Solar Thermal Energy

Lecture 6,7
 Overview of Solar Thermal Systems
• Solar thermal systems convert sunlight
to heat
• Categorized by reflector/collector types
– Flat mirror (possibly many of them)
– Parabolic/cylindrical: single axis
– Paraboloidal: axis of revolution forms “dish”
– Spherical: approximates paraboloid, but
focus can move to track sun

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 Contents
• Solar Energy Distribution
• Flat Collector Types
• Water Heaters
• Reflectors
• Solar Thermal Electric Power
• Balance of System
• Food Processing and Cookers
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Conclusion

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 Solar Energy: Thermal
• Quality of heat; the value in temperature
– Low-temperature extraction of heat from ground; ~70° F to 80° F
– Water heating for home and business; ~90° F to 120° F
– High-temperature process-heating water for industry; ~200° F to 400° F
• Solar thermal power plants; ~1000° F or higher

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 Flat-Plate Absorbers
• Perforated black metal sheet leaks air in through
slots, and a fan pushes hot air to desired area
• Trombe Wall absorbs solar heat and stores it
– Glass wall plus water barrels often used
– Warmed air is slowly released into the building at
night
• Water heater with roof solar collector
• Food dryers circulate warmed air over cut food to
remove moisture and preserve it; dried fruit, etc.

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 Solar Wall Collector
• This perforated
black sheet
metal is
fastened directly
to a building
exterior
• A small
computer fan
pulls outside air
into the slots, it
is warmed, and
the air is pushed
through a pipe Sustainable Living and Renewable Energy

to the interior of
the building.
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 Solar Water Heaters
• Household Use
– Rooftop; one or two panels about 3 ft x 10 ft
– Rather standard appearance water tank, but has multiple water
connections for collector in and out; more insulation
• Pipes are cold in, hot out, collector in, and collector out
• A temperature sensitive resistor is built in for control
10 kilohm thermistor
– Ingenious designs allow a standard water heater tank to be
used by tapping the safety thermostat port and the drain port
• Industrial-grade Parabolic Heaters
– Multiples of collectors used to achieve more Btu
• Used at schools, prisons, or military bases

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 Rooftop Heaters
Thermosyphon units
place the storage tank
above the panels, and
heated water rises into
the tank.
Cooler return water
flows from the tank to
the bottom of the
collectors to enter at
the cold end.
No pump is needed to
circulate the water.

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 Axicon Conical Reflector
 A polished mirror
cone reflects the
sun onto a water-
filled pipe and
can boil the water
 The surface of
polished metal or
foil is cheap to
make and form

http://wg
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 11.1.4.1 Solar Focusing Systems: Parabolic

 Focuses parallel
rays to a line
 A black pipe is
placed with its
center at the focus
 Pipe can be in a
vacuum or could
have a glass cover
tube to reduce
convection
 Cylindrical reflector
can be on one half
of the vacuum tube
Y = 3/16 * X2
and approximates
the parabolic shape
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 11.1.4.2 Solar Focusing Systems: Paraboloidal

 The focus at one

spot is achieved
by the parabolic
cross-section
 Flat mirror
segments may be
used to
approximate the
curve at much
lower expense

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 Parabolic Trough Collectors

 This large array

shows the gaps
needed to keep one
row from
shadowing the next
row
 Note the flexible
pipe at this end that
circulates the
thermal oil
regardless of the tilt
angle
 In the background
is the control and
engineering building

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 Essential subsystems in a solar energy plant

• . Solar collector or concentrator: It receives

solar rays and collects the energy. It may
be of following types:
• a) Flat plate type without focusing
• b) Parabolic trough type with line focusing
• c) Paraboloid dish with central focusing
• d) Fresnel lens with centre focusing
• e) Heliostats with centre receiver focusing
 Energy transport medium
• Substances such as water/ steam, liquid metal or gas are used
to transport the thermal energy from the collector to the heat
exchanger or thermal storage.
• In solar PV systems energy transport occurs in electrical form.
• 3. Energy storage: Solar energy is not available continuously.
So we need an energy storage medium for maintaining power
supply during nights or cloudy periods. There are three major
types of energy storage:
• a) Thermal energy storage; b) Battery storage; c) Pumped
storage hydro-electric plant.
 Solar Collectors

• Solar collectors are used to collect the solar energy and

convert the incident radiations into thermal energy by
absorbing them.
• This heat is extracted by flowing fluid (air or water or mixture
with antifreeze) in the tube of the collector for further
utilization in different applications.
• The collectors are classified as;
• Non concentrating collectors
• Concentrating (focusing) collectors
 Non Concentrating Collectors
• In these collectors the area of collector to
intercept the solar radiation is equal to the
absorber plate and has concentration ratio of 1.
• Flat Plate Collectors (Glaze Type) Flat plate
collector is most important part of any solar
thermal energy system.
• It is simplest indesign and both direct and
diffuse radiations are absorbed by collector and
converted into useful heat.
 Eurotrough Reflector

 The focus pipe has flexible pipes on the ends to allow rotary motion to track
the sun, while the absorber pipe is kept at the heat focus
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 Solar Power Towers
• Solar power towers were developed at Sandia,
south of Albuquerque, New Mexico
– Salt was melted by the focused heat
– If the sun was blocked, the salt could harden in the
pipes, requiring torches to get it flowing again
– The heliostat mirrors are about ten feet square and
mounted on the azimuth-elevation mounts (like a
radar antenna mount) about 10 feet off the ground
• The larger version with a full circle array, Solar
One, was built near Barstow, CA
– Water is used, but the system is being modified for
molten salt

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 Solar Power Towers

• Flat mirrors are aimed to focus sun at the receiver target.

