How it works

The PowerDish uses a mirrored, parabolic concentrator dish to reflect and focus the sun's energy onto the hot end of a free-piston Stirling engine. This concentrated solar energy creates a temperature differential across the engine: hot from concentrated sunlight at one end and the ambient air temperature at the other end.

The resulting temperature differential causes helium inside the engine to expand and contract, that in turn makes a piston move back and forth inside the engine cylinder. The back and forth motion of the piston causes an alternator to generate clean, grid-ready AC electrical current.

A single PowerDish is enough to power the needs of a typical home. Its output depends on where the system is installed: in sunny, arid conditions, the PowerDish will produce at least as much, and usually much more, than any other solar technology.

Stirling Engine

The PowerDish's free-piston Stirling engine is a proprietary technology developed and manufactured by Infinia Corporation.

The engine is a hermetically sealed system that does not require lubrication, has no touching parts and no wear and tear. Each PowerDish has a service life that exceeds 25 years. Once the engine is sealed – it will literally run for 25 years without any maintenance. Because of its design characteristics, Infinia's engine is far more reliable than traditional 'kinematic' style Stirling engines.

Currently used by NASA, the Department of Energy and other commercial organizations, Infinia's Striling engine technology has nearly 1,000,000 operating hours, which is 10 times more than ALL Stirling engine manufacturers combined!