272 results about "Solar power plant" patented technology

A suntracking system for a central receiver solar power plant includes a heliostat field for reflecting sunlight to a receiver, cameras directed toward at least a subset of the heliostats, and a controller. The cameras are configured to produce images of sunlight reflected from multiple heliostats. The heliostats include a mirrored surface having a settable orientation and have a geometry modeled by a set of parameters. A method of estimating heliostat parameters for open-loop suntracking includes acquiring pointing samples by setting the direction of reflection of the heliostats and detecting concurrent sunlight reflections into the cameras. The method uses the acquired pointing samples and surveyed locations of the cameras to estimate the heliostat parameters. The method accurately maintains the sun's reflection directed toward the receiver open-loop utilizing the estimated tracking parameters.

A method for storing heat from a solar collector CSTC in Concentrating Solar Power plants and delivering the heat to the power plant PP when needed. The method uses a compressed gas such as carbon dioxide or air as a heat transfer medium in the collectors CSTC and transferring the heat by depositing it on a bed of heat-resistant solids and later, recovering the heat by a second circuit of the same compressed gas. The storage system HSS is designed to allow the heat to be recovered at a high efficiency with practically no reduction in temperature. Unlike liquid heat transfer media, our storage method itself can operate at very high temperatures, up to 3000° F., a capability which can lead to greater efficiency. Due to material constraints and cost considerations in the rest of the system the maximum temperature is presently limited to between 1700° F. and 2000° F. The method can be applied to all current solar collector designs. This Abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

A method for storing heat from a solar collector CSTC in Concentrating Solar Power plants and delivering the heat to the power plant PP when needed. The method uses a compressed gas such as carbon dioxide or air as a heat transfer medium in the collectors CSTC and transferring the heat by depositing it on a bed of heat-resistant solids and later, recovering the heat by a second circuit of the same compressed gas. The storage system HSS is designed to allow the heat to be recovered at a high efficiency with practically no reduction in temperature. Unlike liquid heat transfer media, our storage method itself can operate at very high temperatures, up to 3000° F., a capability which can lead to greater efficiency. Due to material constraints and cost considerations in the rest of the system the maximum temperature is presently limited to between 1700° F. and 2000° F. The method can be applied to all current solar collector designs. This Abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

A method for storing heat from a solar collector CSTC in Concentrating Solar Power plants and delivering the heat to the power plant PP when needed. The method uses a compressed gas such as carbon dioxide or air as a heat transfer medium in the collectors CSTC and transferring the heat by depositing it on a bed of heat-resistant solids and later, recovering the heat by a second circuit of the same compressed gas. The storage system HSS is designed to allow the heat to be recovered at a high efficiency with practically no reduction in temperature. Unlike liquid heat transfer media, our storage method itself can operate at very high temperatures, up to 3000° F., a capability which can lead to greater efficiency.

A wind and solar power plant, producing electrical energy at any scale, site, and level above the ground, and with almost no wind, comprises rotor trains, mounted on decks of a garage-like building, each rotor train having a plurality of rotors positioned between a shroud and a wind tunnel. The wind is accelerated in a low middle part of the wind tunnel while flows from a high entrance towards a higher and wider exit. The blades of the rotors protrude into the middle part of the wind tunnel causing fast rotation of the rotors around horizontal axes. A super-diffuser, a booster and a wind tunnel are increasing the power of the wind and rotors in hundreds of times. Each rotor train comprises up to six rotors connected with twelve electrical generators. Electrical energy can be also produced by solar panels, mounted on the balconies and on the roof of the building.

A solar power plant having a plurality of receiver panels mounted in a circular fashion about a solar receiver. Each receiver panel includes a plurality of tubes that terminate at each end at a header. To eliminate the presence of gaps between the tubes of adjacent receiver panels the headers are staggered or beveled. In the staggered configuration the headers of adjacent receiver panels are located in different elevations so that the headers of adjacent receiver panels may overlap each other, thus allowing the headers and tubes of adjacent receiver panels to be positioned closer together to eliminate gaps between the tubes of adjacent panels. In the beveled configuration the headers are angled such that the terminal ends of adjacent headers are parallel and positioned in a closely abutting relationship, resulting in the absence of gaps between adjacent headers and tubes.

