Solar Powered Steam Generator
This is a website about a device that harnesses energy from the sun, makes steam, and turns turbines, to make electricity.
To design and construct a working solar powered steam generator model that will produce over 33% efficiency.
It is hypothesized that the solar steam generator will have over 33% efficiency.
Solar Power Towers are starting to be used in different places all over the world. There are two in the United States. They heat up salt with the sun's energy; the salt can be heated to over 1050 degrees Farenheight. Light is being reflected by mirrors and it's intensity and the heat of it will increase greatly. The hot salt will be pumped across tanks of water and it will heat it up greatly. The salt can stay hot for many days. They use the salt to boil water and make steam that is about 700 to 800 degrees Farenheight. The maximum temperature for water is 800 degrees, after it reaches 800 degrees it is called super critical. The hotter the water get the more pressure it produces, that means you can run bigger generators. For a generator to generate electricity it uses magnet and coils, and it spins. To make it spin, water vapor will be pushing the turbines that will be on the generator. Altogether the salt power tower has 2000 mirrors around it that move with the sun. This lets the maximum amount of sunlight to reach the tower. Solar power towers can produce up to 10 megawatt. They also don't produce any wastes. Something negative is, they need a lot of land for all the mirrors, but they build them in the desert so the land is fairly cheap. They take up almost the same amount of space as a regular power plant. After it is built you only need to pay the workers. Solar power towers can also produce electricity easiest when power companies need it most, on hot days when people use their air conditioners the most. Solar power towers create 2.5 new higher paying jobs then power plants. If only 1 % of all Earth's deserts were used for solar power towers, it would generate more electricity than is currently being produced by fossil fuels.
- Coil 35 feet copper tubbing so it fits snugly inside the glass jar (leave 1-1/2 feet of the tubing out on one side and 3 feet on the other).
- Paint the coil with black heat paint.
- Put it in the jar.
- Put the jar into reflector.
- Connect the OUT FLOW side of the check valve to the 3 feet of tubing coming off from the coil.
- Connect the IN FLOW side of check valve to the hose on pump.
- Assemble the pump by following instructions on the instruction sheet.
- Connect pump hose to the pump.
- Attach the 1-1/2 foot piece of tubing from the coil to the pressure tank.
- Connect the pressure gaudge and relief valve to the pressure tank.
- Connect the pipe from the pressure tank to the turbine.
- Drill a hole in the center of the 5 inch wheel. Make the whole fit snugly on the shaft.
- Make a ridge on the wheel with masking tape. So the elastic will fit tightly on it and doesnŐt slide off .
- Put the 10 inch diameter wheel on the generator.
- Nail 1 5 inch nail in each corner of the 1x5x5 inch block of wood so it fits snugly to the generator.
- Connect the switch to the positive wire on the inverter.
- Connect the positive side of the battery to the switch and the negative side wire on the inverter to the negative side of the battery.
- Connect the diode to the negative wire to the battery to the negative wire.
- Connect the positive side of the generator to the positive side of the battery.
- Wrap elastic belt around generator and turbine.
- Place saran wrap over top of jar.
- Turn lights on and let heat up to about 350 degrees.
- Start pumping water through a little bit at a time until pressure gets to 1.5 bar.
- Open the turbine opening valve up to make the electricity.
- Glass 1.5 gallon cookie jar.
- 45 ft. of copper coil.
- Microwave able saran wrap.
- T90 Welsco turbine (comes with pressure tank, pressure gauge and relief valve.
- 12 volt DC generator.
- 150 watt DC to AC inverter.
- 1 gallon spray pump (for watering gardens).
- Check valve (takes 1 psi. to go in 150 psi. to get back out).
- Union valves.
- 8 ft. of 1X2 board.
- 5X5 inch of particleboard.
- 4 inch nails, qty 4.
- 2 cable ties.
- 5-inch diameter wheel.
- 12 volt wet cell battery.
- 1.5 inch nails, qty 4.
- 250 watt IR lamps, qty 2
- JB Weld.
- Scotch tape.
- 0,9 mm connector.
- 500 degree thermometer.
- Black 800 degree Dutch Boy spray paint.
- Teflon tape.
- Electrical tape.
- 2 ft .25 inch plastic hose
- 4 ft elastic band
The efficancy of the system was very low do to multipal pressure leaks. The system is currently being reworked to resolve problems. Therefore final results are not avalible at this time.
No final conclusion is avalible at this time experimentation is still in progress.
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