The DOE Solar Thermal Electric Program Concentrator Technology Project
The project comprises the development of concentrating solar collectors, heliostats and dishes, and the development of optical materials. Because the solar concentrator represents from 40 to 60% of the cost of a solar thermal electric system, the continued development of high-performance concentrators is very important to the commercial viability of these systems. The project is currently testing two large area heliostats, the SPECO 200 m{sup 2} heliostat and the ATS 150 m{sup 2} heliostat and also trying to reduce the cost of the heliostats through the development of stretched-membrane heliostats. Stretched-membrane heliostats are made by attaching thin metal membranes to the two sides of a circular, metal ring. A slight vacuum in the plenum between the two membranes is used to focus the heliostat. The optical surface is provided by a silver-acrylic film, ECP 305. A prototype 100 m{sup 2} commercial unit has been built and is currently being tested. Parabolic dish concentrators are under development for use on dish-Stirling electric systems. The state-of-the-art dish is the McDAC/SCE faceted glass concentrator. Because of the success of stretched-membrane technology for heliostats, the project applied the technology to parabolic dish development and is currently designing a near-term, faceted, stretched-membrane dish. The current thrust of the program in optical materials development is the development of a low-cost, high-performance, silver-acrylic film. 3M's ECP 305 has demonstrated substantial improvement over previous films in its resistance to corrosion, longer life. An experimental film, developed at SERI, has promise for further improving the lifetime of the ECP 305. The project is currently investigating solutions to the problem of separation between the silver and acrylic layers of the film in the presence of water.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 6148186
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-91-0570C; CONF-9103109-1-Vugraphs; ON: DE91009253
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SOLTECH '91 conference, Burlingame, CA (USA), 25-28 Mar 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
GLAZING MATERIALS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
HELIOSTATS
SOLAR CONCENTRATORS
US DOE
CORROSION RESISTANCE
COST
DESIGN
FILMS
FOCUSING
GLASS
MEMBRANES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PARABOLIC COLLECTORS
PERFORMANCE
POLYACRYLATES
POWER GENERATION
SERVICE LIFE
SILVER
SIZE
SOLAR ABSORBERS
SOLAR THERMAL CONVERSION
SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS
STIRLING CYCLE
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
CONCENTRATING COLLECTORS
CONVERSION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
ESTERS
MATERIALS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLYMERS
POLYVINYLS
POWER PLANTS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
US ORGANIZATIONS
141000* - Solar Collectors & Concentrators
360600 - Other Materials
299000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation
290500 - Energy Planning & Policy- Research
Development
Demonstration
& Commercialization