Wouldn’t it be amazing if the old magnifying glass on a sunny day trick could be used for good instead of evil? Well, meet the SunCatcher. Created by Stirling Energy Systems in collaboration with Tessera Solar, the SunCatcher is a parabolic dish composed entirely of precision mirrors. Following the sun from east to west, the SunCatcher squeezes every last drop of energy out of the sun’s rays by focusing the light onto its very own innovative and truly sustainable power conversion unit. Read on to find out how it works!
Each SunCatcher is carefully engineered to wake up in the morning and follow the sun across the sky, concentrating an entire day of direct sunlight onto a single point called, quite appropriately, the power conversion unit (PCU). The SunCatcher’s PCU contains a set of hydrogen gas-filled receiver tubes that become pressurized as they’re heated by the sun’s carefully focused energy. The high temperature and pressure of the hydrogen gas then powers the on-board Solar Stirling Engine, and finally, a generator connected to the output of the Solar Stirling Engine converts the sun’s light to grid-quality electricity. The hydrogen gas is then cooled by a radiator system and recycled through the technology, completely eliminating the need for water and creating an entirely self-contained process.
Stirling Energy Systems has already found incredible success with the SunCatcher in dozens of markets across the globe, having seen more than 50,000 on-sun hours to date. Stirling’s Solar Dish equipment also boasts the distinction of holding the world’s efficiency record for conversion of solar energy into electricity. The array responsible for setting this record was installed nearly 25 years ago in Huntington Beach, CA and only increases our belief that we’ll be seeing more of the SunCatcher in the not-too-distant future.
+ Stirling Energy Systems
+ Tessera Solar
Via DesignBoom
I worked on this technology back in college and I think it’s got amazing potential, not only for large scale energy projects but for remote sites as well. The stirling engine is a great and efficient engine. Back in the day, my research focused on aligning the mirrors to maximize efficiency.
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I don’t understand why they use hydrogen gas. Besides the combustibility, it’s the tiniest molecule around, so the engine will need more frequent re-gassing than if they had used some other gas. What am I missing?