Design of inflatable solar concentrator
Name
867865668-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
20.91 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9ce7caca14330e4f1519bd8e295bea1c
Author(s)
Carrasquillo, Omar (Omar Y. Carrasquillo De Armas)
Advisor(s)
Alexander H. Slocum.
Date Issued
2013
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Solar concentrators improve the performance of solar collection systems by increasing the amount of usable energy available for a given collector size. Unfortunately, they are not known for their light weight and portability, which is ideal for basic applications like solar cooking. The goal of the project was to a design a light-weight and portable solar concentrator with minimal tracking requirements. The concept of an inflatable compound parabolic concentrator was developed, which required modifying the theoretical profile geometry. An analytical model was created to predict the efficiency of the system for different design parameter configurations. The model was used to develop a design and manufacturing process which was used to design and manufacture small-scale and full-scale prototypes. Experiments were designed to test the performance of the concentrators and the test results were used to determine a model accuracy of 11.4 1.3 % and 1.9±1.6% using the small-scale prototype and full-scale prototype, respectively.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 115-116).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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