y para obtener los diseños óptimos a una temperatura de 200ºC para tres climas en diferentes latitudes. Se han comparado los valores teóricos obtenidos mediante ray-tracing con dos prototipos ensayados, obteniendo un buen ajuste en ambos casos. Los ensayos han sido utilizados para determinar la curva de rendimiento de uno de los prototipos. Se ha hecho uso del método propuesto en la norma EN-12975-2:2006, combinado con valores de IAM obtenidos mediante ray-tracing. Se prueba que esta combinación puede ser útil para obtener la curva de rendimiento de colectores complejos con un modelo biaxial para el IAM.
The Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (FMSC) appeared during the 70s with the aim of reducing costs in the production of electricity in solar thermal power plants. This design consists of a concentrator with fixed reflector and moving receiver, has a very good integrability into building roofs and can reach temperatures between 100 and 200ºC with an acceptable efficiency. In this Thesis a methodology is presented for the determination of the behaviour of the FMSC. A simulation tool based on the forward ray-tracing method has been developed. The optical and thermal behaviour of the FMSC and its curved mirror variation called the Curved Slats Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (CSFMSC), have been analyzed with this tool. A parametric analysis has been carried out in order to determine the influence of the different parameters on the Incidence Angle Modifier (IAM) and to determine the optimal designs at a temperature of 200ºC for three different climates at different latitudes. The theoretical values obtained from the ray-tracing code have been compared with two experimental prototypes. The experimental and numerical results obtained show a good fit. The efficiency curve of one of the prototypes has been determined from the experimental tests. The methodology proposed in the norm EN-12975-2:2006 has been used in combination with IAM values obtained by ray-tracing. It has been shown that this combination can be effectively used to obtain the efficiency curve of complex collectors with a bi-axial IAM model.

Thesis (MScEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The objective of this research was to obtain clean drinkable water from treated sewage effluent by using a solar-powered distillation cycle. Technologies and concepts were borrowed from the solar desalination industry to propose a unique circular distillation cell design. From the design, a specific mathematical correlation was developed to predict the distillate mass flow rate by using only evaporation and condensation temperature as inputs. This model was incorporated into a simulation model built using Transient System Simulation software. Long-term simulations were carried out to determine the operating capabilities of the design. A prototype was successfully constructed and operated. Experimental results indicated good agreement with the mass flow rate mathematical correlation. Water quality levels were tested against the South African National Standard 241 national drinking water quality standard. Four quality parameters are outside acceptable levels. Evidence suggested that acceptable quality levels could be reached. The circular distillation cell design is a major contribution made by this research. Another contribution is the simulation model capable of predicting an output for different locations. Finally, the proposed prototype is potentially a very valuable device contributing towards the reduction of consumer demand in terms of water and energy as well as the household load on the wastewater treatment system.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om te beskryf hoe behandelde rioolwater deur middel van ’n son aangedrewe distillasiesisteem gesuiwer kan word om drinkbare water as eindproduk te lewer. Die nodige tegnologieë en konsepte is oorgeneem uit kommersiële sonaangedrewe ontsoutingsisteme om met ’n unieke ontwerp voorendag te kom wat uit ’n sirkelvormige natuurlike konveksie distillasiesel bestaan. Met behulp van hierdie ontwerp is ’n wiskundige korrelasie ontwikkel om die gesuiwerde water se massavloei te bepaal. Slegs die verdampings- en kondensasietemperature word as insetwaardes gebruik om die massavloei te bereken. ’n Simulasiemodel is met behulp van die Transient System Simulation programmatuur gebou. Die wiskundige korrelasie is by die simulasiemodel geïnkorporeer om langtermynsimulasies te kan uitvoer. Voorts is ’n demonstrasiemodel suksesvol gebou en aangedryf. Eksperimentele resultate toon goeie ooreenstemming met die simulasieresultate. Die gesuiwerde water se gehalte is met die nationale SANS 241 drinkwaterstandaard as maatstaf getoets. Slegs vier gehalteparameters val buite die aanvaarbare vlakke, hoewel dit blyk dat hierdie elemente wel tot aanvaarbare vlakke verlaag kan word. Hierdie navorsing se grootstet bydrae is die ontwerp van die unieke sirkelvormige distillasiesel. ’n Bykomende bydra is die aanpasbaarheid van die simulasiemodel sodat dit produksievermoë op verskillende plekke kan voorspel. Die demonstrasiemodel is ’n potensieel waardevolle ontwerp wat kan bydra tot die verlaging in verbruikersaanvraag na water en energie. ’n Ontwerp van hierdie aard kan die las wat huishoudings op suiweringaanlegte vir rioolwater plaas, verlig.

