How Concentrated Solar Power Works?
- Parabolic Trough Collectors
- Linear Fresnel Collectors
- Solar Power Towers or Power Tower
- Parabolic Dish collectors
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) Systems
- Sensible Heat Storage
- Latent Heat Storage
- Thermo-Chemical Heat Storage
Sensible Heat Storage
Latent Heat Storage
Thermo-Chemical Heat Storage
Integrating Thermal Energy Storage with Concentrated Solar Power
Active Systems
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b
- Direct Systems – In direct systems, the storage medium also plays the role of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) or working fluid. During heat absorption, the fluid is directly stored in the hot tank. During heat release and power generation, the fluid passes through a power system which extracts the heat and then flows into a cooling tank for reuse. Fig 3 (a) is a flowchart depicting an active direct system. Although this system does not require a heat exchanger, choice of the right storage material is crucial. For example, molten salts meet the requirements of a good heat transfer fluid as well as that of a good storage material.
- Indirect Systems – Unlike direct systems, the heat transfer fluid and the storage material are not the same in indirect systems. As shown in Fig 3 (b), during heat absorption stage, the storage material from the cold tank flows into the heat exchanger for indirect heating and stored in the hot tank. To release heat and generate power, the flow direction of storage material is reversed.