The present invention relates to a solar energy collection system and, more particularly, to a solar collector of a preferred tapered geometry that allows for significantly improved concentration efficiency, while also relaxing the requirements on tracking the movements of the sun; the inventive system also provides a means of reducing energy generation costs well below those associated with standard fossil fuels.
Most present day energy usage is derived from the sun. This comes largely from the burning of fossil fuels. Such usage has caused vast environmental problems, starting from as early as the Industrial Revolution and continuing today at an almost unabated pace. Indeed, the subsequent neglect of these growing problems has given rise to the present-day situation, calling for rapid remediation on the scale of a few years.
Direct use of solar energy in photovoltaic (PV) and thermal systems is probably the most desirable—yet least used—of the so-called “green technologies” under consideration for overcoming environmental problems for home, industrial and/or large-scale usage. High construction costs and the difficulty of achieving high solar cell efficiencies are the principal factors in preventing the extensive use of most presently-available systems. Most efforts to reduce costs of solar systems are centered on improving the efficiency and cost of the solar cells themselves. For example, extensive work is underway on improving cells made of single crystal silicon and other PV materials (such as, for example, plastic films based on polysilicon, organic PV material, inorganic PV material, and the like). New physical properties, such as large charge multiplication and high voltage charge extraction, are also being studied. The present cost of production of the best solar PV cells is approximately $3-$6 per watt, which is prohibitive when compared with a current cost of about $0.50 per watt for fossil fuels. Presently, government subsidies are attempting to make up the difference in cost in order to advocate for the solar cell alternative.
Most current solar systems for residential or business use are based on large arrays of planar, flat-plate solar PV panels set out on rooftops. Also, thin-film PV systems are being tested on vast stretches of desert floor for large-scale power plant use, for example. The flat-plate design requires that the active area of the collector be essentially equal to the area of the PV material exposed to one sun radiation. That is, there is a one-to-one ratio of active collector area to PV cell area. The cost of a one-sun flat plate module is mostly governed by the cost and efficiency of the PV material that is used to cover the active module area. Therefore, in order to reduce the cost of a flat-plate module, the PV base material must be made less expensive, or more efficient, or both. Many organizations are investigating thin-film photovoltaic technologies to address the issue of lowering the cost of the PV base material. All thin-film approaches thus far have lowered the cost of the PV material, but at the expense of module efficiency.
Other approaches to achieve solar generation involve use of solar concentrating systems. These systems generally use parabolic mirror collectors or Fresnel lenses in various configurations to focus and concentrate the sun's light onto small-area PV cells, or fluid-filled thermal absorbers for driving turbines or other heat-generating systems. The concentration ratio is defined as the input power:output power and in these designs may vary from 1.5:1 to over 1500:1. Traditionally, design approaches for concentrating collectors have been large and bulky, using Fresnel lenses or large area parabolic reflectors. These arrangements have large single-element focusing optics, requiring highly accurate and expensive feedback-controlled solar tracking mechanisms.
One exemplary prior art solar concentrator that addresses some of these concerns is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,359 issued to S. Frazier on Aug. 21, 2001. The Frazier arrangement comprises a “double reflecting” solar concentrator that utilizes a primary parabolic reflective surface in combination with a secondary reflective surface. The incident light reflects off the secondary surface away from the primary parabolic surface's natural focus point toward a second focal point positioned on (or substantially near) the surface of the primary parabolic reflective surface. This optical path results in a narrower field of view at the receiver, which can improve the costs of some PV arrangements. The efficiency of this arrangement, however, remains limited in terms of the angle of acceptance of the incoming radiation and the need to accurately track the movement of the sun to provide a practical arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,207 issued on Dec. 23, 2003 to E. Arkas et al. discloses a solar concentrator formed into the shape of a spiral horn, where the horn is adapted to concentrate, by multiple reflections from the internal light-reflecting surface of the horn, solar energy incident within a predetermined range of angles. In particular, a preferred embodiment of the Arkas et al. design utilizes a spiral horn having the geometry of the well-known “Golden Spiral”. While potentially interesting from a design point of view, the formation of such a spiral horn had extensive manufacturing difficulties which may result in a cost-prohibitive option.