The research focused on renewable energy storage using hydrogen-rich materials. These materials can store thermochemical heat energy used as thermal batteries in concentrated solar power plants. High-temperature metal hydrides have been identified as the next-generation thermal batteries for concentrated solar power plants. They have higher energy densities than conventional energy storage materials such as molten salts. I believe our research's innovative and multifaceted approach can provide enhanced green energy production and hence reduce CO2 emissions.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-67).
In this thesis, two new models are introduced for the purposes of (i) locating sites in hillside terrain suitable for central receiver solar thermal plants and (ii) optimization of heliostat field layouts for any terrain. Additionally, optimization of heliostat canting, is presented as an application of the heliostat layout optimization model. Using the site selection model, suitable sites are located based on heliostat field efficiency and average annual insolation. By iteratively defining the receiver location and evaluating the corresponding site efficiency, by sampling elevation data points from within the defined heliostat field boundary, efficiency can be mapped as a function of the receiver location. The case studies presented illustrate the use of the tool for two field configurations, both with ground-level receivers. The heliostat layout optimization model includes a detailed calculation of the annual average optical efficiency accounting for projection losses, shading & blocking, aberration and atmospheric attenuation. The model is based on a discretization of the heliostats and can be viewed as ray tracing with a carefully selected distribution of rays. The prototype implementation is sufficiently fast to allow for field optimization. In addition, inspired by the spirals of the phyllotaxis disc pattern, a new biomimetic placement heuristic is described and evaluated which generates layouts of both higher efficiency and better ground coverage than radially staggered designs. Case studies demonstrate that the new pattern achieves a better trade-off between land area usage and efficiency, i.e., it can reduce the area requirement significantly for any desired efficiency. Finally, heliostat canting is considered. Traditionally, canting has been parabolic, in which the focal point of the heliostat lies on the axis of symmetry. Two alternative off-axis canting methods are compared in this thesis, fixed facet (static) canting in which the facet alignment is optimized for a single design day and time and then rigidly mounted to the frame and dynamic canting in which the facets are actively controlled such that the center of each facet is always perfectly focusing. For both methods, two case studies are considered, a power tower with planar heliostat field and a hillside heliostat field which directs light down to a ground-level salt pond.
by Corey J. Noone.
S.M.

Reference is increasingly being made towards the need for the world to find new and renewable forms of energy, especially for electric power generation, but also for space heating and the heating of water. Solar energy is one of the cheapest forms of renewable energy available and is so far one of the most underutilised resources. One contribution makes reference to the way forward as being ‘using concentrating solar power which uses parabolic mirrors to focus the solar heat (energy) and generate steam to drive electric generators’ as is currently happening in the utility power marketplace in the USA. This thesis deals with the issues surrounding the original development of a two axis solar energy tracking system (SET) in 1997. The subsequent redesign, development and upgrade, undertaken from 2002 to 2006, with its performance and efficiency being measured in 2006 and 2007 using a specially configured measurement and recording system. A Solar Energy Tracker (SET) is designed to track the sun moving in two axes, reflecting the solar radiation received on its mirrors to a target mounted at the end of a boom, at the focal point of the mirrors. In late 2005 and early 2006, a solar thermal hot water manufacturer and installer heard about the developments and requested some form of involvement, especially if Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) provided research input and assisted in the further development and testing of solar thermal hot water systems. This sponsor offered two projects in 2006 and again in 2007. Other solar thermal hot water suppliers also requested involvement in the research and development being performed at CPIT, which led in August 2006, December 2006, June 2007 and December 2007, to a number of other solar thermal hot water and air wall systems being installed. Progressively, the roof of C block at CPIT has become full of solar thermal hot water systems and solar air wall systems, both of the conventional type and those with newer technologies at the core of their development. This thesis outlines the stages in the redesign and development of the SET, and the various stages in its testing, development and refinement up to its present form. The thesis chapters are written based around the mechanical and electrical design, the auto-tracking and daylight controls, the PLC (programmable logic controller) controller, the mirror and substrate testing, the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) system, the testing and comparison with other domestic solar thermal hot water systems and finally the testing of the SET itself. It also details the future developments and outlines possible uses for the SET in its redefined form. With clean and polished mirrors the SET has proven itself capable of achieving a temperature rise across the target of 15 °C at a flow rate of 4 l/m. On some occasions this temperature rise can be in excess of 20 °C, but testing thus far, has shown this cannot be sustained for any worthwhile period of time (15-30 minutes). This translates to an efficiency of 5-10 % when related to an energy produced per twenty four hour time period. However, if the efficiency is calculated for the actual period of generation, ‘generation efficiency,’ then this figure rises to 24 %. An overview is given of associated solar thermal hot water and solar air wall system research and development (that is ongoing at CPIT) as well as the performance and efficiency graphs for the solar thermal hot water systems on test. No manufacturer’s, industry or brand trade names are mentioned, as this research is still confidential and commercially sensitive. However, the technology involved and characterised by each solar thermal system is recorded in a generic sense. The SET was originally developed with the purpose of heating hot water and today this is still the intent. The possible applications for this hot water are many and varied from electricity generation, space heating and further into developing or new industrial processes. The performances of the other domestic solar thermal hot water systems currently under test, are compared with the figures from the SET, with the maximum efficiency, presently available, being from an evacuated tube heat pipe system at up to 65 %, whereas traditional finned flat plate technologies have efficiencies after twelve months of up to 48 %.

