Recuperated solar-dish Brayton cycle using turbocharger and short-term thermal storage

Plate-style recuperator for a solar Brayton cycle using high-temperature sealant

“…Turbochargers are readily available and thus affordable [14], and have been developed for many decades to perform well at the proposed operating conditions of up to 950 °C [15]. To continue generating power during periods of sparse or no solar irradiance, thermal storage methods such as packed rock bed [16] and molten metal systems [17,18] have been investigated. The addition of a combustion chamber to hybridise the cycle is a well-known solution for continuous operation [19]; it can utilise a wide range of fuels including hydrogen [20].…”

“…Ohadi and Buckley [32] have listed the main potential materials which could be used for hightemperature recuperator applications as well as the material properties. Le Roux and Sciacovelli [18] have shown that the STBC can also operate at lower receiver operating temperatures of about 600 °C, which have an advantage in terms of cost because stainless steel materials can be used instead of super-alloys for recuperator inlet temperatures of less than 670 °C [15]. Gasketed plate-type heat exchangers are often used for lower temperature applications [33] because of material limits, and they are usually operated below 150 °C to avoid the use of expensive gasket materials [34].…”

Cogeneration system driven by solar dish concentrators

“…5 Solar dishes can be used in numerous applications for power production, cooling, heating, cogeneration, and trigeneration. 6,7…”