Solar dish collectors

A dish system uses a large reflective, parabolic dish, which is similar in shape to satellite television dish. It focuses all the sunlight that strikes the dish onto to a single point of the dish, where a receiver captures the heat and transforms it into a useful form. Typically the dish is coupled with a Stirling engine in a Dish-Stirling System, but also sometimes a steam engine is used.

A Stlirling engine is a heat engine that operates by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas, the working fluid, at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to actual mechanical work.

No matter what system is used, all of these have the same mission – to create rotational kinetic energy that can be converted to electricity using an electric generator.

The advantage of a dish system is that it can achieve much higher temperatures due to the higher concentration of light. Higher temperatures lead to better conversion to electricity and the dish system is very effective at this point. However, there are also some disadvantages. Heat to electricity conversion requires moving parts which results in needed maintenance.

In general, a centralized approach for this conversion is better than the decentralized concept in the dish design. Secondly, the engine is a part of the moving structure, which requires a rigid frame and strong tracking system. Furthermore, parabolic mirrors are used instead of flat mirrors so tracking must be dual-axis.

Research and development of solar dishes tend to be very progressive, so scientists work hard on getting new types and dish variations to be implemented into industry.

A new type of solar dish energy collector concentrates sun into beam that could melt steel. Researchers say that device could revolutionize global energy production. This prototype is a 12 foot wide mirrored dish, and it was made of a lightweight frame of thin, inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror. Many scientists agree that this is actually the most efficient solar collector in existence.