Home Worlds Largest Solar Concentrator – The Big Dish

Worlds Largest Solar Concentrator – The Big Dish

Worlds Largest Solar Concentrator

ABOUT (Solar Concentrator) BIG DISH TECHNOLOGY

  • 96% Thermal Efficiency of the Receiver.
  • World’s most efficient superheated steam receiver which produces steam at 50 bar, 500°C
  • Factory in Field Technology (FiF): The complete dish shall be manufactured on-site that ensures cost-effectiveness and rapid delivery including sandwiching and baking of mirrors to give it strength and curvature
  • System Life of 30 Years

What is SG-4 BigDish?

The Big Dish is the world’s largest solar concentrating dish with highly accurate optics, highest efficiency conversion of sunlight to thermal energy and 2-axis tracking

What is SG-4 Big Dish solar concentrator

Basically, solar irradiation is incident on set of 380 concave mirrors, placed parabolically. This causes the light to reflect and focus at a particular point, which is called the focal point.
At focal point, in a uniquely designed receiver, water constantly flows at a designed pressure and flow rate and gets converted into superheated steam (dry steam).
This system is equipped with intelligent dual-axis tracker to automatically track the position of the Sun and rotate to receive the maximum radiation.

BIG DISH (solar concentrator) SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Solar concentrator at Gujarat

Figure 1: SG-4 BigDish

Solar concentrator receiver  ( Solar boiler)

Figure 2: Receiver (Solar Boiler)

Schematic of System Working
Figure 3: Schematic of System Working

The present (Solar Concentrator) System at Muni Seva Ashram is designed to produce steam at 450 kg/hr (peak) for about 8 hours, depending upon the weather and DNI available. DNI: Direct Normal Irradiation is the amount of irradiation per unit area that we receive from the sun and falls perpendicularly onto
the mirrors.

Along with the BigDish, the system consists of a Control Room, Storage Tanks, Pumps, Piping and
Auxiliary Electric Equipment.
Based on simulation of Solar Radiation Data (DNI) by NREL, the annual estimated generation of
Steam @ 9 bar, 1770C is 612 Tonnes and Hot Water @ 3 bar, 650C is 3108 Liters.
[The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is the United States’ primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.]
Here, at the Muni Seva Ashram, we have installed a Thermal Storage system along with the
BigDish. This will allow the Ashram to access steam even in Non-Sunny Hours.
The Solar Boiler (receiver) which is placed at the focus of the Dish, the piping route from dish to
storage vessels and storage system are all, IBR Approved.
The site has a weather monitoring system including a Pyro heliometer at the site, which shall be
continually measuring the DNI, temperature and other meteorological and climate observations
at the site.

Benefits to the Client:
This steam and pressured hot water generated from BigDish shall be used majorly for applications
in
I. Laundry
II. Cooking
III. Sterilization in the Kailash Cancer Hospital
IV. Bathing
The technology can prove to be a game changer for any industry having requirements of
o High Pressure/Low Pressure Steam
o Hot Water
o Industrial Scale Air Conditioning
This causes the Ashram to burn lesser fuel and import lesser electricity to cater their annual
thermal energy needs and saves them both electricity and fuel.

PROFILE OF DNI AND STEAM GENERATION

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION

The Big dish Technology can be adopted for delivering wide range of applications across various industries such as:
Industries with Thermal applications:

Paper IndustryFood Processing IndustryChemical Industry
Textile IndustryDesalination PlantsCeramic Industry
Cold StorageHydrogen Prod. PlantsPetroleum Refineries
Pharma StorageSteel IndustryAnd many more…
Dairy StorageCement Industry
Figure 4: Power Plants requiring Steam for Process Heating
Figure 5: Industries relying heavily on Boilers
Figure 6: Running VAM Chillers to produce Space Cooling
Figure 7: Desalination Plants

Credit: Sunrise CSP

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *