Projects Profile
Project Title
An innovative combined solar/wind compound parabolic concentrator
Partnership
Dr Yuehong Su – University of Nottingham
Professor Huling Huang – Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor Hongfei Zheng – Beijing Institute of Technology
Project Aim
The overall aim of the proposed project is to develop an innovative combined solar/wind compound parabolic concentrator for electricity generation and daylighting in residential and commercial buildings. The proposed concentrator design may provide a solar concentration ratio of 10~100 and a wind power concentration ratio of around 3. The concentrated sunlight may be focused onto a small concentrating PV module or into optical fibres for daylighting. This ICUK Partnership Grant has provided an opportunity to combine the project participants’ expertise in solar concentration, sun tracking, daylighting, PV and wind energy.
Inspiration for the projects
Solar energy and wind energy are two main renewable energy sources. Concentration of solar energy onto a smaller area may reduce the cost of solar energy receiver (e.g., PV module) and achieve high efficiency. The limitation is that a solar concentrator works only under the sunny sky. However, there is more often cloudy and windy weather in the daytime, especially in the UK, and a long night time. It will be quite attractive to use the same concentrator to concentrate sunlight in the sunny weather and concentrate wind in the windy weather. It is the purpose of the proposed project to develop such the concentrator system for combined solar/wind concentration for electricity generation and daylighting. The size of the enclosed wind turbine in the system is reduced, so the proposed system would be suitable for applications in the built environment.
Commercial Potential and Further Development
The proposed combined solar/wind compound parabolic concentrator system would play an important role in promoting low/zero carbon emission buildings. The proposed project is fully commensurate with the UK and China Governments’ target to reduce CO2 emission. The potential worldwide market for the proposed system is expected to be large. The proposed system with a 1.5m2 concentrator would be capable to provide electricity and daylight demand for a typical 100m2 house. The estimated cost of the system is around £2,000 and the payback period would be 5~7 years. A preliminary prototype is being constructed to assess the technical and economic performance of the proposed system. An ICUK proof-of-concept grant will be sought to commercialise the technology in collaboration with potential industrial partners.
