Intensify Sunlight by a Factor of 1,000
A team led by MIT students successfully developed a prototype of solar power system which may be the most cost-efficient on the face the earth. The 12-foot-wide dish, made from a lightweight frame of inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror, concentrates sunlight by a factor of 1,000, producing heat so intense it could melt metal.
To demonstrate how hot it is at the center of focal point, students put a long plank in front of the dish, smoke and flames erupted from the wood almost instantly.
Although roasting chicken might come into mind, it’s not the best idea of all, of course. A black-painted coil of water-filled tubing attached to the end of an aluminum tube rising from the center of the dish. To harness the heat energy, water in the coiled tube flashes immediately into steam when the dish is pointing directly at the sun. The implication could be used to provide steam for industrial processing, or for heating or cooling, as well as for generating electrical power with steam turbines. [MIT News]
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I saw a documentary which showed this technology just the other day. It made me think immediately that this could be used to create steam just as has been stated above. How great would it be if we could convert nuclear and coal powered power plants into using this mirror technology instead.
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