A desalination system, including a membrane distillation portion, a solar power concentration portion, and a thermal vapor compression portion operationally connected to the membrane distillation portion and to the solar power concentration portion. The membrane distillation portion includes a first vessel having a first portion and a second portion separated by a hydrophobic membrane operationally connected therebetween and oriented to pass water from the first portion to the second portion, wherein the hydrophobic membrane further comprises a hydrophilic membrane and an air blocking layer connected to the hydrophilic membrane and disposed in the first portion, a vacuum gap adjacent the hydrophobic membrane and disposed in the second portion, a first fluid inlet and a first fluid outlet operationally connected to the first portion, and a second fluid inlet and a second fluid outlet operationally connected to the second portion. The solar power concentration portion includes a pump having a pump outlet and a pump inlet operationally connected to a water line and to the vacuum gap, a linear Fresnel mirror collector for collecting and focusing sunlight, and an outlet line operationally connected to the pump outlet and positioned to receive focused sunlight from linear Fresnel mirror collector. The thermal vapor compression portion includes an ejector having an ejector inlet portion and an ejector outlet portion, wherein the ejector inlet portion is operationally connected to the outlet line and to the vacuum gap, a second vessel fluidically connected to the outlet portion and further including a heat exchanger operationally connected to the ejector outlet portion and to a water pipe, a feed spray operationally connected to the second outlet and positioned to spray into the heat exchanger, and a collection portion for receiving concentrated feed spray. The heat exchanger receives desalinated water from the ejector and from the feed spray. The water line carries desalinated water from the heat exchanger. The first outlet passes concentrated brine, and the first inlet receives feed water to be desalinated.

A heat exchanger (10) to provide heat exchange between fluids (24, 25), such as in a solar power plant (1), may include a first and second pipe connectors (13, 14), and a pipe bundle (17) extending between the first and second pipe connectors, with pipes (17a-17n) of the pipe bundle configured to guide a second fluid (25). The pipe bundle may be connected to the first and second pipe connectors at pipe connection points (16) so the inside of the pipes (17a-17n) is in fluid communication with cavities (15) of those connectors. The pipes may be arranged adjacent each other and extending together between the pipe connectors in a meandering manner providing a plurality of crests (20a, 20b) on the pipes between the pipe connectors, so that crests of the pipes are arranged to extend into recesses provided by one or more crests on other pipes of the pipe bundle.

A control method for optimizing a solar-to-power efficiency of a solar-aided coal-fired power system under off-design working conditions is provided. Through reading the relevant information of the solar collecting system, the coal-fired power generation system, the environmental conditions, and the working conditions of the solar-aided coal-fired power system, the water flow rate range able to be heated by the solar collecting unit and the solar-coal feedwater flow distribution ratio range of the solar-aided coal-fired power system are determined; through establishing the relationship between the solar-to-power efficiency and the solar-coal feedwater flow distribution ratio of the solar-aided coal-fired power system under the off-design working conditions, the solar-coal feedwater flow distribution ratio is regulated, so that a flow rate of water entering the solar collecting system to be heated is controlled, thereby maximizing the solar-to-power efficiency and improving the economy of the solar-aided coal-fired power system under the off-design working conditions. The present invention provides clear guidance to optimize the solar-aided coal-fired power system under the off-design working conditions, enable solar energy to fully play its role in the solar-aided coal-fired power system, improve the utilization rate of solar energy, facilitate the consumption of the renewable energy, and greatly increase the economy of the solar-aided coal-fired power system.

Systems and techniques are described herein for an insulation system that utilizes a treated gas, such as water vapor, to fill an at least partially transparent cavity that is part of a structure, to provide insulating properties and/or changes in exposure to the sun for a space, proximate to the structure. In some aspects, an insulation system may include a treated gas generation system, which includes at least one of a heating element, a cooling element, or a diffusing element for treating the gas. The system may also include a gas movement system in communication with the gas generation system. The system may further include a gas conduit system in communication with the gas movement system, where the gas movement system causes the treated to be injected into the gas conduit system to change insulation and/or sun exposure characteristics of a space in proximity to the gas conduit system.