Long parabolic troughs are used in many conventional solar collector systems, where only the elevation is feedback-controlled (that is, azimuthal control is not a concern). The design of such a trough system is based on a technique called “non-imaging optics”. This type of analysis considers principally the power concentration features of solar collectors and totally neglects the imaging features which can often be complex and highly aberrated.
The state of the art approaches have not adequately addressed the issues of optical efficiency, optical cost, heat dissipation, solar tracking tolerance and size and weight concerns. Although interest in solar energy usage is high, experts predict it will take years (varying from a few years to a few decades) and large investments of capital and possibly government subsidies to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
The present invention addresses the needs remaining in the prior art and discloses a new type of solar collector system that is capable of converting solar energy into electrical energy and heat at a very low cost and high efficiency.
A solar collector has been formed in accordance with the present invention which utilizes multiple reflections of light passing down a tapered, pyramidal-type structure made of highly-reflective and planar mirrored surfaces. In particular, right-angled truncated reflective pyramidal structures have been discovered to have many properties which make them much superior to existing concentrator geometries.
It has been discovered that the use of a tapered, pyramidal-type structure creates multiple reflections which appear at the collector output in the form of a Buckminster-Fullerene display, providing improved collector efficiency and amplification, while being much less expensive than prior art concentrators of the Fresnel lens or parabolic type.
It is an advantage of the solar collector system of the present invention that the truncated pyramidal collector is less sensitive to the movement of the sun than the prior art conventional arrangements. In particular, the truncated pyramidal collector of the present invention is more than an order of magnitude less sensitive to the sun's acceptance angle than parabolic and other lens-like collectors. This insensitivity to acceptance angle eliminates the need for the above-mentioned expensive two-axis tracking apparatus as required for use with conventional parabolic collectors (which are known to be extremely sensitive to small collector misalignments).
Additionally, the reduced sensitivity to acceptance angle allows for the system of the present invention to operate at quite high efficiency even under cloudy or hazy skies. These are conditions where parabolic collectors are inoperable. In particular, it has been observed that the truncated pyramidal collector of the present invention exhibits increased collection levels under hazy conditions, as a result of increased scattering of light within the haze coupled with the structure's ability to capture the scattered rays and reflect them towards the solar receiver. This results in a significant increase in collected power over conventional solar parabolic systems. Moreover, the wide acceptance angle of the inventive arrangement allows for the collectors themselves to be relatively “low precision” devices—tolerant of flaws in collector geometry, such as distortions from rippled mirror surfaces. Indeed, these types of flaws render conventional systems inoperable.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the tapered pyramidal geometry of planar, mirrored sidewalls is significantly less expensive to manufacture and implement than the prior art “spiral horn” arrangement described above. Indeed, the square-based truncated pyramidal solar collector embodiment of the present invention can be formed as a ziggurat-like structure resembling a series of terraced steps that is lightweight and inexpensive. The circular conic embodiment of the present invention is readily fabricated for relatively small dimensions (such as may be utilized in residential applications), but may be more difficult in larger sizes—where any of the multi-sided truncated pyramidal arrangements (triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, or the like) may be more appropriate.
Other and further advantages and aspects of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following discussion and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to the drawings,
a) shows a right-angled, truncated pyramidal solar collector formed in accordance with the present invention, having a square geometry input and output face;
b) is a variation of the collector of
a) contains a diagram showing the paths of various solar rays propagating through the collector of
b) depicts the normalization applied to the ratio of the input and output faces of the collector of
a) is a side view of an exemplary ziggurat-like support structure for use with a square-based truncated pyramidal solar collector, such as shown in
A novel way of concentrating radiant energy using multiple reflections of light passing down a tapered pyramidal-type structure made from highly-reflective mirrored surfaces is the subject of the present invention. It has been discovered that tapered structures such as these have many properties that make them not only useful, but superior to existing solar collectors.