Although concentrated solar power can be used to produce power using traditional electricity generation, energy storage has become a problem due to the intermittent supply of solar energy. By using solar energy in chemical production processes, the solar energy can be stored in a useful chemical product. The purpose of this thesis will be to examine the possibilities of a new solar chemical cycle the produces iron and ethylene from hematite (a form of iron oxide) and ethane using concentrated solar power. These two products are important stepping stones in the production of steel and polymers. This process could allow for the current process of steel production to move away from processes using coal and towards a more sustainable process using the hydrogen formed from the ethane cracking process and solar energy. The thesis will include: (1) the development of a new solar powered iron and ethylene combined cycle, (2) a feasibility study of a Concentrated Solar Heat Supply System (CSHSS) being developed at Georgia Tech, and (3) an assessment of the proposed cycle. The assessment will include an estimate of production including a thermodynamic ASPEN model, assessment of research to realize actualization of the theoretical cycle, an exergy analysis, and a heat exchanger analysis for the exchange of heat between the CSHSS and the chemical process.

Reliability as an engineering discipline has grown in importance in systems development and manufacturing since its inception in the 1950s. This growth in importance is driven by several factors, including increasing complexity and sophistication of systems, public awareness of and insistence on product quality and availability, new laws and regulations concerning product liability, government contractual requirements to meet reliability and maintainability performance specifications, and profit considerations resulting from the high cost of failures. Such failures lead to increased costs for warranty programs, increased rate of repairs, and loss of sales because of decreased customer satisfaction. Reliability engineering is the discipline of ensuring that a product or system will work properly during a specified period of time. Therefore, the aim of reliability engineering is to delay the failures and then to maximize the life of the product. Studying the reliability of renewable energy systems in particular became more important in the last decade because of the need to find long life reliable substitutions to fossil fuels. One of these systems that recently has gained increasing interest because of research and development in the field of sustainable solar energy systems is Concentrated PhotoVoltaic (CPV) systems. These advancements could enable: 1) Higher conversion efficiencies, 2) Lower capital costs, and 3) Better reliability than competing products. The CPV system architecture creates the potential for higher conversion efficiencies as contrasted with other sustainable solar energy systems such as flat plate PhotoVoltaic (PV) system. Because CPV systems require significantly less silicon than other sustainable solar energy systems, their resulting lower capital costs was viewed as the technology’s major potential advantage over flat-plate PV, particularly for utility-scale applications. That argument has become less relevant with the dramatic reduction in silicon prices over the last several years. Increasing the reliability of the CPV systems could potentially significantly decrease the cost of electricity produced by these systems. If so, this could have a great influence on the economy and the cost of life especially in areas that have substantial amount of solar radiation like Arizona in the United States. Therefore, the present research explores various extent reliability methods, synthesizes a new method, and applies that method to a specific CPV design. The results show that applying this method to the design of the considered system should result in a significant improvement in CPV system reliability. Finally, the present research considers the opportunities for extending this work on different types of systems including software systems.