Modern thermal power plants based on classical thermodynamic power cycles suffer from an upper bound efficiency restriction imposed by the Carnot principle. This disclosure teaches how to break away from the classical thermodynamics paradigm in configuring a thermal power plant so that its efficiency will not be restricted by the Carnot principle. The power generation system described herein makes a path for the next generation of low-to-moderate temperature thermal power plants to run at significantly higher efficiencies powered by renewable energy. This disclosure also reveals novel high-performance power schemes with integrated fuel cell technology, driven by a variety of fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, syngas, methane and natural gas, leading toward low-to-zero emission power generation for the future.

Solar/Rankine steam cycle hybrid concentrating solar power (CSP) systems and methods for designing or retrofitting existent natural circulation boilers using saturated or superheated steam produced by direct steam generation (DSG) or Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) steam generators and CSP solar field technology systems are described. Additionally, methods and processes of retrofitting the existent Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) or biomass, gas, oil or coal fired boilers to operate integrated to a molten salt/water-steam heat exchangers are disclosed. The hybrid CSP systems are highly efficient due to the increase of steam generated by a heating section comprising either the DSG receiver or the molten salt-water-steam sequential heat exchangers, heaters, boiler/saturated steam generators, super-heaters and re-heaters. The additional saturated, superheated and reheated steam produced is directed to a Rankine cycle according to its pressure, temperature and steam quality significantly reducing the fuel consumption within a cogeneration or Combine Cycle Power Plant.

Energy storage systems are disclosed. The systems may store energy as heat in a high temperature liquid, and the heat may be converted to electricity by absorbing radiation emitted from the high temperature liquid via one or more photovoltaic devices when the high temperature liquid is transported through an array of conduits. Some aspects described herein relate to reducing deposition of sublimated material from the conduits onto the photovoltaic devices.

The invention relates to a method for storing energy and for dispensing energy into an energy supply grid by means of a pressurized gas storage power plant, which has at least one first storage chamber and at least one second storage chamber separate from the first, wherein in order to store energy pressurized gas is taken from the lower-pressure storage chamber, is compressed by means of a compression machine and the compressed pressurized gas exiting the compression machine is routed into the other storage chamber; in order to dispense energy pressurized gas is taken from the higher-pressure storage chamber, is routed through an expansion machine and the expanded pressurized gas exiting the expansion machine is transferred into the other storage chamber, wherein the expansion machine dispenses energy to the energy supply grid, wherein the pressurized gas is heated by means of a heating device prior to or upon supply to the expansion machine. The invention also relates to a corresponding pressurized gas storage power plant and to a computer program for carrying out the method.

A solar thermodynamic power generator includes: a quartz window placed on a metal shell to form an electromagnetic resonant cavity structure for receiving solar energy; a ceramic conduit placed in the metal shell, wherein a working medium is heated in the ceramic conduit by the solar energy; a heat exchanger placed in a vacuum insulation oil tank; a steam generator placed in the vacuum insulation oil tank; a ceramic heating tube placed in a combustion chamber; and a turbine communicating with the steam generator through a fifth pipeline and a sixth pipeline. The present invention is environmentally friendly, safe, low-cost, high-efficiency, pollution-free, emission-free, and not affected by natural weather or environment. Like natural gas, the present invention can be configured to perform grid-connected power generation. Furthermore, after the hydrogen fuel and the hydrogen silicon fuel are mixed and burned, waste hydrogen can be recycled and reused.

A solar thermochemical processing system is disclosed. The system includes a first unit operation for receiving concentrated solar energy. Heat from the solar energy is used to drive the first unit operation. The first unit operation also receives a first set of reactants and produces a first set of products. A second unit operation receives the first set of products from the first unit operation and produces a second set of products. A third unit operation receives heat from the second unit operation to produce a portion of the first set of reactants.