Hi Michael,
Does ( or can ) the manufacturing method of 65 inch wide Fresnel sheeting
focus a trough line? This would allow a pipe to be placed at the focal
point. Could a pipe would get hot enough to run liquid salt ? - most
probably not - but I'm sure there are other ideas out there for working
fluids..
How hot that pipe would get I guess would depend on the absorption
characteristics of the pipe metal, insulation, the width of the Fresnel,
latitude, etc
I sense your hesitancy to promote your own product but I believe that the
potential importance of a product such as this requires that in this
instance that
those rules be temporarily suspended or bent, and my sense is that most here
would concur with that assessment..
Please send additional information about your Fresnel material. Product
name, company name, technical descriptions, and quantities vs pricing etc
for those who are interested in exploring further the potentials.. Thank
you.
Colin
- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Foster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 11:03 PM
Subject: Fresnel Dream Part II
I failed to make a number of points in my fresnel lens post.
It was Strother Martin syndrome, "What we have heah is a
failyah to commun'cate."
I really must emphasize again how much cheaper my
fresnel stuff is, less than a dollar per square meter. The
thickness, weight and tensile strength combine with the low
cost to reduce the cost of all the other components of a
solar concentrator. I have made this material on a substrate
as thin as 10 microns. The simple pyramidal framework made
possible by the properties of the thin high tensile strength
fresnel film can be assembled out of common materials by
almost anyone. It could be made of bamboo if necessary.
The whole thing, whatever size, could even be disassembled
and portable.
Another advantage I didn't point out is that the whole
concentrator structure is so light-weight that it could pivot
around a rigidly ground mounted engine or other heat driven
device. Thus, the engine does not have to be designed to be
suspended in the air and connected to the ground through
various clumsy tubes or wires.
Also, my desciption of assembling four quarter fresnels is not
the only way it could be done. This was just for the convenience
of using identical sections. For example, three different sections
could assembled into a nine part lens. So really, this gadget
can be scaled up to almost any size.
Transparency of the material covers almost the entire solar
spectrum except the short uv. The main obstacle to the
efficiency of the concentrator isn't the transparency of the
plastic, but the natural tendency of fresnel lenses to scatter
light at the edges and corners of the facets. But let me say
again, that I measured directly about 80% of the total sunlight
from the fresnel surface delivered to the focus.
Although it is actually much easier for me to make the linear
fresnels for the trough type solar concentrators, I just kind of
like the idea of all that energy on a little spot, lotsa delta-T in
there. Didn't Mr. Carnot teach us lesson about that?
Having said all this, I must add that I'm my own worst skeptic
on whether any of this will be put to any practical advantage.
It would require the participation of a large corporation or a
government agency. Simple, inexpensive, easily executed
things are anathema to large corps. or governments, whose
behavior is almost identical.
I am ready to provide millions of these fresnels whenever
someone is actually willing to buy them.
M.
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