Stirling Energy Systems
| Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Incorporated |
| founding | 1996 |
| resolution | 2011 |
| Reason for dissolution | insolvency |
| Seat |
 United States , Scottsdale , Arizona |
| management | Steve Cowman, CEO |
| Branch | Solar energy technology |
| Website | Archive of stirlingenergy.com ( Memento from January 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) |
The Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. (short SES ) was a manufacturer of solar Stirling equipment from the United States, based in Scottsdale , Arizona .
history
The SES company was founded in 1996. In the same year SES acquired the patent rights to the so-called SunCatcher ( English for sun catcher ), a solar Stirling developed in 1984 by McDonnell Douglas and Kockums . As a result, SES developed the SunCatcher in collaboration with Boeing , who had taken over McDonnell Douglas , and the US Department of Energy . Several test field facilities have been set up, including at NASA's Glenn Research Center and at Sandia National Laboratories .
Today the Suncatcher has a bowl with a diameter of 11.5 m and draws an electrical output of 25 kW from a four-cylinder Stirling engine with hydrogen as the circulating medium .
In 2008 SES broke the world record held by Sandia since 1984 with the Suncatcher for the efficiency of solar Stirlings with an efficiency of 31.25%. Thus converts this technology, with the same radiation about twice as much of the energy in sunlight into electricity as an average photovoltaic - solar cell with 15% efficiency.
As a reaction to the development success, SES received its first orders for commercial solar power plants based on Stirling, including a. the “Maricopa” power plant with 1.5 megawatts (60 SunCatchers) in Phoenix, Arizona.
In September 2011, creditor protection and bankruptcy filed. The company was liquidated under Chapter 7 of US bankruptcy law.
technology
The "SunCatcher Power Conversion Unit" is based on a Stirling engine design by Kockums . The working gas is hydrogen. A water-glycol mixture is used as the coolant (similar to a motor vehicle ).
See also
Web links
- Wolfgang Stieler: The stalled energy revolution , blog at Technology Review, January 24, 2011
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stirling Energy Systems - Solar Dish Engine from May 27, 2008 on theirearth.com (in English)
- ↑ Achmed AW Khammas: Book of Synergy: Parabolic mirror systems (Dish-Stirling systems) on www.buch-der-synergie.de
- ↑ Tessera Solar & Stirling Energy Systems Unveil First Commercial Scale Plant (January 25, 2010) at www.renewableenergyworld.com (in English)
- ^ US solar company Stirling Energy Systems applies for creditor protection
- ↑ http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solartwo/documents/applicant/afc/volume_02+03/MASTER_Appendix%20B.pdf