JP2001178163A - Power generation method and power generation device using solar heat - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A method and apparatus for heating a Peltier element by using solar heat to generate power are provided. A solar heat collector (10) has a bowl-shaped collector section (11) and a condenser lens (12). A liquid heat medium 13 is stored inside the collector unit 11. One end of a copper heat pipe 21 is immersed in the heat medium 13. The Peltier element heating element 30 is a heat pipe 2
1 is fitted to the other end side. Peltier element heating element 30
A required number of Peltier elements 40 are adhered to the surface of. The Peltier element 40 has n-type and p-type semiconductors sandwiched between square metal plates 41, 41. Lead wires 42 and 43 are led out of the n-type and p-type semiconductors, respectively, and the lead wires are electrically connected to the storage battery 50. The storage battery 50 is electrically connected to the inverter 60, and is connected to an AC load via the inverter 60.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power generation method and a power generation apparatus using solar heat, and more particularly, to a method of heating a heat pipe using solar heat as a heat source, and heating the Peltier element with the heat pipe to generate power. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, large-scale power generation for converting mechanical energy, thermal energy, nuclear energy, and other energy into electric energy is performed by rotating a generator using a prime mover such as a water turbine or a steam turbine. The main components are called hydroelectric power, thermal power, and nuclear power.

[0003] Hydroelectric power generation uses a water turbine to rotate a generator by utilizing the height difference of water, while thermal power generation uses coal, oil,
High-temperature, high-pressure steam obtained by burning fossil fuels such as natural gas (LNG) in a boiler rotates a turbine generator.Nuclear power generation uses uranium fuel to generate steam using the heat energy of fission reactions to produce a turbine. This is to rotate the generator.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional hydroelectric power generation, thermal power generation, and nuclear power generation have the following problems, respectively. In other words, in the case of hydroelectric power generation, it is necessary to build a dam, which destroys the natural environment. In the case of thermal power generation, there is LNG as a clean energy source that does not contain sulfur, but the generation of carbon dioxide due to combustion is inevitable and causes global warming. In the case of nuclear power, no adequate solution has been found for the aftertreatment problems associated with the use of nuclear fuel.

Power generation using wind, sunlight, and solar heat
It is less polluting than oil, coal and nuclear power, and its amount is almost infinite. Solar cells that utilize sunlight can use both direct and scattered light of solar radiation, but their conversion efficiencies are still small, about 10% for silicon crystal and about 5% for amorphous, and expensive. Therefore, it has not reached the point where it is generally used.

On the other hand, power generation using solar heat is:
In the case of a flat-plate solar collector, set the temperature of the heat medium to 100 ° C.
The thermal efficiency will be 25 to 50%. Concentrating collectors can raise the temperature of the heating medium to below 300 ° C, and can reach as high as 300-1100 ° C when combined with a heliostat that can track sunlight. In conventional solar thermal power generation, steam is generated by the above-described concentrating collector, and the turbine is rotated to generate power, so that the equipment is large-scale.

By the way, when two kinds of different metal wires are connected to form a closed circuit and two junctions are maintained at different temperatures, an electromotive force is generated between the two junctions, and a current flows.
This phenomenon is known as the Seebeck effect, and the electromotive force at this time is called a thermoelectromotive force. Also, two different types of conductors are connected in series,
The phenomenon of heat generation or absorption at the joints of conductors when a direct current is applied is due to the Peltier effect (Peltier effe
ct).

[0008] The present inventor has been working on a study to generate solar thermal power using a Peltier element exhibiting the Peltier effect, and has focused on the fact that a Peltier element can be efficiently heated with solar heat by using a heat pipe. The invention has been completed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for generating electricity by heating a Peltier element using solar heat.

[0010]

Means of the present invention taken to achieve the above object are as follows. The first invention is a power generation method characterized by heating a heat pipe using solar heat as a heat source, and heating the Peltier element with the heat pipe to generate electricity.

[0011] The second invention is the power generation method according to the first invention, characterized in that the electromotive force in the Peltier element is converted into AC power.

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized by including a heat storage device for storing solar heat, a heat pipe heated by the heat storage of the heat storage device, and a Peltier element heated by the heat pipe. It is a power generator using solar heat.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery according to the third aspect, further comprising a storage battery for storing electromotive force in the Peltier element.
The present invention relates to a power generation device using solar heat.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the power generation apparatus using solar heat according to the third or fourth aspect, further comprising a converter for converting an electromotive force generated by the Peltier element into an alternating current.

In the present invention, solar heat is used as the heat source. It is preferable that the solar heat is stored in the solar heat storage and the heat is extracted from the solar heat storage. A heat pipe is used as a means for removing the heat pipe. A heat pipe is a metal pipe made of aluminum, copper, stainless steel, etc. that has a large heat of vaporization and contains a heat medium (fluorocarbon, ammonia, etc.) that has a high vapor diffusion rate. It becomes an object with a very large thermal diffusivity (1,000 times more than copper). The heat medium evaporates at one end (high-temperature portion) of the pipe and moves to the other end (low-temperature portion) where heat is released, condensed, and returned to the high-temperature portion.

The Peltier element can be directly heated by a heat pipe, but can also be heated via a Peltier element heater. In this case, the Peltier element heating element has an area as large as possible and is made of a material having good thermal conductivity. As an example, a metal having good thermal conductivity, for example, aluminum, copper, or an alloy thereof is used. A Peltier element is attached to the Peltier element heating element.