Ethiopia has been facing problems regarding power generation, distribution, balancingbetween demand and supply and access to modern energy service. About 92.4% of energysupply is from biomass (mostly in traditional) 5.7% oil which is not friendly with theenvironment and about 1.6% of energy supply is from renewable energy resource,hydropower plants.Being dependent on hydropower plant causes the country to face many challenges indistribution and balancing demand and supply. This thesis provides another way ofconsidering and implementing renewable energy resource (solar energy resource) throughtechnologies like grid-connected roof mounted solar PV system and CSP plant with the helpof PVGIS, PVWatt and SAM software.This thesis aims to come up with an idea that will work out for current engineering, socialand political issue that is seen in the country. Considering new way in planting PV system onthe roof is strongly recommended and increasing the alternative sites for power generationalong with the appropriate technology is recommended as another way. The possibility andpower generating efficiency is checked through each application.Based on the demonstration in all software’s used, it is clearly visible that the country couldhave been satisfied the needed demand and become the hub of east Africa as mentioned inthe policy and strategy. However, this dependency causes the country to insufficiently supplythe need. Apart from the possibilities and estimation, ideas that might help the country tocome over these challenges are provided in recommendation section.

The United States Department of Energy indicates that 97% of all homes in the US use fossil fuels either directly or indirectly for space heating. In 2005, space heating in residential homes was responsible for releasing approximately 502 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the Sun provides the Earth with 1000 watts per square meter of power everyday. This document discusses the research of modeling a system that will capture and store solar energy during the summer for use during the following winter. Specifically, flat plate solar thermal collectors attached to the roof of a single family home will collect solar thermal energy. The thermal energy will then be stored in an underground fabricated Seasonal Solar Thermal Energy Storage (SSTES) bed. The SSTES bed will allow for the collected energy to supplement or replace fossil fuel supplied space heat in typical single family homes in Richmond, Virginia. TRNSYS is a thermal energy modeling software package that was used to model and simulate the winter thermal load of a typical Richmond home. The simulated heating load was found to be comparable to reported loads for various home designs. TRNSYS was then used to simulate the energy gain from solar thermal collectors and stored in an underground, insulated, vapor proof SSTES bed filled with sand. Combining the simulation of the winter heat demand of typical homes and the SSTES system showed reductions in fossil fuel supplied space heating in excess of 64%.

Concentrated solar energy provides thermal energy that can be utilised for thermochemical conversion of biomass to produce liquid fuel and gases. This creates an efficient and a carbon-free process. The fast pyrolysis of biomass is an endothermic thermal process that occurs within 400-550oC at fast heating rates of >300 oC/second in the absence of oxygen. This temperature is within the range produced in a parabolic trough arrangement. The process of biomass gasification is the conversion of biomass fuels to non-condensable gases usually for chemical feedstock or as fuel using a fluidising medium. Solar intermittence is a major issue; this can be resolved by proposing a continuous process from concentrated solar energy to fuels or chemical feedstock. Computational fluid dynamics has proven to be a tool for design and optimisation of reactors. The Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase model using ANSYS Fluent has shown to be cost-effective at describing the characteristics of complex processes. The project entails using parabolic trough for fast pyrolysis of biomass; it is integrated with a gasification process with utilities produced entirely from solar energy. The scope of the project are: (i) A Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model analysis of the novel reactor is to be developed to model biomass pyrolysis (ii) Investigate the potentials of integrating the proposed solar reactor with a conventional circulating fluidised bed (CFB) gasifier to create a highly efficient and sustainable closed loop thermo-solar process (iii) Validate the circulating fluidised bed model with an experimental scale Circulating fluidised bed (CFB) gasifier at Aston University’s European Bioenergy Research Institute. The report studied the use of CFD modelling to investigate fast pyrolysis of switch grass biomass using a solar parabolic trough receiver/reactor equipped with a novel gas-separation system. The separator controls the effect of tar-cracking reactions and achieves high separation efficiency compared to other gas-solid separation methods. The study assumes an average heat flux concentrated along the receiver/reactor. Pyrolysis reaction was represented as a single global first order Arrhenius type reaction with volatiles separated into condensable (bio-oil) and non-condensable products. The drying of moisture of the switch grass was represented as a mass transfer process. The separation efficiency achieved by the conical deflector was about 99%. The proposed reactor at the considered operating conditions can achieve overall energy efficiency of 42%; the product yield consist of 51.5% bio-oil, 43.7% char and 4.8% non-condensable gases. The average reactor temperature, gas residence time, and maximum devolatilisation efficiency were 450 °C, 1.5 s, and 60% respectively. There was good agreement in comparison with experimental findings from literature. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to study the effect of heat flux conditions, heat transfer, sweeping gas temperature, and particle size. The heat flux distribution showed that non-homogeneous provides a greater heating rate and temperature compared to the homogeneous flux. Radiation negligibly affects the final product composition; the radiation heats the biomass mainly rather than cause devolatilisation. The larger the biomass diameter the more bio-oil is produced, when a uniform particle temperature is assumed. An experimental study was conducted for the validation of the hydrodynamic model of a circulating fluidised bed. The experiment measured the pressure profiles and the solid recirculation rate. The experiment result showed that particle size has a negative correlation to the ease of fluidisation. High fluidising gas flowrate has a positive impact on the fluidising regime and pressure in the riser. The following parameters were compared with experimental results: grid size, turbulence model, drag laws, wall treatment, and wall shear properties (specularity coefficient and restitution coefficient). The results proved the optimum hydrodynamic model through comparison of pressure profiles of the model with experimental results. The gasification of char in a circulating fluidised was studied using the optimum hydrodynamic model validated from experiment. The model considered the effect of turbulence on the species evolution and tar reforming with char. Over the range of operating conditions, the results looked into the hydrodynamics and product yield of the gasifier. The product yields obtained for the base case was CO (12%), CO2 (19%), H2 (6%), CH4 (0.7%), and N2 (63%). The results proved that for smaller particles the evolution of species are dominated by kinetics. The catalytic effect of char showed improvement in tar yield and CGE to 15.12g/Nm3 and 67.74%. The product yields showed improvement with the compositions of CO2 and H2 due to reforming reactions. The yields and efficiency were in qualitative agreement with results from literature. The proposed models described will provide details on the procedures for future design of integrated solar biomass thermochemical conversion systems.

