Feb 19 2011
Cool Energy, a company that develops heat and power systems for use in renewable energy applications, declared that it has obtained two orders for the supply of its innovative renewable energy Stirling engines.
The orders were received from two separate European institutional clients for the development of solar power projects to supply solar power and heat utilizing a single system.
SolarHeart Engine
The first customer, a key European equipment supplying company whose name was not disclosed, has ordered the engine to work in combination with a new hybrid type of complete power system for use in developing countries lacking proper grid power facilities. The client will appraise the performance of the SolarHeart engine in off-grid related usages for supplying heat and power to nearly two billion population lacking reliable power facility. DiGeSPo project has ordered the second SolarHeart Engine for solar thermal mixed heat and power usage at the Bruno Kessler Foundation research facility in Trento, Italy.
The applications sought by the clients are different versions of the SolarFlow System, which is a combined heat and power (CHP) production system classified for use in residential and small commercial applications and utilizes solar energy as its input fuel source. The system incorporates an energy storage facility and a control feature to optimally allocate the energy output of the system to generate heat or electric power depending upon the weather and seasonal conditions. The nucleus of the SolarHeart Engine is its Stirling engine catered electric generator that is activated by the system whenever the power generated is more important than the heat used up.
Under test conditions with a temperature difference of 210ºC the third generation Solarheart Engine has constantly generated 2000 W of electricity and attained a thermal and electrical changeover efficiency of more than16%. The fourth generation engines are anticipated to generate up to 3000 W of electric power and 300°C heat.