A solar power plant including a power conversion system and a method of controlling the power conversion system. Implemented in a DC / AC inverter, the plant includes photovoltaic modules (PV modules) arranged in arrays connected to a respective DC / DC converters. A power collecting grid interfaces between the DC / DC converters and the DC / AC inverter. The method includes monitoring the performance of each PV array by adjusting the voltage level of each interface between a PV array and the corresponding DC / DC converter, and includes monitoring the output power of each DC / DC converter as a feedback for the regulating.

A process produces weather-resistant laminates (1, 1′) for the encapsulation of solar cell systems (7). The process includes at least one weather-resistant plastic layer (2, 2′) being applied on a carrier material (4, 4′). The coating process shows the advantage that the relatively expensive starting products, which usually are used in the form of films, can be reduced in their thickness and in amounts thereof used. Owing to the controllable adjustment of the layer thickness of the weather-resistant layer (2, 2′), a considerable number of applications of the laminates that are produced, in particular in connection with the finished photovoltaic modules, are provided. These applications range from small energy units for emergency telephones or campers to large-area roof and facade systems and also large units and solar power plants.

A hybrid water pressure energy accumulating, tower assembly used to directly propel water pumps to raise water from low elevation reservoir(s) to high elevation reservoir(s) where it is used as a potential energy. The tower is electrically connected and positioned next to or close to a wind turbine or a wind or solar power plant. The tower includes in-tower storage reservoirs configured for storing water. The in-tower storage reservoirs could be defined by lower and upper water storage containers attached to the inner or outer surface of the tower that might be connected to other neighboring reservoir(s). The lifted water is used to generate electricity utilizing a hydropower generator.

An exemplary non-isolated DC-DC converter for a solar power plant, can be adapted to connect to a full-bridge inverter. The converter includes positive and negative input terminals, and positive and negative output terminals. A plurality of switches, diodes, inductors and capacitors are connected in a circuit configuration to the input and output terminals. A control means is connected to the circuit for controlling the switching of a first, second, and third switch between an open and closed state.

A solar power plant with a plurality of photovoltaic modules for generating a power to be fed in a multi-phase grid, several photovoltaic strings, which are allocated to different phases, being connected to a primary side of a mains transformer and at least one inverter for converting the direct voltage generated by the photovoltaic modules into an alternating mains voltage conforming to the grid being provided and said mains transformer being provided with a neutral conductor and with a grounded terminal, is intended to be improved in such a manner that the life of the photovoltaic modules, in particular in case of thin-film modules, is increased, allowing for high conversion efficiency of the inverters at low wiring costs. This is achieved in that an additional direct voltage source is inserted between the neutral conductor and ground in such a manner that the potential of the photovoltaic strings is displaced and that a bias voltage is set, which is different from zero volt.

A thermocline storage tank is presented, which includes a barrier member that floats between the two fluids stored at different temperatures, physically separating and insulating them. The floating barrier includes a number of design features that broaden its application scope, enabling it for use in fields like thermal storage systems of solar power plants.

A collector is provided including at least one photovoltaic cell for converting solar energy into electric energy, and at least one heat sink for converting solar energy into heat energy by heating a fluid, arranged so as to receive solar energy through the photovoltaic cell. The photovoltaic cell includes a plurality of vertically adjacent semiconductor junctions having different forbidden energy bands, each semiconductor junction having a forbidden energy band of greater than or equal to 1.2 eV, in particular greater than or equal to 1.4 eV.

A method for generating a solar power output forecast for a solar power plant, comprising: using a processor, in a training mode, generating a trained artificial intelligence model using historical output data and historical input data including historical physical subsystem input data and historical physical subsystem forecasts for the solar power plant; in a runtime mode, for a predetermined forecast horizon, applying the trained artificial intelligence model to current input data including current physical subsystem input data and current physical subsystem forecasts for the solar power plant to produce the solar power output forecast; and, presenting the solar power output forecast on a display.

