Solar Concentrator with energy storage in cooking salt

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Français - last updated March 19Th 2019

Parabolic trough to preheat tap water with a salt battery (be careful wear sunglasses) >>Log experimentation

Video (1 minute): Solar Resistance - Very good way to collect and store solar energy
1 - This system is based on a central ball bearing disk which can support heavy load.
2 - The bill of materials is: 3/8'' diameter copper pipes (welded), 160' long (3 rolls) and a bending machine to roll them like coils - hollow aluminium bars, central beam, aluminium plates, glass cylinder , barbecue black paint (650 C resistant), nuts and bolts.
3 - The 2 axis solar tracker is from Heliotrack and control the 4 horizontal motors (12 volts) and 2 vertical motors (12 volts). At the end of the day automatically the solar concentrator comes back to the east. The 2 axis tracker has 16 parameters and one of them is 'dark return'.
4 - The parabolic trough turns around the collector. The collector does not move (fixed focus), this is why the system runs on 12 volts motors.

Efficiency => Quartz + Secondary reflections + aluminium polishing

Quartz (UV grade fused silica glass) let's UV pass trough (Ultraviolet) => Energy is collected even in cloudy skies! (no yellow sun)
If your windows were made of transparent quartz you will probably gain naturally 4-5 Celcius in winter.
Also, internal reflection must be added inside the tube (mirrors or inox plate or reflective film (very cheap!) or polished aluminium (the best!)).
Besides, in order to loose weight the reflector must be made of fine polished aluminium sheets attached to a fine flexible plywood !.

Solar energy storage in cooking salt using a 12 volts kit Resol to circulate cold oil
Vidéos: Vertical heat exchanger - Solar energy storage in salt

1- The purpose of a solar concentrator is to achieve high temperatures like a stove. Steam induces high pressure and explosion, so a solar concentrator should be used
to heat corn oil (smoke point 232C and freezing point around -20C).
2- Make a vertical heat exchanger with aluminium cooking baskets. In my test, in a polystyren container surrounded with salt, canola oil temperature drops from 220 C to 40 C in 5 minutes!. So 180 C of heat is transferred to the salt.
3- Get a 12 volts kit Resol to circulate cold oil from the bottom of the storage unit to the heat exchanger located at the back of the focal point (see picture 5 above).
It is working with delta temperature: at the bottom of the polystyren container oil is at 40 degrees C, at the back of the focal point of the solar concentrator 42 C. The 12 volts pump starts automatically via the Resol Kit when for example the delta is set to 2 C.
4- In the pictures above, the storage system is made of an insulated container filled up with regular kitchen salt. Heat from the corn or canola oil is transferred through a vertical heat exchanger made of cooking kitchen aluminium baskets to the salt around. If we repeat this operation we store heat into the salt. A black tube preheats the tap water for direct domestic use. It is a cooking salt rechargeable battery!.
5- Around the storage container a vaccuum should be done (best insulation), for example a water jet vaccuum pump could be used. In my test, I used a polystyren container. A freezer or cooler can also be used.