A new type of power station, with ability to convert low potential thermal energy to electricity at an efficiency level of 50% is configured on the basis of applying EcoAtom Company’s new electrodialysistechnology. In addition to producing electricity, the same installation also can be employed to produce high-density thermal power and hydrogen fuel. Thus, EcoAtom’s electrodialysis technology efficiently incorporates the features of heat pumps and fuel cells. As sources of thermal energy could be solar collectors, salt-water tank, a solar pond, the cooling ponds normally found near nuclear power plants and thermal power plants, or just desert sand. Here, as a proprietary item, the specific means of extracting electric power from the electrodialysis unit is not elaborated. As input energy to supply the power station, a proprietary salt-water solution is employed, in which salt solubility rises sharply with increasing water temperature, resulting to an efficient endothermic process.
EcoAtom’s power station has several unique advantages:
• The employed salts are inexpensive, fully recovered and reused in the performance of power stations,
• Solar-power conversion efficiency is as high as possible, namely 50%,
• In addition to the supplementary use of bodies of salted waters, the thermal energy stored in desert sand can be exploited as well, opening up a broad commercial use of these stations in the arid countries of the Middle East,
• The same solar-power station produces electricity, higher-density thermal power and hydrogen fuel, for 24-hours of operation per day, satisfying customer requirements
A technology demonstration 5-kWe solar power prototype unit on the basis of elements shown can be assembled and demonstrated at EcoAtom. The demonstration module can readily be engineered to manufacture 1-kWe to 1-MWe commercial solar-power stations that will have worldwide broad application. The assumed cost of the station is $2-3 per watt. For a 5-kWe portable power station, the solar collector surface would need to be no more than 12 m2. The associated salt-water tank would need to have a volume of no more than 20 liters.
A patent disclosure for EcoAtom’s solar power technology is prepared to acquire patents in Armenia, the European Union, Russia, Japan and the United States.
