Patent ID: 8534070

Claim:
A system for converted solar energy into mechanical energy, electrical energy or another useable form of energy comprising: a solar collector subsystem for directly or indirectly and separately vaporizing and superheating an intermediate solution stream comprising a heated basic rich solution substream and a lean solution substream and a working solution stream comprising the vaporized ands superheated intermediate stream and a vaporized basic solution stream, and a heat conversion subsystem including: a turbine for converting a portion of heat in a fully vaporized and superheated working solution steam to a useable form of energy, four heat exchange units for transferring heat from returning streams to upcoming streams, where the returning streams include spent working solution streams, a condensing solution streams and a lean solution substream and the upcoming streams include basic rich solution streams, a lean solution substream, the intermediate stream and the working solution stream, a condensing heat exchange unit, where a basic rich solution stream comprising a lean solution substream and a rich vapor stream is fully condensed using an external coolant to form a fully condensed basic rich solution stream, a separator, where a partially condensed condensing solution stream is separated into a lean solution stream and a rich vapor stream and where the lean solution stream is divided into three substreams, three pumps for increasing a pressure of the fully condensed basic rich solution stream and two of the lean solution substreams, and at least five stream mixing valves for combining two or more streams, and at least two splitting valves for dividing a stream into two or more substream, where all of the solutions are derived form a multi-component fluid including at least one lower boiling component and at least one higher boiling component.