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TITLE: Linear Fresnel – a Concentrating Solar Power Technology to Advance Energy Innovation DATE: 9:00am, July 26, 2017. ADDRESS: The 703 meeting room of Building 1 SPEAKER: Guangdong Zhu Professor. ABSTRACT: Linear Fresnel is one of two line-focus concentrating solar power technologies. It utilizes an array of flat or near-flat mirrors to track the sun and concentrate sun light to a fixed receiver assembly. The mirrors are aligned in rows close to the ground and the receiver assembly includes one or multiple absorber tubes with an optional secondary reflector. A type of heat transfer fluid (such as water/steam and thermal oils) flows through absorber tubes and is heated by concentrated solar power. The fluid outlet temperature may range from 200°C to 550°C. The generated high-grade heat from linear Fresnel collectors can be used in various types of applications: 1) electricity generation through a thermodynamic cycle; 2) combined heating & cooling system at a commercial scale; 3) green fuel generation through bioenergy/solar hybrid systems; 4) water desalination. In addition, the talk will discuss the latest progresses in the development of an innovative linear Fresnel collector with an industrial partner. The new design adopts water-borne mini-size tube reflectors and has a great potential to reduce the current-level collector cost by half. At last, the speaker will discuss his vision on how to combine linear Fresnel technologies and other renewable energy technologies to sustain off-grid communities. |