The integrated solar roof collector system can bring the house year-round energy saving benefit. In heating season, part of the space heating and preheating domestic hot water demand can be met by this integrated system. In the cooling season, cooling load reduction and preheating domestic hot water can be achieved by operating this system. The traditional solar thermal system is an add-on system rather than integrated, which increases the cost-benefit ratio. The current system is integrated with the roof structure. Except for the energy collecting benefit, it will reduce the material cost, labor cost and construction period. The objectives of this research is to estimate the energy performance of three collector configurations including space heating saving, and preheat hot water saving. This study also compares energy performance for the three collectors on two types of evaluated houses in Roanoke, Virginia.
Master of Science

The majority of the power generated today is produced using fossil fuels,emitting carbon dioxide and other pollutants every second. Also, fossil fuels will eventually run out. For the increasing worldwide energy demand, the use f reliable and environmentally beneficial natural energy sources is one of the biggest challenges. Alongside wind and water, the solar energy which is clean, CO2-neutral and limitless, is our most valuable resource. Concentrated solar power (CSP) is becoming one of the excellent alternative sources for the power industry. The successful implementation of this technology requires the efficient design of tracking and operation system of the CSP solar plants. A detailed analysis of components needed for the design of cost-effective and optimum tracker for CSP solar systems is required for the power plant modeling, which is the primary subject of this thesis. A comprehensive tracking and operating system of a parabolic trough solar power plant was developed focusing primarily on obtaining optimum and cost effective design through the simplified methodology of this work. This new model was implemented for a 50 kWe parabolic trough solar power plant at University of South Florida, Tampa.

This thesis presents a research investigation examining the thermal performance of thermochemical energy storage reactors suitable for applications in high temperature concentrated solar systems. An advanced numerical model was successfully developed for simulating the reactor packed bed thermal behaviour using both single-phase and (multi-phase) flow boiling mechanisms for heat exchange in the reactor. Two types of thermochemical storage media, namely magnesium hydride and calcium carbonate, were analysed for performance comparison providing different reaction kinetics.

Amide-hydride systems can be used in thermal storage systems by taking advantage of their endothermic/exothermic reactions with hydrogen. This allows the harnessing of concentrated solar energy by utilising thermal storage to alleviate its intermittent nature. Amide-hydride reactions have been widely studied for their low temperature applications. However, the high temperature imide-hydride reactions are more suitable for thermal energy storage. Lithium, magnesium and calcium-based amide-imide-hydride systems were investigated with potential candidates from systems containing calcium metal.

