Solar Generator
The demand for alternative and solar power is steadily increasing,
but the construction as well as deployment of a large photovoltaic
panel in order to generate electricity still remains to be expensive.
Thanks to two groups at MIT who are currently working on alternative
approaches to the solar-based electricity that will one day significantly
cut the costs as well as put the ability to harvest the electricity
from the sun into the hands of the villagers of poor 3rd world
countries as well as the backyard tinkerer.
During a short assignment in the Peace Corps while stationed
in Lesotho, which is in southern Africa, Matthew Orosz, who is
an MIT graduate student that was advised by professor of civil
and environmental engineering, Harold Hemond, learned that a reflective
parabolic trough can bake bread.
Now Mr. Orosz plans to use these same styled devices in order to
bring power to different parts of Africa that is baked in the sun
light but is also yearning for electricity. These solar generators
which are cobbled together from a plethora of automotive parts as
well as plumbing supplies can be easily built in any backyard.
The design of Orosz's solar generator system is both basic as well
as simple where it utilizes a parabolic trough to focus the sun's
light on a pipe that contains motor oil. This motor oil then circulates
through a heat exchanger and in turn changes a refrigerant into
steam, which then drives a turbine that is connected on the other
end to a generator.
The refrigerant in the solar generator is then cooled using two
different stages. The first cooling stage recovers the heat in order
to make hot water or to also power an absorption style process chiller
similar to that of which is found in RV refrigerators. This solar-generated
heat would replace the need for the propane flame which is utilized
in these devices.
The second cooling stage then cools the refrigerant even further
to improve the efficiency of the system and will probably use cool
groundwater that will be pumped to the surface using the solar generator's
power. This water can also be reused as it can latter get stored
in a reservoir as a suitable drinking water.
This solar generator design utilizes readily available parts as
well as tools. Both the feed pumps as well as the steam turbine
are power-steering pumps that can be found in both cars and trucks.
The electricity generation is accomplished using an alternator,
which although not as efficient as the ordinary generator, but comes
readily designed in order to charge a battery and thus reduce the
complexity of the solar generator system.
Thanks to the use of every day automotive and plumbing parts, the
complete system for generation of one kilowatt of electricity as
well as 10 kilowatts of heat ((including the battery which is used
for the storage of the power generated), can be built for only a
couple of thousand dollars which ends up being less than half of
the cost of a one kilowatt worth of photovoltaic panels.
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