When a metal is used as the conductor of the Peltier element, heat conduction is good, so that even if one metal is heated, the temperature difference between the joints with the other metal becomes small,
Large thermoelectromotive force cannot be obtained. Therefore, a semiconductor having a low thermal conductivity is used as a conductor so that a large thermoelectromotive force can be obtained.

As the semiconductor, an alloy of bismuth, antimony and tellurium or selenium is often used. In order to form an n-type semiconductor, donor impurities, copper, silver, selenium, tellurium, halogen, and the like are used. To do
Lead, lithium, thallium and the like are added to the acceptor impurities.

One end of the n-type and p-type semiconductors is commonly connected by a metal plate, and when one of the metal plates is heated, an endothermic reaction occurs in the other metal plate, and a current flows from the n-type semiconductor to the p-type semiconductor. . The heat applied is preferably 90 ° C. or higher.

(Action) The solar heat is collected by the solar heat collector and stored in the solar heat storage body. One end of the heat pipe is heated using the heat storage body as a heat source. The heat medium in the heat pipe evaporates at one end (high-temperature portion) of the pipe and moves to the other end (low-temperature portion) where heat is radiated.

At the other end, a Peltier element heating element is provided, and the Peltier element heating element heats the Peltier element to generate an electromotive force of DC power. This electromotive force is stored in a storage battery,
Remove if necessary. If the load side requires AC power, the inverter converts DC power into AC power.

When the load side requires DC power, power is sent directly from the Peltier element or directly from the storage battery.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of a solar thermal power generation device according to the present invention.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a concentrating solar collector.
It has a collector part 11 made of aluminum formed in a bowl shape, and a condenser lens 12 for collecting sunlight in the collector part 11. Inside the collector section 11,
A liquid heat medium 13 is stored. The heat medium 13 is water in the present embodiment, but is not limited thereto. For example, alcohol can be used. Reference numeral 14 denotes a heat insulating unit provided on the back surface side of the collector unit 11. In addition,
Instead of using a heat medium, a heat pipe, which will be described later, and the collector unit 11 can be directly connected in a thermally conductive manner.

Further, the solar heat collector is not limited to a condensing type, but may be a flat type. The concentrating collector can raise the temperature of the heating medium to 300 ° C or less, and the combination of a heliostat that can track sunlight and a light receiver can be 300 to 1
It can reach 100 ° C.

One end of a copper heat pipe 21 as a heating element is immersed in the heat medium 13. Ammonia is sealed in the heat pipe 21 as a heat medium.

The Peltier element heating element 30 has a fitting hole (not shown) on the heat pipe 21 side, and the Peltier element heating element 30 is fitted on the other end of the heat pipe 21. The Peltier element heating body 30 is a block made of aluminum, is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has a hexahedron shape.

A required number of Peltier elements 40 are adhered to the surface of the Peltier element heating element 30. The Peltier element 40 has an n-type and a p-type between rectangular metal plates 41, 41.
A semiconductor (not shown) is provided therebetween. Lead wires 42 and 43 are led out of the n-type and p-type semiconductors, respectively.
Is connected to

The storage battery 50 is electrically connected to the inverter 60, and is connected to the AC load via the inverter 60.

(Operation) The solar heat is collected by the solar heat collector 10 and stored in the liquid heat medium 13. The heating medium 1
The heat stored in 3 is used as a heat source to heat one end of the heat pipe 21. The heat medium in the heat pipe 21 evaporates at one end (high temperature part) of the pipe and moves to the other end (low temperature part) where heat is radiated.

At the other end, a Peltier element heater 30 is provided, and the Peltier element heater 30 heats the Peltier element 40 to generate a DC electromotive force. This electromotive force is stored in storage battery 5
Store it at 0 and take it out as needed. If the load side requires AC power, the inverter 60 converts DC power into AC power.

When the load side requires DC power, power is supplied directly from the Peltier element to the load.

The terms and expressions used in the present specification are merely illustrative and not restrictive, and do not exclude terms and expressions equivalent to the above-mentioned terms and expressions. Further, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

[0034]

The present invention has the above configuration and has the following effects. (A) According to the present invention, solar heat is collected by a solar heat collector, heat is stored in a solar heat storage body, one end of a heat pipe is heated using the heat storage body as a heat source, and a Peltier element heating body provided at the other end is heated. Then, the Peltier element is heated to generate an electromotive force of DC power. Then, the electromotive force is stored in a storage battery and taken out as needed. Thus, it is possible to provide a power generation method and a power generation device capable of generating power by heating a Peltier element using solar heat.

(B) In the case where the electromotive force generated by the Peltier element is converted into AC power by a converter such as an inverter, it is useful when the load side requires AC power.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of a solar thermal power generation device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Solar heat collector 11 Collector part 12 Condensing lens 13 Liquid heat medium 14 Heat insulation part 21 Heat pipe 30 Peltier element heating body 40 Peltier element 41 Metal plate 42, 43 Lead wire 50 Storage battery 60 Inverter

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yuji Harashima 2034-25, Nishi-Koshi-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Pref.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A power generation method comprising: heating a heat pipe using solar heat as a heat source; and heating the Peltier element with the heat pipe to generate an electric power. 2. The power generation method according to claim 1, wherein the electromotive force in the Peltier element is converted into AC power. 3. A power generator utilizing solar heat, comprising: a heat storage device for storing solar heat; a heat pipe heated by heat storage of the heat storage device; and a Peltier element heated by the heat pipe. 4. The power generation apparatus using solar heat according to claim 3, further comprising a storage battery for storing electromotive force in the Peltier element. 5. A converter having a converter for converting electromotive force in a Peltier element into alternating current.
A power generator using solar heat as described in the above.