Thesis (DTech (Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017.
The world has been experiencing energy-related problems following pressuring energy demands which go along with the global economy growth. These problems can be phrased in three paradoxical statements: Firstly, in spite of a massive and costless solar energy, global unprecedented energy crisis has prevailed, resulting in skyrocketing costs. Secondly, though the sun releases a clean energy, yet conventional plants are mainly being run on unclean energy sources despite their part in the climate changes and global warming. Thirdly, while a negligible percentage of the solar energy is used for power generation purposes, it is not optimally exploited since more than its half is wasted in the form of heat which contributes to lowering efficiency of solar cells and causes their premature degradation and anticipated ageing. The research is geared at addressing the issue related to unsatisfactory efficiencies and anticipated ageing of solar modules. The methodology adopted to achieve the research aim consisted of a literature survey which in turn inspired the devising of a high-efficiency novel thermal electric solar power panel. Through an in-depth overview, the literature survey outlined the rationale of the research interest, factors affecting the performance of PVs as well as existing strategies towards addressing spotted shortcomings. While photovoltaic (PV) panels could be identified as the most reliable platform for sunlight-to-electricity conversion, they exhibit a shortcoming in terms of following the sun so as to maximize exposure to sunlight which negatively affects PVs’ efficiencies in one hand. On the other hand, the inability of solar cells to reflect the unusable heat energy present in the sunlight poses as a lifespan threat. Strategies and techniques in place to track the sun and keep PVs in nominal operational temperatures were therefore reviewed.

Thesis (MScEng (Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Solar energy is by far the greatest energy resource available to generate power. One of the difficulties of using solar energy is that it is not available 24 hours per day - some form of storage is required if electricity generation at night or during cloudy periods is necessary. If a combined cycle power plant is used to obtain higher efficiencies, and reduce the cost of electricity, storage will allow the secondary cycle to operate independently of the primary cycle. This study focuses on the use of packed beds of rock or slag, with air as a heat transfer medium, to store thermal energy in a solar thermal power plant at temperatures sufficiently high for a Rankine steam cycle. Experimental tests were done in a packed bed test section to determine the validity of existing equations and models for predicting the pressure drop and fluid temperatures during charging and discharging. Three different sets of rocks were tested, and the average size, specific heat capacity and density of each set were measured. Rock and slag samples were also thermally cycled between average temperatures of 30 ºC and 510 ºC in an oven. The classical pressure drop equation significantly under-predicts the pressure drop at particle Reynolds numbers lower than 3500. It appears that the pressure drop through a packed bed is proportional to the 1.8th power of the air flow speed at particle Reynolds numbers above about 500. The Effectiveness-NTU model combined with a variety of heat transfer correlations is able to predict the air temperature trend over the bed within 15 % of the measured temperature drop over the packed bed. Dolerite and granite rocks were also thermally cycled 125 times in an oven without breaking apart, and may be suitable for use as thermal storage media at temperatures of approximately 500 ºC. The required volume of a packed bed of 0.1 m particles to store the thermal energy from the exhaust of a 100 MWe gas turbine operating for 8 hours is predicted to be 24 × 103 m3, which should be sufficient to run a 25-30 MWe steam cycle for over 10 hours. This storage volume is of a similar magnitude to existing molten salt thermal storage.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sonenergie is die grootste energiebron wat gebruik kan word vir krag opwekking. ‘n Probleem met die gebruik van sonenergie is dat die son nie 24 uur per dag skyn nie. Dit is dus nodig om die energie te stoor indien dit nodig sal wees om elektrisiteit te genereer wanneer die son nie skyn nie. ‘n Gekombineerde kringloop kan gebruik word om ‘n hoër benuttingsgraad te bereik en elektrisiteit goedkoper te maak. Dit sal dan moontlik wees om die termiese energie uit die primêre kringloop te stoor, wat die sekondêre kringloop onafhanklik van die primêre kringloop sal maak. Dié gevalle studie ondersoek die gebruik van ‘n slakof- klipbed met lug as hitteoordragmedium, om te bepaal of dit moontlik is om hitte te stoor teen ‘n temperatuur wat hoog genoeg is om ‘n Rankine stoom kringloop te bedryf. Eksperimentele toetse is in ‘n toets-bed gedoen en die drukverandering oor die bed en die lug temperatuur is gemeet en vergelyk met voorspelde waardes van vergelykings en modelle in die literatuur. Drie soorte klippe was getoets. Die gemiddelde grootte, spesifieke hitte-kapasiteit en digtheid van elke soort klip is gemeet. Klip en slak monsters is ook siklies tussen temperature van 30 ºC en 510 ºC verkoel en verhit. Die klassieke drukverlies vergelyking gee laer waardes as wat gemeet is vir Reynolds nommers minder as 3500. Dit blyk dat die drukverlies deur ‘n klipbed afhanklik is van die lug vloeispoed tot die mag 1.8 as die Reynolds nommer groter as omtrent 500 is. Die ‘Effectiveness-NTU’ model gekombineerd met ‘n verskeidenheid van hitteoordragskoeffisiënte voorspel temperature binne 15 % van die gemete temperatuur verskil oor die bed. Doloriet en graniet klippe het 125 sikliese toetse ondergaan sonder om te breek, en is miskien gepas vir gebruik in ‘n klipbed by temperature van sowat 500 ºC Die voorspelde volume van ‘n klipbed wat uit 0.1 m klippe bestaan wat die termiese energie vir 8 ure uit die uitlaat van ‘n 100 MWe gasturbiene kan stoor, is 24 × 103 m3. Dit behoort genoeg te wees om ‘n 25 – 30 MWe stoom kringloop vir ten minste 10 ure te bedryf. Die volume is min of meer gelyk aan dié van gesmelte sout store wat alreeds gebou is.

