Flower Power
Capstone Team Design | Hybrid Concentrator Photovoltaic-Thermal Receiver
For my senior year team design capstone project, I am the thermal lead on Flower Power, an ongoing project under the Escarra Photonic Materials and Devices Lab. The project has been going for several years now, and we get to work on it in the pilot phase.
Why a Hybrid Solar Concentrator?
Current solar energy solutions are inefficient and waste a lot of thermal energy. Typical panel solar cells sit at an efficiency of around 23%, while concentrating solar systems sit at up to 35%. By using a concentrator solar design and. highly efficient solar cells in tandem with thermal energy generation, we can optimize our design to have a projected efficiency of 72%.
The Design
The design of the sunflower receiver is based around a large parabolic mirror that reflects sunlight onto the receiver arm. On the receiver sits the photovoltaic cell array on top of a cooling block, on top of the thermal coil. The cooling block is a milled piece of aluminum, with a designed microfluidic channel. The thermal coil is a copper coil, twisted around an aluminum mandrel, and painted black. Cool, pressurized water is sent into the cooling block, cooling down the solar cells and helping them retain maximum efficiency, and the pre-heated water is sent into the thermal coil, where it is intensely heated up by the sun.
My Work!
As the Thermal Lead, entering in the reiterate and redesign phase of the project, I have two main focuses. One focus is on the manufacturing process of the thermal receiver. I am currently rebuilding a new thermal coil for the SFR3 version, as well as working on improving the manufacturing process itself.
My other main focus is the COMSOL simulations for the thermal receiver. The simulations are complex, and while we currently have a functioning simulation of the cooling block, we do not have a functioning simulation of the thermal coil. The COMSOL is extremely important for this project, as we are approaching the system integration phase, and we will need theoretical data to accurately assess and improve our device. In addition to my Thermal Lead responsibilities, I help out my team members, especially systems, wherever possible.