A novel compressed air solar energy photo-thermal generating electricity system

On the basis of comparing the solar photovoltaic and photo-thermal generating electricity advantages and disadvantages, to overcome the phase-change losses caused by water evaporated into vapour, a compressed air solar energy photo-thermal generating electricity system was proposed in the present work. Air was compressed with compressor and heated with solar heater so as to get high temperature and pressure. High-temperature and high pressure air passes into turbine to generate electricity. The entire design is simple and compact, safe and reliability, energy saving and environmental protection. Thermodynamic cycle analysis was carried out. It comes to conclusion that practical efficiency depends on pressure ratio, the compressor and turbine efficiencies and solar photo-thermal conversion efficiency.