A team of Swiss researchers is experimenting with solar energy as a heat source. By conducting a study on synthetic quartz, they were able to capture solar energy and reach temperatures above 1,000 °C (1,832 °F), demonstrating its viability as an alternative energy source for industries with high energy demands.
Solar energy as a heat source
One of the ideas of people is that they associate energy only with electricity, when the reality is different, because about half of the energy consumed globally is used in the form of heat, is the opinion of Emiliano Casati of ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
According to Casati, the production of materials such as glass, steel, cement and ceramics (indispensable for modern infrastructure) require temperatures exceeding 1,000 °C for their manufacture and use fossil fuels. fossil fuels to reach high temperatures.
These industries account for approximately 25% of global energy consumption. Some researchers have explored the use of solar receivers, which concentrate heat through thousands of mirrors that track the sun, as a clean alternative. However, this technology faces challenges to efficiently transfer solar energy at temperatures above 1,000 °C.
The quest for efficiency in solar energy
Casati and his team used semitransparent materials such as quartz, which are capable of trapping sunlight through the heat-trapping effect. They then succeeded in designing a thermal capture device composed of a synthetic quartz rod and an opaque silicon disk as an energy absorber.
When the device was exposed to an energy flux comparable to 136 suns, the absorber plate reached 1,050 °C(1,922 °F), while the other end of the quartz rod was held at 600 °C(1,112 °F). A point of Casati’s previous research showed that they had achieved the heat-trapping effect up to 170 °C(338 °F). The study confirmed that solar thermal capture is effective and achieves 1,000 °C, an optimum temperature for real industrial applications.
The team also simulated the thermal capture efficiency of quartz under various conditions using a heat transfer model. This model showed that thermal capture can achieve the desired temperature with lower concentrations of sunlight and maintain the same performance. In addition. This model achieves higher thermal efficiency for the same concentration.
Applications of the quartz thermal capture model
For example, a state-of-the-art unshielded receiver has an efficiency of 40% at 1,200 °C with a concentration of 500 suns. In contrast, a 300 mm quartz-shielded receiver achieves 70% efficiency at the same temperature and concentration. The unshielded receiver needs at least 1,000 suns of concentration for similar performance.
Now, the research team at ETH Zurich is focused on optimizing the thermal capture effect and exploring new applications for this method. So far, the results have been promising. By investigating other materials, such as different fluids and gases, they have been able to reach even higher temperatures. Moreover, the ability of these semi-transparent materials to absorb radiation is not limited to solar energy alone.
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Source: cell.com
Photo: Shutterstock
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