How Do Solar Parabolic Dishes Work?

The solar dish Stirling technology is well beyond the research and development phase, with more than 20 years of recorded operating history. The equipment is well characterized with over 50,000 hours of on-sun time. Since 1984, the Solar Dish Stirling equipment has held the world’s efficiency record for converting solar energy into grid-quality electricity. This record was achieved when the technology was installed in Huntington Beach, California. SES coordinated with the U.S. Department of Energy and Sun-Labs (National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories) to conduct an endurance test of the solar dish Stirling system and to bring the technology to market.

SunCatcher™ Technology ::
How It Works

The SunCatcher™ is a 25-kilowatt-electrical (kWe) solar dish Stirling system which consists of a unique radial solar concentrator dish structure that supports an array of curved glass mirror facets, designed to automatically track the sun, collect and focus, that is, concentrate, its solar energy onto a patented Power Conversion Unit (PCU). The PCU is coupled with, and powered by, a completely re-engineered SES Stirling engine that generates power grid-quality electricity.

Power Conversion Unit (PCU)

The PCU converts the focused solar thermal energy into grid-quality electricity. The conversion process in the PCU involves a closed-cycle, high-efficiency four-cylinder, reciprocating Solar Stirling Engine utilizing an internal working fluid that is recycled through the engine. The Solar Stirling Engine operates with heat input from the sun that is focused by the SunCatcher’s™ dish assembly mirrors onto the PCU’s solar receiver tubes which contain hydrogen gas. The PCU solar receiver is an external heat exchanger that absorbs the incoming solar thermal energy. This heats and pressurizes the gas in the heat exchanger tubing, and this gas in turn powers the Solar Stirling Engine.

A generator is connected to the Solar Stirling Engine; and produces the grid-quality electrical output of the SunCatcher™. Waste heat from the engine is transferred to the ambient air via a radiator system similar to those used in automobiles. The gas is cooled by a radiator system and is continually recycled within the engine during the power cycle. The conversion process does not consume water, as is required by most thermal-powered generating systems.

New Radial Dish Design

The SunCatcher™ uses an innovative radial design for its concentrating mirrors. At sunrise, each SunCatcher automatically rotates to face The Sun, and with sophisticated automation software, tracks, collects, and focuses the sun’s energy onto a single point, the Power Conversion Unit.