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US 10,771,009 B2Granted
Maintaining a solar power module
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsJames Clyde Hassell, Jr., Luiz Gustavo Do Val
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A solar power system includes a plurality of solar power cells mounted on an outer surface of a spherical frame, the spherical frame including an inner surface that defines an interior volume; a heat sink that includes a hollow housing mounted within the interior volume of the spherical frame; and a phase change material positioned in the hollow housing of the heat sink, the phase change material thermally coupled to the inner surface of the spherical frame to receive heat from the outer surface of the spherical frame.
Claims20
A method for cooling a solar power system, comprising:
- operating a solar power system that comprises a plurality of solar power cells mounted on an outer surface of a spherical frame that comprises an inner surface that defines an interior volume;
- transferring heat from an outer surface of the spherical frame to the inner surface of the spherical frame and to a heat sink that comprises a hollow housing mounted and enclosed within the interior volume of the spherical frame, the hollow housing fluidly isolating an inner volume of the hollow housing from a housing volume defined between the hollow housing and the inner surface of the spherical frame the housing volume comprising an annulus cross-section;
- transferring the heat from the hollow housing of the heat sink to a phase change material positioned in, and fluidly sealed within, the inner volume of the hollow housing of the heat sink such that the phase change material is fluidly isolated from the housing volume of the interior volume of the spherical frame;
- and
- transforming at least a portion of the phase change material from a solid phase to a semi-solid or liquid phase based on the heat received from the outer surface of the spherical frame.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.