Sunflower inspires solar thermal power plant improvement inspiration

Many small flowers on the sunflower faceplate are arranged in order to form a regular geometric pattern. This brings new inspiration to the improvement of solar condenser arrays for solar power generation in solar thermal power plants.

The arrangement of sunflower flowers brings inspiration for solar thermal power generation

This sunflower-inspired array layout can reduce the footprint of concentrating solar thermal power stations (CSPs) by 20%, which is very beneficial for solar power generation technologies that are to some extent constrained by large-scale land requirements. .

The CSP power plant uses a huge array of condensers. Each array has half the size of a tennis court. It can collect solar beams to heat liquid pipes installed on the top of the tower. The heated liquid will generate water vapor to drive steam. The turbines generate electricity. In the traditional array layout, the condensers are centered around the center tower and arranged in a circle around the center tower. The Spanish Gemsolar power generation array is laid out in this way and covers an area of ​​185 acres. It was completed in 2013 and will provide electricity for about 25,000 households.

Spain Gemsolar Power Generation Array Satellite Map

In view of the huge demand for this traditional arrangement of land, Alexander Mittos, a mechanical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his colleagues are looking for an improved layout. They first built a computer model that evaluated the efficiency of condenser arrays and tested a CSP plant in Andalucia, Spain called the PS10. They found that the alignment of the condensers of the power plant obstructed some of the sunlight and reduced the power generation efficiency of the power plant. In order to improve the power generation efficiency of the CSP plant, Mitsos and his colleagues performed numerical optimization of the condenser layout. In their design, the condensers are arranged more closely, reducing the area occupied by 10%.

A team member noticed that the distribution pattern they designed was very similar to the hovering pattern of sunflower florets on certain elements and suggested that they should imitate these small flowers. Mitsos and his colleagues began the investigation and it turns out that this is a very good idea. This amazing discovery prompted them to develop a simulated array of condensers that resembled the arrangement of sunflower flowers more closely. According to the steering angle of the sunflower flower that mathematicians discovered earlier, in this array, each condenser lens is arranged at an angle of 137 degrees with its adjacent lens.

Mitsos said that this layout results in a 20% reduction in space compared to the PS10 condenser lens array and increased power generation efficiency. "We did all the numerical optimization work and eventually returned to the laws of nature. This gave us a great shock."

Although this discovery is based on computer simulations, Mitsos is very sure that it is correct. "The thing that needs to be realized in the future is to need a CSP plant that costs several million dollars like the PS10. It takes a while to build it, so it's not an experiment that can be done in the lab." But he hopes that the CSP industry will The developer will use his design to save land and save money during the construction process.