This thesis deals with the potential contribution that state-of-the-art solar thermal (ST) systems enhanced by thermal energy storage (TES) technologies might have in reducing the energy use in Welsh dwellings. The focus of this work lies with the share of the overall amount of conventional energy currently consumed for thermal comfort and hot water preparation that could be replaced by solar energy harvested by active, water-based, solar systems. Twelve typical Welsh dwellings drawn from a recent survey and considered as representative of the Welsh housing stock are modelled and the solar collectors' yield for different orientations and tilts is predicted. The subject is investigated with computer simulations using the TRNSYS simulation engine. The methodology dictates at first prediction and analysis of the thermal energy demand profiles of 12x4 case studies using average (smoothed) and actual (warmer) weather conditions, continuous and intermittent comfort maintenance. Next the ST potential is estimated considering solely a maximum (0.7) and an average (0.4) overall system efficiency and no other technical part for the ST system (modelling approach), in order to investigate the mismatch of energy demand and availability and the TES contribution. The performance characteristics of some representative European ST systems (short-term TES only), as derived from the IEA SHC Task 26 FSC method, are then applied to the simulations to reveal the potential with realistic losses and parasitic energy consumption included (applied only to 5 compatible models). It is revealed that all these house types are possible candidates for effective ST applications, assuming that economies of scale would allow for large absorber areas in the near future. The modelling approach shows that ST systems could contribute to thermal savings between 9%-34% solely with direct utilisation of the collected energy. Furthermore, for most cases, if reasonable sized stores would be used (up to 300kWh TES capacity) then the solar contribution to the overall thermal energy consumption, in the most favourable conditions, would be around 42-58%. Only a couple of models appear to have a lower potential, mainly due to lack of sufficient absorber areas. However for reaching the highest end of expectations for certain house types---up to 54% with average and up to 100% with warmer weather conditions---inter-seasonal storage would be required. In this case, the justifiable storage capacities predicted correspond to very large store volumes, revealing that these are currently not feasible options, as sensible heat storage is still the state-of-the-art for TES. Use of innovative storage types identified by the literature survey, that would only be available in the future, are required in order to achieve high solar contributions, considering space limitations in Welsh dwellings. The FSC results show that for the 5 models the use of solar energy would bring thermal energy savings of around 41-47% if the best system is employed compared to a conventional system, while if parasitic (electric) energy consumption is considered the expected energy savings could be as low as 10%. The actual ST potential is analysed and is found to be in between the two approaches, as both methods have advantages and limitations and complement each other.

The development of precast concrete housing systems provides an opportunity to easily and inexpensively incorporate solar energy collection by casting collector tubes into the roof structure. A design is presented for a precast solar water heating system used to aid in meeting the space and domestic water heating loads of a single family residence. A three-dimensional transient collector model is developed to characterize the precast solar collector's performance throughout the day. The model describes the collector as a series of segments in the axial direction connected by a fluid flowing through an embedded tube. Each segment is represented by a two-dimensional solid model with top boundary conditions determined using a traditional flat plate solar collector model for convection and radiation from the collector cover plate. The precast collector is coupled to a series solar assisted heat pump system and used to meet the heating needs of the residence. The performance of the proposed system is compared to the performance of a typical air to air heat pump. The combined collector and heat pump model is solved using Matlab in conjunction with the finite element solver, Femlab. Using the system model, various non-dimensional design and operating parameters were analyzed to determine a set of near optimal design and operating values. The annual performance of the near optimal system was evaluated to determine the energy and cost savings for applications in Atlanta, GA and Chicago, IL. In addition, a life cycle cost study of the system was completed to determine the economic feasibility of the proposed system. The results of the annual study show that capturing solar energy using the precast collector and applying the energy through a solar assisted heat pump can reduce the electricity required for heating by more than 50% in regions with long heating seasons. The life cycle cost analysis shows that the energy savings justifies the increase in initial cost in locations with long heating seasons but that the system is not economically attractive in locations with shorter heating seasons.
Master of Science

