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Actually Build the Available Heat Engine Designs
The current lie spread about solar thermal power plants is that they require large amounts of water.
The truth is solar thermal has enormous quickly realizable potential with low cost. Water is not neccesary or can be recycled if you
use either air cooling, a cloes system or another technology (like Amtec below). The key technology is the heat engine. A heat
engine converts a temperature differential into work or electricity. Just think beyond steam turbines.
Three types are very promissing and effectively kept of the market.
1. Free Piston Stirling Engine
Not new, but made very expensive. Excellent for solar applications. It's nice and simple so where is it?
A complex example of a stirling engine. It can be done much simpler.
Video 1
Video 2
2. Amtec Heat to Electricity Generator
A suppressed technology (oil driven industry decided to 'go for' Stirling and cut off funding). It converts heat directly
into electricity though a Alkaline Metal Thermo-Electrische Cell (hence AMTEC). Do not mistake it for thermal diodes. It is kept
close to nuclear technology where it is proposed to utilize waste energy but it could be used for solar thermal applications just as well.
'Results show that the overall conversion efficiency of parabolic dish/AMTEC system could reach
up to 20.6% with a power output of 18.54 kW corresponding to an operating temperature of 1280 K.' from this.
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