Solar thermal electric power plant

A solar energy system comprising solar collector means consisting of a plurality of controllable mirrors, solar receptor means including thermally insulated cavity forming means with a light entrance facing downward and away from the equator and including double paned window means across said entrance with a flow space between major surfaces of said panes and positioned to receive solar energy from said collector means, means for providing for the flow of a cooling liquid in thermal contact with substantially all of one major surface of each of said panes, antireflection means consisting of a transparent antireflection coating on each air-to-pane interface of said panes, tube means consisting of a plurality of fluid carrying tubes within said cavity heated tube by the solar energy passing through said entrance, a power plant with a working fluid driving a thermodynamic prime mover, means for pumping said cooling liquid to said power plant and through heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy to said working fluid, and means for pumping a heat transfer fluid through said tubes and to said power plant and through second heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy to said working fluid, where said window panes are low iron glass, and where said cooling liquid is one of the group consisting of diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetracethylene glycol, butyrophenone, o-toluidine, chlorobenzene, and trimethlene dibromide.

A solar energy system comprising solar collector means consisting of a plurality of controllable mirrors, solar receptor means including thermally insulated cavity forming means with a light entrance facing downward and away from the equator and including double paned window means across said entrance with a flow space between major surfaces of said panes and positioned to receive solar energy from said solar collector means, means for providing for the flow of a cooling liquid in thermal contact with substantially all of one major surface of each of said panes, antireflection means consisting of a transparent antireflection coating on each air-to-pane interface surface of said panes, tube means consisting of a plurality of fluid carrying tubes within said cavity heated by the solar energy passing through said entrance, a power plant with a working fluid driving a thermodynamic prime mover, means for pumping said cooling liquid to said power plant and through heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy to said working fluid, and means for pumping a heat transfer fluid through said tubes and to said power plant and through second heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy to said working fluid, including tower means for supporting said solar receptor means, pipes for carrying said cooling liquid, a portion of said pipes being in solid thermal connection with said support tower means for cooling said tower means.

A solar energy system comprising solar collector means consisting of a plurality of controllable mirrors, solar receptor means icluding thermally insulated cavity forming means with a light entrance facing downward and away from the equator and including double paned window means across said entrance with a flow space between major surfaces of said panes and positioned to receive solar energy from said solar collector means, means for providing for the flow of a cooling liquid in thermal contact with substantially all of one major surface of each of said panes, antireflection means consisting of a transparent antireflection coating on each air-to-pane interface of said panes, tube means consisting of a plurality of fluid carrying tubes within said cavity heated by the solar energy passing through said entrance, a power plant with a working fluid driving a thermodynamic prime mover, means for pumping said cooling liquid to said power plant and through heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy to said working fluid, and means for pumping a heat transfer fluid through said tubes and to said power plant and through second heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy to said working fluid where said tube means includes a plurality of first tubes within said cavity at a maximum distance from said window means, carrying a first heat exchange fluid at a high temperature, and also includes a plurality of second screen tubes carrying a second heat exchange fluid at a second temperature intermediate between said high temperature and the temperature of said cooling liquid, said second screen tubes being located in said cavity intermediate between said first tubes and said window means.

A solar energy system comprising controllable mirrors to concentrate the solar radiation, solar receptor means, and power plant means containing a working fluid driving a thermodynamic prime mover;

• said solar receptor means including a double paned window means with a flow space between major surfaces of said panes, positioned to receive solar energy from said mirrors, means providing for the flow of a transparent fluid in thermal contact with substantially all of one major surface of each of said panes, said solar receptor means including insulated cavity forming means behind and attached to said window, said cavity forming means containing pipe means carrying a heat transfer fluid, said pipe means coated with a selectively absorbing film with higher absorptivity of visible solar radiation than emissivity of infrared radiation, said power plant means containing means for transferring thermal energy from said transparentfluid to said working fluid for said thermodynamic prime mover, and means for transferring thermal energy from said heat transfer fluid to said working fluid for said thermodynamic prime mover, wherein said pipe means is divided into two subgroups, the high-temperature subgroup being a close array of pipes on the inside wall of said cavity most distant from said window, and a lower-temperature subgroup being an open array of pipes located intermediate between said window and said high-temperature subgroup, closer to said window than to said high-temperature subgroup, the spacing between individual elements of said open array of pipes being greater than the diameter of said elements.

A solar energy system comprising solar collector means, solar receptor means, and power plant means containing a working fluid driving a thermodynamic prime mover;

• said solar receptor means including a double paned window means with a flow space between major surfaces of said panes, positioned to receive solar energy from said collector means, means for providing for the flow of a transparent fluid in thermal contact with substantially all of one major surface of each of said panes, said solar receptor means including insulated cavity forming means attached to said window, said cavity forming means containing pipe means carrying a heat transfer fluid said heat transfer fluid being heated by the solar energy passing through said window and being absorbed by said pipe means, said pipe means being divided into two subgroups, a first subgroup being an array of pipes closely spaced together, in line with the rays of radiation entering the cavity from the window, and at the maximum distance from the window inside of the said cavity, and a second subgroup being an array of pipes closer to the window than to the said first subgroup, and spaced to permit at least half of the incident radiation to pass through said second subgroup to said first subgroup, said power plant means containing heat exchanger means for transferring thermal energy from said transparent fluid to said working fluid, means for transferring thermal energy from said heat transfer fluid to said working fluid for said thermodynamic prime mover.

A solar energy system comprising solar collector means, solar receptor means, and power plant means containing a working fluid driving a thermodynamic prime mover;

• said solar receptor means including a double paned window means with a flow space between major surfaces of said panes, positioned to receive solar energy from said collector means, means for providing for the flow of a transparent fluid in thermal contact with substantially all of one major surface of each of said panes, said solar receptor means including insulated cavity forming means attached to said window, said cavity forming means containing a first array of pipes and a second array of pipes, said first array of pipes being a grid with a spacing beteeen the pipes sufficient to permit at least half of the incident radiation to pass between the pipes, said first array of pipes being located within said cavity such that said solar energy passing through said window will be incident upon said first array, said second array of pipes being located within said cavity such that said first array is geometrically intermediate between said window and said second array, and such that some of the shadows of said first array fall on said second array, but none of the shadows of said second array fall on said first array, means for pumping a first fluid through said first array, means for pumpting a second fluid through said second array, first heat exchanger means in said power plant to deliver thermal energy from said transparent fluid to said working fluid, second heat exchanger means to deliver thermal energy from said first fluid to said working fluid, said second fluid receiving thermal energy from the portion of said solar energy passingthrough said spacing of said first array, and being absorbed by said second array, and means for said second fluid to deliver energy to said thermodynamic prime mover.