Design and Operation Optimization of a Solar Collector System

This thesis introduces the concept of Concentrated Solar Power utilization for the production of Electrical Energy. As the world economy grows and the technology growth booms, the dependability on more robust, ingenious and cost effective ways of generating electricity becomes essential. Solar Energy is currently striving to become a major player in fulfilling the energy needs of the modern world with environmental aspects guaranteeing a safer future for our generations. There are two main ways through which solar energy from sun is employed to produce electricity i.e. Photo-voltaic cells and Concentrated Solar Power. Little work has been carried out in the field of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) but there is still room for significant improvement. Concentrated Solar Power has a lot of potential in our country considering the abundance of solar radiation throughout the year particularly in the southern region. The proposed design will be scalable to industrial level. This research project is one of its kind considering not much work has been carried out previously in this regard in Pakistan. The following report contains detailed design strategies for making a Heliostat. We carried out work on Heliostat design in our institute and significantly improved the previous designs of any such tractable heliostat thus enhancing the efficiency of the system.

Economic efficiency and protection of the structure are also the main aspects of our design. The designed heliostat will track the sun and deflect the rays onto a collector tower which contains a working fluid. The steam from the fluid will be used in a heat exchanger which can then be coupled with a gas turbine thus generating electricity.