ஒரு புது வகை சோலார்

                       

நிச்சயமாக இது ஒரு வரப்பிரசாதம்......

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/40912.wss

ஒரு சின்ன சோலார் டிஷில் ஊருக்கே மின்சாரம் தரலாம் - IBM'ன் புதிய 3 இன் 1 சோலார் தொழில்நுட்பம்:

IBM's 3 in 1 Solar Invention can give Electricity / Water / Air-Conditioning - 3 இன் 1 சோலார் கண்டுபிடிப்பு / ஒரே நேரத்தில் அதிக மின்சாரம், தூய குடிதண்ணீர், மற்றும் குளிர்ந்த காற்று கிடைக்கும் வசதி - செலவும் மிக மிக குறைவு

உலகத்தில் பல சோலார் கண்டுபிடிப்பு வந்தாலும் அது மிக ஸ்லோவாக தான் நடை முறை படுத்தும் காரணம் அதன் விலை. சோலார் எனர்ஜியை மின்சாரமாக மாற்றுவதற்க்கு கண்ணாடி, சிலிக்கான் போன்ற பல மினிரல்கள் சேர்த்து தான் ஃபொட்டோ வால்ட்டிக் என்னும் சோலார் கன்வெர்ஷன் செய்து மின்சாரம் பெறப்படுகிறது. இப்போது ஐபிஎம் ஒரு புது வகை சோலார் டெக்னாலஜியை கன்டுபிடித்துள்ளது. இதற்க்கு பெயர் High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) இதன் மூலம் ஒரு சென்டிமீட்டர் சிப்பில் 2000 மடங்கு சூரிய சக்தி கிடைக்கும் அளவுக்கு மிகவும் எளிதான சில மெட்டல்கள் மூலம் அமைத்துள்ளனர்.

இதில் 30% சூரிய சக்தியை மின்சாரக மாற்றியும் மீதி உள்ள சூடில் உப்பு தண்ணீரை சேலினேட் முறையில் நல்ல தண்ணீராக மாற்றியும் மிச்சம் உள்ள எனர்ஜியில் குளிர்ந்த காற்று கிடைக்குமாறு 3 இன் 1 ஆக அமைத்திருக்கிறார்கள்.

அதாவது பொதுவாக இப்போது உள்ள ஒரு முழு சோலார் ஃபோட்டோவால்டிக் பிளேட் மூலம் 300 வாட்ஸ் கிடைக்கும் ஆனால் இங்கு 1 சென்டி மீட்டரில் 200 முதல் 250 வாட்ஸ் மின்சாரம் கிடைக்கும். ஒரு இரண்டடிக்கு இரண்டி இருந்தால் முழு வீட்டுக்கு 8 மணி நேர சூரிய சக்தியில் 24 மணி நேரமும் கிடைக்கும் என்றால் பெரிய கண்டுபிடிப்பு தான். அதாவது ஒரு ஊருக்கே ஒரு டிஷ் போது. இவர்கள் சஹாரா பாலைவனத்தில் 2% சதவிகித இடம் கொடுத்தால் உலகத்தின் மொத்த மின்சார தேவையும் எந்த ஒரு எனர்ஜி இல்லாமல் 100% கிடைக்குமாம்.

இதை அமைக்க வெறும் 12,500 ரூபாய் தான். ஒரு ஸ்கொயர் மீட்டருக்கு ஆகும் செலவு அது போக 1000 யூனிட் கரென்ட்டுகு வெறும் 5 ரூபாய் தான் செலவு.கூடவே தண்ணீர் பஞ்சம் மற்றூம் இயற்கை ஏசி வேறு கிடைக்கும் மக்களே.

Made in IBM Labs: Collaboration Aims to Harness the Energy of 2,000 Suns

- High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal system able to convert 80 percent of the collected solar energy
- System can deliver electricity, potable water and cool air in remote locations
- Design based on a low-cost, large dish-like concentrator and micro-channel cooled high performance photovoltaic chips suitable for mass-production

Today on Earth Day, scientists have announced a collaboration to develop an affordable photovoltaic system capable of concentrating solar radiation 2,000 times and converting 80 percent of the incoming radiation into useful energy. The system can also provide desalinated water and cool air in sunny, remote locations where they are often in short supply.