In accordance with the present invention, parallel light rays, such as from the sun, enter collector 10 within an acceptance angle that transports all of the rays at entrance 20 toward exit 22, propagating along collector axis CA. Depending on the angle of the incoming rays with respect to axis CA, they will make a number of reflections of increasing angle with respect to mirrored surfaces 12, 14, 16 and 18 as they proceed down the length of concentrator 10 to exit 22. At exit 22, the rays are concentrated and collected by a PV panel or a thermal absorber (not shown). This optical behavior is similar to the “walk-off” that occurs in misaligned planar mirrors in open laser resonators. This behavior can also be thought of as a version of the “barber-shop effect” when two slightly tilted mirrors on opposite walls of barber shop reflect multiple images. Another very useful way of viewing this reflective behavior is as a simple application of Fermat's Principle of Least Time in which each ray follows a single straight line path from a “virtual sun” source to the output face. Each “virtual sun” is a mirror image of the real sun, located the same perpendicular distance behind the reflecting mirror, as the real sun is in front of the mirror.
Using this relation, it is possible to calculate any parameter of the collector given the other three. Alternatively, characteristics of the collector's behavior can be determined by, for example, by holding one of the parameters and allowing the others to vary.
The collection efficiency, or amplification factor A, is given by (L/D)2 for the arrangement of
For a given value of α, the master diagram of
Still referring to the master diagram of
For example, with reference to the value of α=2.5°, it can be seen that an amplification of A=2500 can be achieved from an (L/D) value of 50. Theoretically, there is no limit to the amount of power that may be collected. This master diagram is based on a purely geometric optics model where diffraction effects are neglected. Diffraction effects, however are negligible for essentially all pyramidal-type collectors.
a) is an exemplary diagram of the actual paths of several axial input rays as they pass through a configuration of collector 10 with a taper angle α=15°. A first set rays within the interior portion of entrance 20 that aligns with exit 22 will pass straight through the collector and exit as a undeflected “beamlet”, having made zero reflections off of the mirrored surfaces, as shown in
In general, rays entering parallel to collector axis CA make successive reflections at increasing angles of 3α, 5α, 7α, etc. with respect to reflective surfaces 12 and 16. These same rays are also shown in
By using the pyramidal-type collector of the present invention, uniformity of intensity is achieved by making the ratio of the input face to output face (L/D) an integral value. In this case, the input area L2 can be divided into an N×N array of N2 smaller areas, each of area D2, where with parallel input light each of the N2 sub-areas is imaged onto collector entrance 20. For ideal geometry, this guarantees uniformity of intensity at the output.
In implementation, there are other factors to be considered which make the use of small angles of α, and the associated large amplification, impractical. In particular, it is unfavorable to have many emerging beamlets exiting collector 10 at large angles with respect to collector axis CA. Such beamlets will strike the absorbing solar cell (or absorbing thermal fluid) at small angles of incidence where surface reflectivity is high. Another undesirable factor is that reflections close to normal incidence will contribute to local heating and scattering loss, while making little or no contribution to amplification (on a per reflection basis).
In contrast, favorable collector parameters may comprise the following values: (L/D)=15, A=225, (S/D)=105 and D=10 cm. These values will yield an L of 1.5 m and a value for S of 10 m, with an input power of 1.5 kW at “one-sun” insulation. To work at yet higher power, additional PV collector units may be added, or all of the collector dimensions scaled upward by the same factor.
The above analysis has related to the use of pyramidal collectors with rays entering parallel to the collector axis. In the case where the sun's rays enter at an angle with respect to the axis, it can be shown that the collected power falls only slowly over an acceptance angle approaching 2α. This value of 2α is associated with the pyramidal collector geometry of the present invention, and is more than an order of magnitude less sensitive to angle than prior art collector geometries (e.g., Fresnel lenses and parabolas). As a result, the insensitivity to angle eliminates the need for expensive, feedback-controlled two-axis tracking apparatus, as used with conventional solar collector systems (which are extremely sensitive to small collector misalignments).
