Working of CSP - Dish Engine.

Continuing in our CSP series, let’s understand how dish antenna works.

Before going to parabolic trough, let’s understand the principle of CSP.

The receiver receives heat from sun light. This heat is gathered in oil or other heat medium which further converts water into steam. This steam is used to run steam turbine which produces electricity.

Source : solareis.anl.gov

The working of dish engine is slightly different from Parabolic Trough and Power Tower. Parabolic Trough and Power Tower used steam turbine to produce electricity whereas Dish Engine uses external combustion engine to produce electricity. The receiver situated at the focal point of the dish has external combustion engine. It has hydrogen or helium gas filled in piston cylinders. As concentrated sunlight falls on the receiver, it heats the gas in the tubes to very high temperatures, which causes hot gas to expand inside the piston cylinders. The expanding gas drives the pistons. The pistons turn a crankshaft, which drives an electric generator.

Here are some images of Dish Engine CSP.