Small-Scale Dish-Mounted Solar Thermal Brayton Cycle

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

“…1 shows a cycle diagram for an STBC. The dimensions of the solar receiver and recuperator in a small-scale (1-20 kW) dish-mounted STBC have been optimised by Le Roux [10,11], using the method of entropy generation minimisation. A prototype is proposed to generate mechanical power by reflecting solar irradiance with a 4.8 m reflective dish onto an open-cavity tubular receiver [12], at solar to mechanical efficiencies ranging from 10% to 20% [13].…”

Power Generation for African Rural Communities: Initial Assessment of High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage for Smallscale Solar Brayton System

“…Despite the urgency and huge potential, limited research has been performed in this area. This paper assesses the integration of thermal energy storage (TES) with a small-scale solar Brayton cycle (SSBC) suitable to produce electricity (3-10kW) for rural communities [3,4]. The work addresses the modelling of a SSBC for the design and integration of high temperature (500-700°C) TES technology capable of storing solar thermal energy and making it available when the sun is not shining, therefore enabling reliable electricity generation with the SSBC system.…”