Technical Status of the Dish/Stirling Joint Venture Program

Initiated in 1991; the Dish/Stirling Joint Venture Program (DSJVP) is a 5-year, $17.2 million joint venture which is funded by Cummins Power Generation, Inc. (CPG) of Columbus, Indiana and the United States Department of Energy`s (DOE) Solar Thermal and Biomass Power Division. Sandia National Laboratories administers and provides technical management for this contract on the DOE`s behalf. In January, 1995; CPG advanced to Phase 3 of this three-phase contract. The objective of the DSJVP is to develop and commercialize a 7-kW. Dish/Stirling System for remote power markets by 1997. In this paper, the technical status of the major subsystems which comprise the CPG 7-kW{sub e} Dish/Stirling System is presented. These subsystems include the solar concentrator, heat pipe receiver, engine/alternator, power conditioning, and automatic controls.