Modeling and Simulation of Solar Dish-Stirling Systems

A Solar Dish-Stirling System Model is developed for design, optimization, control, and systems development of Dish-Stirling systems. It models the energy transfer in parabolic concentrator and receiver, cycle thermodynamics, heat flow, mechanical dynamics in Stirling engine and the Starter/Generator. The model's scope extends from the solar energy to thermal, mechanical, and electrical energy out, helping to study complex system interactions among subsystems. It is a non-linear time-domain model, which can be used to simulate transient and dynamic phenomena. And the entire range of system operation can be modeled, from start-up to full power conditions. The model details and simulation results are discussed in this paper.