Solar Stirling Engine Vs Solar Panel

This stirling engine is driven by a parabolic dish that collects and concentrates the sun into a heat source to run the engine and produce power.

Solar stirling engine vs solar panel. In general the best solar panels made with mono crystalline material have efficiencies of no more than 20. It is important to understand that solar thermal technology is not the same as solar panel or photovoltaic technology. The stirling system uses a generator based upon the stirling engine design that absorbs heat and converts it directly to locomotion that in turn drives a generator. So a solar stirling system can be more efficient than run of the mill solar panels but if you compare like for like concentrating systems it s about a wash between stirling and cpv.

This apparatus consists of a large dish that concentrates solar energy to a focal point at the center of the dish. Most installations contain multiple modules. This system provides 12x the power of normal solar panels and can be h. A single solar module can produce only a limited amount of power.

It was patented by roelf j. Stirling engines are significantly more efficient at converting sunlight into energy than most photovoltaic panels or concentrating solar power plants whether parabolic trough or tower designs. His invention combines a heat engine such as a stirling cycle engine with a solar dish collector to produce electricity.