Study of the possibility of transferring thermal energy by conduction through a solid substance, in concentrated solar power systems

Abstract

Concentrated solar power is a renewable resource exploitation area and involves a number of methods to capture and convert sunlight into electricity. One of the technical possibilities to achieve this consists in using parabolic surfaces to concentrate the solar energy onto one single spot. Usually, the energy captured by this method is transported by way of a thermal agent, a liquid substance in most cases. The purpose of this paper is to test the efficacy of using a solid substance to perform the heat transfer from the focal point on the parabolic surface to the opposite end where a Stirling engine will absorb the transferred energy. This efficacy was quantified through a specific coefficient that indicates the optimum length for the heat transfer.