To address the threat of global warming more emphasis has to be made on renewable energy sources; in particular solar energy. With an ever increasing world population and a limited supply of potable water, solar energy is being used as part of relatively small scale desalination systems. A key barrier to the widespread adoption of solar energy is cost; economic viability is achieved by increasing the overall efficiency of solar energy collection as follows: 1. Improved Solar Concentrator Design: An innovative three-dimensional high solar concentrator is being developed to capture a large part of the diffuse solar radiation in addition to the direct component. The optical efficiency for 2D concentrators is limited at 85% and this will be improved upon by developing this 3D system. 2. Enhance Heat Transfer: A helical coil heat exchanger is in development to provide high rates of heat transfer with minimal pressure losses in the system. The heat exchanger will operate in combination with a concentrating solar collector for water heating. Dean vortices initiate in a helical coil pipe flow even a low Reynolds number (laminar flow). These vortices can result in high rates of heat transfer without significantly increasing the pressure drop though the pipe flow.
