United Technologies Corporation

The Boeing Company

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc.

William D Otting

Patrick Edward Frye

Charles T Kudija, Jr

Terrence H Murphy

Joseph P Carroll

Patriok E Frye

A solar power system capable of storing heat energy and converting sun light to electrical power. The solar power system includes a solar collection system which gathers and transmits concentrated solar energy to an absorber/cavity. The thermal energy is extracted from the absorber/cavity via a fluid and transported to a heat conversion system. The heat conversion system uses the thermal energy to create electricity.

Solar dish concentrator with a molten salt receiver incorporating thermal energy storage

A solar power conversion system using a plurality of engines to convert solar energy to electrical energy. The plurality of engines are supported adjacent to a housing having a single thermal cavity. The cavity is provided with solar energy from a solar collector. Each of the engines can be turned off or regulated to maintain an optimum operating temperature for a common heater head in communication with each of the engines. Therefore, the power conversion system can be regulated for variations in insolation to maintain an optimum temperature in the heater head. Therefore, increased life cycle energy efficiency of the power conversion system can be obtained.

Method and apparatus for solar power conversion

A solar power collection system capable of operating with a positioning system that provides movement of the system about only a single axis of rotation. The solar power collection system includes a concentrator having at least one parabolic-trough-shaped mirror that focuses sun light reflected therefrom along a longitudinal focus line defined by a focus of the parabolic-trough shaped mirror. An absorber having a heat absorbing tube and a heat absorbing shoe is supported from the mirror such that the tube is positioned coaxially along the focus line to receive reflected sun light. The tube absorbs thermal from the sun light and conductively heats the shoe. The shoe supplies this thermal energy to an energy conversion engine. The engine, in one preferred form, is a Stirling engine that converts the thermal energy into electrical energy. A pointing system moves the concentrator about a single axis of rotation to track the sun across the horizon.

Trough-stirling concentrated solar power system

A solar power system is provided for converting sunlight into electricity. The solar power system utilizes a mirror to focus the sunlight into a cavity of an absorption chamber. The cavity includes heat conducting shoes which absorb the solar energy reflected by the mirror and conduct the thermal energy to a plurality of a free piston Stirling converters mounted to the absorption chamber. The Stirling converter converts the thermal energy into electrical energy. The solar power system of the present invention reduces costs of typical solar power systems by using a plurality of free piston Stirling converters of a size small enough to allow the use of a simple monolithic heater head which is simple and inexpensive to fabricate and does not require complex external tubular heat exchangers. The free piston Stirling converter does not require a crankshaft or contacting seals and thereby is reliable and low maintenance.

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Thousand Oaks, CA, United States of America

William D Otting