William Hamilton

Abstract:

This project looked to improve upon thermal heat storage units as they regarded concentrated solar power. Concentrated solar power is a renewable energy that does not produce greenhouse gases. Other forms of renewable energy often have to be curtailed and are often intermittent in how they supply power, so are fairly unreliable. A small scale, parabolic trough plant concentrated solar system was constructed. The receivers were made of blackened copper pipe while the reflectors were built of aluminum sheeting. Four different setups were used throughout the project. The first heat tank built was a wooden box situated underneath one of the reflectors, this box was insulated. This design however, proved to be too cumbersome, and prevented the tracking of the sun. The second was then built, which included rubber tubes that allowed the heat tank to be removed from the rest of the system. Temperatures, however, were not sufficiently increasing in the heat tank, so a larger thermal heat exchanger was used in the third setup. Temperature was still not increasing sufficiently, so the tank was insulated in order to increase the temperature of the heat tank. The temperature of the heat was taken using a probe thermometer, and recorded every five minutes. The amount of heat stored was found and used as a way to compare each setup. Results between each setup were difficult to compare, because the experimental conditions varied. The design shows proof of concept, though it would not suffice for a CSP plant.

Awards Won: NASA Earth Science Award