Publications Details

Trends in dish-Stirling solar receiver designs

Diver, R.B.; Andraka, C.E.; Moreno, J.B.; Adkins, D.R.; Moss, T.A.

The history and current status of dish-Stirling receiver development are presented and discussed. The technical challenges to be addressed by the dish-Stirling community and the future plans at Sandia National Laboratories are outlined. Stirling tube and reflux solar receiver technologies are discussed. Pool-boiler receiver technology has been successfully tested and a number of promising heat-pipe receiver designs are very close to hardware demonstrations. The high-efficiency potential of reflux receivers has been demonstrated. However, many of the technical challenges that led to the change from tube to reflux receivers-especially life and reliability, systems integration, and hybridization-are just beginning to be addressed by the dish-Stirling community.