This paper explores the benefits and drawbacks of using carbon dioxide in solar thermal systems at medium and high operating temperatures. For medium temperatures, application of CO2 in non-imaging-optics based compound parabolic concentrators (CPC) combined with evacuated-tube collectors is studied. These collectors have been shown to obtain efficiencies higher than 40% operating at around 200...

This article presents the latest experimental results of the European DISS (DIrect Solar Steam) project. The experiments are subdivided into steady state and transient tests. The goal of the steady state tests is the investigation of the thermohydraulic phenomena of the occurring two phase flow, whereas the transient tests are needed for the controller design. The experimental results are compa...

Recent interest in small-scale solar thermal combined heat and power (CHP) power systems has coincided with demand growth for distributed electricity supplies in areas poorly served by centralized power stations. One potential technical approach to meeting this demand is the parabolic trough solar thermal collector coupled with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) heat engine. The paper describes the...