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 Solar Power Towers

5 MW power

Each heliostat is separately

driven to focus its beam on
the receiver
The Receiver Tower has
multiple target areas

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 Solar Power Towers

• The large tank

stores energy
to use during
cloud passage
or at dusk
• The output
power is
extracted at a
constant rate

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 Solar Power Towers

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 Solar Power Mirrors

• Disks of thin aluminized mylar are pulled into rings

under slight vacuum to form a paraboloidal surface

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 75 kW Solar Thermal Test Facility

• These Sandia trackers have a paraboloidal dish surface

similar to a radar antenna
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 Solar Path vs. Collector Weight and Size

• The Sun’s changing position requires moving the

focus during the day
– Solar noon elevation changes annually as the sun
declination angle changes
• Massive structures require high power to move
them
– The prescribed structure has 11-meter reflectors
• Lighter components can move sun’s image
• Reflectors are moved to a vertical stow position
that minimizes wind torques when weather
warnings arise

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 Balance of System (BOS)
• You need all this other stuff to make it work!
– Heat exchangers, boilers
– Circulating pumps for the heat fluid
– Heat storage tanks, special thermal oils
– Automated controls
– Natural gas peaking for steam high temperature
– Rotary expanders (positive displacement steam
motors) can substitute for a turbine
– Wash truck and sprayer to clean the desert dust off
the mirrors

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 Food Dryers
• Heated air passes over the food 
drying the moisture and preserving it
• Separate trays allow keeping fruits or
nuts of the same dryness together
for processing

 The glass or plastic top

allows sunlight in but
reflects infrared energy
back onto the food
 The food is in the thick end
of the box
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 Solar Coffee Bean Dryers
• Coffee is normally
dried on open tables in
the sun
• These solar dryers
were built to speed the
process
• Heat retention
increases the inside air
temperature
• Materials are
inexpensive and local
workers can build the
driers
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 A Traditional Sun Cooker
This cooker at the
2003 Ft. Collins CO
Sustainable Living
Fair was in too
shady a location to
work

The polished aluminum wings provide more reflected light

energy into the box to increase the temperature to about
270 ºF
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 A Paraboloidal Sun Cooker
The black pot suspended at the focus can be moved
on and off for loading and serving
The mount allows vertical shifts while the entire unit is
turned to track the sun
The mirror is made of segments to approximate a
paraboloid

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 A Paraboloidal Solar Cooker

This massive
servotracker unit
was originally
developed to the
local Renewable
Energy Society
An oven area at the
back can cook three
pans of cookies

The segments approximate a paraboloidal

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 Advantages and Disadvantages

• Solar thermal systems work efficiently at lower

temperatures since cheap flat collectors can work
economically
• Reflecting systems need broad acceptance angles so
that the optics don’t cost too much
– The beam need only strike the absorber.
• Reflectors must be kept clean by frequent washing

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 Conclusion: Solar Thermal
• Solar thermal systems are cost effective at low temperatures
for water heating or cooking
• Water heaters are energy savers, but initial cost dissuades
many from using them
• Power tower electricity cost is at $6/W peak, too high to
compete with PV power
• Massive power tower yields 10 MWe, while a typical utility
plant is 500-1500 MWe
• Power towers aren’t likely to be economically practical for
some time
• Solar dryers, cookers, and ovens are relatively inexpensive
and available for remote cooking.

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• The collection and conversion of the solar
radiation to thermal energy depends on the
• collector design and the relative amounts of
direct beam and diffuse radiation absorbed
by the collector.
• As indicated in the following discussion of solar
thermal collectors, the collectors used for higher
temperature applications can collect only the
direct radiation from the sun.
• The annual average daily direct normal solar
radiation for the contiguous United States,
Alaska, and Hawaii; values range from under
2.78 kW/hr/m2 (10 MJ/m2) to over 7.22
kW/hr/m2 (26 MJ/m2)
• Peak direct solar radiation at noon during a
clear day averages about I kW/m2
 ECONOMICS OF SOLAR POWER TOWERS

• Solar power towers require a high initial capital investment,

but they have low fuel costs.
• Nuclear and fossil-fuel plants have a much lower initial
construction cost, but they require fuel that is heavily
dependent on market pricing for their operation.
• Economic comparisons between a solar central receiver plant
and a nuclear or fossil-fuel plant should, therefore, be made
on the basis of the levelized costs of the energy produced,not
on their respective initial construction costs.
 Costly Component
• The heliostat field is the largest cost component of a
solar central receiver plant.
• The capital cost associated with the installed
heliostat, including foundation, wiring, controllers,
and computers, ranges from 50 to 60 percent of the
total system installed cost.
• This cost depends on whether the application is to
produce electricity or process heat and on the unit
price per heliostat