Instead, a relatively inexpensive two-axis tracker (no feedback required) can be used to orient the inventive collector during the full course of the day while operating at close to full power. Another major attribute of the large collection angle of 2α is that the collection system can continue to operate at quite high efficiency—even under cloudy or hazy skies—where parabolic collectors are inoperable. A further benefit of the wide acceptance angle is that the collectors themselves need not be high-precision devices and are tolerant of flaws in collector geometry, such as distortions from rippled mirror surfaces.
In a residential application, a square pyramidal collector, such as collector 10 of
In situations where space is limited and access is difficult, the collector of the present invention may be disposed in a horizontal configuration with a reflective mirror (having an unobstructed view) disposed at the entrance and used to direct the incoming solar radiation into the collector.
A system useful for implementing a larger number of the inventive collectors is shown in a top view in
It has been determined that the use of a pyramidal collector in accordance with the present invention provides easy access to heated water, and can make good use of this heat energy to provide building and hot water heat for residences and businesses (since the hot water need only be pumped into a standard water heater for later use).
In accordance with the operation of chamber 300, an incoming liquid (e.g., water, molten salt, oil, or any other fluid used in thermal systems) enters chamber 300 through inlet tubing 306. In a preferred embodiment, a metal with a high melting temperature (for example, tantalum) is used to form tubing 306. The incoming fluid is then exposed to the solar radiation concentrated by collector 10, is heated, and then flows out through an outlet port 308 in tubing 306. In the formation of this hybrid system, direct electrical energy is created by using a PV cell 310 which is disposed adjacent to quartz window 302.
It is known that silicon-based PV cells need to be maintained below a temperature of 60° C. to maintain efficient PV generation. When PV cell 310 is operating at a peak efficiency of about 25%, for example, the remaining 75% of the energy will appear as heating and be transferred to the circulating liquid. In the arrangement as shown in
In large-scale energy production systems, where high temperature liquids (molten salt, for example) are used, it may be preferable to forego the inclusion of a PV cell (such as cell 310), and rely solely on the generation of thermal energy through fluid circulation.
As mentioned above, the specific embodiment of the present invention illustrated in
While the above discussion has been associated with the use of the collector geometry of
Although various preferred embodiments of the inventive solar collector have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims appended hereto.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/176,748, filed May 8, 2009 and herein incorporated by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3218924 | Miller | Nov 1965 | A |
3232795 | Snyder et al. | Feb 1966 | A |
3427200 | Ernest et al. | Feb 1969 | A |
3899672 | Levi-Setti | Aug 1975 | A |
3923381 | Winston | Dec 1975 | A |
4003756 | Abrams | Jan 1977 | A |
4029519 | Schertz et al. | Jun 1977 | A |
4045246 | Mlavsky et al. | Aug 1977 | A |
4077393 | Mattson | Mar 1978 | A |
4078548 | Kapany | Mar 1978 | A |
4088121 | Lapeyre | May 1978 | A |
4114592 | Winston | Sep 1978 | A |
4140142 | Dormidontov et al. | Feb 1979 | A |
4248643 | Peters | Feb 1981 | A |
4284839 | Johnson | Aug 1981 | A |
4863224 | Afian et al. | Sep 1989 | A |
5118361 | Fraas et al. | Jun 1992 | A |
5280557 | Nwasokwa | Jan 1994 | A |
5611870 | Horne et al. | Mar 1997 | A |
5865905 | Clemens | Feb 1999 | A |
6201179 | Dalacu | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6274860 | Rosenberg | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6276359 | Frazier | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6528716 | Collette et al. | Mar 2003 | B2 |
6666207 | Arkas et al. | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6903261 | Habraken et al. | Jun 2005 | B2 |
7164839 | Nyhart, Jr. et al. | Jan 2007 | B2 |
20020007845 | Collette et al. | Jan 2002 | A1 |
20080184990 | Tuchelt | Aug 2008 | A1 |
20080185034 | Corio | Aug 2008 | A1 |
20080223443 | Benitez et al. | Sep 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100139739 A1 | Jun 2010 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61176748 | May 2009 | US |