Clean Energy for Sustainable Development

Chapter Six

Small-Scale Dish-Mounted Solar Thermal Brayton Cycle

W.G. Le Roux, and J.P. Meyer     University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

The small-scale dish-mounted solar thermal Brayton cycle in the 1- to 20-kW range has several advantages such as mobility, bulk manufacturing, cogeneration, and hybridization. Another advantage is that an off-the-shelf turbocharger from the motor industry can be applied as the microturbine in the cycle. The main disadvantages are low turbine and compressor efficiencies as well as heat and pressure losses. The chapter shows that the method of total entropy generation minimization can be used to maximize the net power output of the cycle by optimizing an open-cavity tubular solar receiver and counterflow ...