Thesis (MTech (Mechanical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.
South Africa has raised concerns regarding the development of renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and solar energy. Integration of a combined photovoltaic and thermal system was considered to transform simultaneous energy into electricity and heat. This was done to challenge the low energy efficiency observed when the two solar energy conversion technologies are employed separately, in order to gain higher overall energy efficiency and ensure better utilization of the solar energy. Therefore, the notion of using a combined photovoltaic and thermal system was to optimize and to improve the overall PV panel efficiency by adding conversion to thermal energy for residential and commercial needs of hot water or space heating or space cooling using appropriate technology. The PV/T model constructed using water as fluid like the one used for the experimental work, presented a marginal increase in electrical efficiency but a considerable yield on the overall PV/T efficiency, because of the simultaneous operation by coupling a PV module with a thermal collectors.

Solar thermal propulsion (STP) offers an unique combination of thrust and efficiency, providing greater total ΔV capability than chemical propulsion systems without the order of magnitude increase in total mission duration associated with electric propulsion. Despite an over 50 year development history, no STP spacecraft has flown to-date as both perceived and actual complexity have overshadowed the potential performance benefit in relation to conventional technologies. The trend in solar thermal research over the past two decades has been towards simplification and miniaturization to overcome this complexity barrier in an effort finally mount an in-flight test.

A review of micro-propulsion technologies recently conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has identified solar thermal propulsion as a promising configuration for microsatellite missions requiring a substantial Δ V and recommended further study. A STP system provides performance which cannot be matched by conventional propulsion technologies in the context of the proposed microsatellite ''inspector" requiring rapid delivery of greater than 1500 m/s ΔV. With this mission profile as the target, the development of an effective STP architecture goes beyond incremental improvements and enables a new class of microsatellite missions.

Here, it is proposed that a bi-modal solar thermal propulsion system on a microsatellite platform can provide a greater than 50% increase in Δ V vs. chemical systems while maintaining delivery times measured in days. The realization of a microsatellite scale bi-modal STP system requires the integration of multiple new technologies, and with the exception of high performance thermal energy storage, the long history of STP development has provided "ready" solutions.

For the target bi-modal STP microsatellite, sensible heat thermal energy storage is insufficient and the development of high temperature latent heat thermal energy storage is an enabling technology for the platform. The use of silicon and boron as high temperature latent heat thermal energy storage materials has been in the background of solar thermal research for decades without a substantial investigation. This is despite a broad agreement in the literature about the performance benefits obtainable from a latent heat mechanisms which provides a high energy storage density and quasi-isothermal heat release at high temperature.

In this work, an experimental approach was taken to uncover the practical concerns associated specifically with applying silicon as an energy storage material. A new solar furnace was built and characterized enabling the creation of molten silicon in the laboratory. These tests have demonstrated the basic feasibility of a molten silicon based thermal energy storage system and have highlighted asymmetric heat transfer as well as silicon expansion damage to be the primary engineering concerns for the technology. For cylindrical geometries, it has been shown that reduced fill factors can prevent damage to graphite walled silicon containers at the expense of decreased energy storage density.

Concurrent with experimental testing, a cooling model was written using the "enthalpy method" to calculate the phase change process and predict test section performance. Despite a simplistic phase change model, and experimentally demonstrated complexities of the freezing process, results coincided with experimental data. It is thus possible to capture essential system behaviors of a latent heat thermal energy storage system even with low fidelity freezing kinetics modeling allowing the use of standard tools to obtain reasonable results.

Finally, a technological road map is provided listing extant technological concerns and potential solutions. Improvements in container design and an increased understanding of convective coupling efficiency will ultimately enable both high temperature latent heat thermal energy storage and a new class of high performance bi-modal solar thermal spacecraft.