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Background
Current Technology and Issues:
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  • Use Silver-Backed Mirrors
    • Many panes with complex connections​
  • Aluminum Mount
    • Various parts required for assembly​
    • Misplacing of parts is common
  • Double-walled heating tube
  • Sun tracking technology
Project Customer and Motivation
Direct Customer:
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  • Nevada Solar One
  • Other Energy Generation Companies
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Indirect Customer:
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  • Department of Energy
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Motivation:
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The current glass-mirror on the parabolic trough is dead-weight on the structure, expensive to manufacture, complex to assemble, and sensitive to cracking during calibration.
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Arconic is able to produce and supply large sheets of aluminum. These are perfect for designing a metallic mirror for a parabolic trough, possibly alleviating the issues caused by silver-backed glass mirrors.
Final Goals and Objectives
The scope of this project is to have a complete functional design that:
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  • Has similar or improved effectiveness as current solution
    • Less deflection​
    • Greater precision
    • Larger surface area
  • 25%-50% reduction in solar field costs:
    • Material costs​
    • Amount of materials
  • Target cost of $175-265/m^2
Material Testing

experimental setup

experiment results

Our Design

early designs

iterations...

modeled designs with fea results

final design:

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cheaper

lighter

less material

easier to assemble

low deflection

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