The present invention relates to a tank for the containment of a liquid, preferably a molten salt, said tank being associable to an aspiration pump of said liquid, wherein said tank comprises a bottom from which a lateral wall raises and wherein said aspiration pump requires a minimum level of liquid in said tank for operating, characterized in that it comprises at least an element occupying a volume and placeable inside said tank with at least a portion of said volume arranged at a height, with respect to said bottom, which is lower than said minimum level. The improved tanks of the present invention are suitable as storage tanks for liquids at elevated temperature such as molten salts to be used in heat storage systems in connection with solar power plants.

A power plant that uses a lens to focus solar energy onto a closed system loop is disclosed wherein a closed loop system is provided having a chamber that converts a liquid into a gas by absorbing heat. The heat being created has been generated by the focused solar energy. The gas drives a turbine engine, which, with the use of a generator, produces an electrical output. A heat exchange system also transfers heat energy to the chamber from the liquid storage tank and the capillary tube. The present invention may also communicate with traditional environmentally economic sources of power such as windmills and hydroelectric dams. Further, a method employing the same principals is disclosed.

A suntracking system for a central receiver solar power plant includes a heliostat field for reflecting sunlight to a receiver, cameras directed toward at least a subset of the heliostats, and a controller. The cameras are configured to produce images of sunlight reflected from multiple heliostats. The heliostats include a mirrored surface having a settable orientation and have a geometry modeled by a set of parameters. A method of estimating heliostat parameters for open-loop suntracking includes acquiring pointing samples by setting the direction of reflection of the heliostats and detecting concurrent sunlight reflections into the cameras. The method uses the acquired pointing samples and surveyed locations of the cameras to estimate the heliostat parameters. The method accurately maintains the sun's reflection directed toward the receiver open-loop utilizing the estimated tracking parameters.

The tubular radiation absorbing device (1) for solar thermal applications includes a central tube (3) made of chromium steel, particularly stainless steel; a glass tubular jacket (2) surrounding the central tube so as to form a ring-shaped space (6); and a barrier coating (4) on at least an interior side of the central tube (3), which is substantially impermeable to hydrogen and contains chromium oxide. The barrier coating (4) is provided by a process in which the central tube (3) is treated with steam containing free hydrogen at a temperature of 500° C. to 700° C.

An inverter assembly having a DC circuit, inverter, and controller (CTRL) configured to control the inverter, the inverter being, for example, a multilevel inverter having a first half bridge (HB1) and a second half bridge (HB2). The controller (CTRL) can be adapted to provide a first operating state in which the controller (CTRL) operates the inverter as a full-bridge inverter. The controller (CTRL) is further adapted to provide at least one further operating state in which the controller (CTRL) operates the inverter as a half-bridge inverter, the controller (CTRL) being adapted to select an operating state based on predetermined conditions.

The invention relates to a solar power plant having a plurality of solar panels arranged in a row and at least one holding element on which the solar panels are held one after the other. The solar panels can be displaced along the at least one holding element with engagement means from an extracted operating position into a retracted resting position.

An elongate photovoltaic (PV) module for use in a solar energy conversion plant for the production of electricity from incident light, the PV-module comprising a top portion with a support panel (G) carrying on a front side a plurality of electrically connected PV cells (D), and a transparent protective layer (A) sealed to the support panel (G) so as to encapsulate the PV-cells (D) between the support panel (G) and the protective layer (A), wherein prior to installation of the PV-module at the deployment site a collapsible portion of the PV-module is configured to be collapsible in a longitudinal direction by folding and / or rolling, wherein the collapsible portion includes at least the top portion, wherein the PV-module further comprises one or more integrated ballast chambers (I) in a bottom portion of the PV-module arranged on a rear side of the support panel (G), wherein said integrated ballast chamber (I) after installation of the PV-module at the deployment site contains an amount of a ballasting material (H) with a weight sufficient to immobilize the PV-module on a supporting surface of the deployment site under predetermined characteristic climate conditions for the deployment site.

The tubular radiation absorbing device (1) for solar thermal applications has a central tube (2) and a glass tubular jacket (3) surrounding the central tube (2) so that a ring-shaped space (4) is formed between the central tube (2) and the tubular jacket (3). The ring-shaped space (4) contains at least one inert gas with a partial pressure of 3 to 200 mbar. Alternatively in another embodiment a gas-tight closed container (10) filled with at least one inert gas is arranged in the ring-shaped space (4). The container (10) has a device for supplying inert gas to the ring-shaped space (4) in order to compensate for increased heat losses due to diffusion of hydrogen into the ring-shaped space (4) from the heat carrier medium.

