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New World Record for Solar-to-Grid Conversion Efficiency mongabay.com February 13, 2008
"Gaining two whole points of conversion efficiency in this type of system is phenomenal," said Bruce Osborn, SES president and CEO. "This is a significant advancement that takes our dish engine systems well beyond the capacities of any other solar dish collectors and one step closer to commercializing an affordable system." According to Sandia National Laboratories, the record-setting solar energy system works as follows:
The solar dish generates electricity by focusing the sun’s rays onto a receiver, which transmits the heat energy to a Stirling engine. The engine is a sealed system filled with hydrogen. As the gas heats and cools, its pressure rises and falls. The change in pressure drives the pistons inside the engine, producing mechanical power, which in turn drives a generator and makes electricity.
"The Stirling dishes are made with a low iron glass with a silver backing that make them highly reflective -- focusing as much as 94 percent of the incident sunlight to the engine package, where prior efforts reflected about 91 percent." The solar dish also featured a new, more effective radiator and a new high-efficiency generator. In the end though, weather played a big part in the achievement. "It was a 'perfect storm' of sorts," Andraka says. "We set the record on Jan. 31, a very cold and extremely bright day, a day eight percent brighter than normal." News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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