A solar power plant (10) capable of generating electricity comprising a light pipe carrying highly concentrated solar light (19), a hot reservoir (24), a cold reservoir (20), and a plurality of large-scale solid-state nano-structured photonic crystals (12) that are capable of recycling out-of-band photons with transition energies associated with a photovoltaic cell (13) into photons with in-band energies associated with the same photovoltaic cell (13) when photon energy is subjected to propagation through a thermal temperature gradient that is held across a suitably nano-structured photonic crystal (12). The input thermal photons from the hot thermal reservoir (24) are shifted in energy to the optimal photovoltaic cell energy for electron-hole pair generation by work that is expanded by the heat engine to convert said input photons into phonons and then back to photons again at a new wavelength through a process of phonon rethermalization occurring inside the nano-structured photonic crystal (12).

The invention relates to a collector including at least one photovoltaic cell for converting solar energy into electric energy, and at least one heat sink (6) for converting solar energy into heat energy by heating a fluid, arranged so as to receive solar energy through the photovoltaic cell (4). According to one form of the invention, the photovoltaic cell (4) includes a plurality of vertically adjacent semiconductor junctions having different forbidden energy bands, each semiconductor junction having a forbidden energy band of greater than or equal to 1.2 eV, in particular greater than or equal to 1.4 eV.

A collector for solar energy is disclosed having a closed hollow partially spherical container with a window for permitting solar energy to enter the container. The container has a reflective inner surface for retaining the energy. The collecting lens focuses the solar energy. Central tubing is provided and a pump circulates fluid through the tubing to a heat exchanger for transferring thermal energy from the fluid in the tubing to a utilization device.

The present invention provides a novel solar steam generator comprising solar steam boiler compartment carrying water surrounding an internal superheater compartment. The boiler compartment is exposed to a first concentrated solar radiation. The boiler compartment is configured and operable to heat water to saturated temperatures and generate saturated steam. The boiler compartment operates as an integrated cavity enclosing the superheater compartment, reducing the thermal losses of the superheater compartment to the outside environment and absorbs most of the thermal losses of the superheater compartment. The internal superheater compartment is exposed to a second concentrated solar radiation and is configured and operable to superheat the saturated steam generated in the boiler compartment. The boiler compartment and the superheater compartment are thus arranged one with respect to the other such that the boiler compartment surrounds the internal superheater compartment.

The invention relates to a method using heaving and dipping of a floating body by wave pushing to ensure energy to be transferred to a driving device in hydraulic energy way through a carrier which is provided with a plurality of buoyancy pressure pumps. The driving device converts the hydraulic energy into mechanical energy to drive a generator to generate electricity. The method has the advantages of non-pollution, low construction and running cost, safety and reliability, large electric quantity, non-occupied land and others. The method makes up for all shortcomings in the prior power plants such as: security problems of water-power plants and nuclear power plants, pollution problems of thermal power generation, high cost and small electric quantity of wind and solar power plants. The method can better meet the human demands for electricity and also can improve life level and production level.

The invention discloses an intelligent control system and control method for the cleaning of a solar photovoltaic panel, and belongs to the technical field of solar photovoltaics. The system is composed of a meteorological data module, a data acquisition module, a monitoring unit, a robot workstation and an inspection cleaning robot. The monitoring unit is used for collecting and recording a powergeneration current and the real-time meteorological data of a power plant and comparing the power generation current and the real-time meteorological data with a normal power generation efficiency attenuation model built in the system to obtain a real state that the accumulated dust affects the power generation efficiency. Through comparing the optimal cost operation data, an optimized scheme forcleaning the photovoltaic array is obtained, and the automatic cleaning robot is controlled to automatically clean the photovoltaic panel. Compared with the prior art, the system can automatically recognize local pollution of the photovoltaic panel and automatically clean he local pollution, can effectively prolong the overall cleaning period of a solar power plant, reduces the overall cleaning frequency, prolongs the service life of the photovoltaic panel, reduces the operation cost, optimizes the cleaning period, and achieves the optimization of the power generation efficiency and the operation cost.