A three-year, $2.4 million (2.25 million CHF) grant from the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation has been awarded to scientists at IBM Research (NYSE: IBM); Airlight Energy, a supplier of solar power technology; ETH Zurich (Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers) and Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB (Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnology MNT) to research and develop an economical High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system.

Based on a study by the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and Greenpeace International, technically, it would only take two percent of the solar energy from the Sahara Desert to supply the world's electricity needs*. Unfortunately, current solar technologies on the market today are too expensive and slow to produce, require rare Earth minerals and lack the efficiency to make such massive installations practical.

The prototype HCPVT system uses a large parabolic dish, made from a multitude of mirror facets, which are attached to a sun tracking system. The tracking system positions the dish at the best angle to capture the sun's rays, which then reflect off the mirrors onto several microchannel-liquid cooled receivers with triple junction photovoltaic chips -- each 1x1 centimeter chip can convert 50 watts, on average, over a typical eight hour day in a sunny region.

The entire receiver combines hundreds of chips and provides 25 kilowatts of electrical power. The photovoltaic chips are mounted on micro-structured layers that pipe liquid coolants within a few tens of micrometers off the chip to absorb the heat and draw it away 10 times more effective than with passive air cooling.

The coolant maintains the chips almost at the same temperature for a solar concentration of 2,000 times and can keep them at safe temperatures up to a solar concentration of 5,000 times.

The direct cooling solution with very small pumping power is inspired by the hierarchical branched blood supply system of the human body and has been already tested by IBM scientists in high performance computers, including Aquasar. An initial demonstrator of the multi-chip receiver was developed in a previous collaboration between IBM and the Egypt Nanotechnology Research Center.

"We plan to use triple-junction photovoltaic cells on a micro-channel cooled module which can directly convert more than 30 percent of collected solar radiation into electrical energy and allow for the efficient recovery of an additional 50 percent waste heat," said Bruno Michel, manager, advanced thermal packaging at IBM Research. "We believe that we can achieve this with a very practical design that is made of lightweight and high strength concrete, which is used in bridges, and primary optics composed of inexpensive pneumatic mirrors -- it's frugal innovation, but builds on decades of experience in microtechnology.

"The design of the system is elegantly simple," said Andrea Pedretti, chief technology officer at Airlight Energy. "We replace expensive steel and glass with low cost concrete and simple pressurized metalized foils. The small high-tech components, in particular the microchannel coolers and the molds, can be manufactured in Switzerland with the remaining construction and assembly done in the region of the installation. This leads to a win-win situation where the system is cost competitive and jobs are created in both regions."

The solar concentrating optics will be developed by ETH Zurich. "Advanced ray-tracing numerical techniques will be applied to optimize the design of the optical configuration and reach uniform solar fluxes exceeding 2,000 suns at the surface of the photovoltaic cell," said Aldo Steinfeld, Professor at ETH Zurich.

With such a high concentration and a radically low cost design scientists believe they can achieve a cost per aperture area below $250 per square meter, which is three times lower than comparable systems. The levelized cost of energy will be less than 10 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh). For comparison, feed in tariffs for electrical energy in Germany are currently still larger than 25 cents per KWh and production cost at coal power stations are around 5-10 cents per KWh.

Water Desalination and Cool Air

Current concentration photovoltaic systems only collect electrical energy and dissipate the thermal energy to the atmosphere. With the HCPVT packaging approach scientists can both eliminate the overheating problems of solar chips while also repurposing the energy for thermal water desalination and adsorption cooling.

To capture the medium grade heat IBM scientists and engineers are utilizing an advanced technology they developed for water-cooled high performance computers, including Aquasar and SuperMUC. With both computers water is used to absorb heat from the processor chips, which is then used to provide space heating for the facilities.

"Microtechnology as known from computer chip manufacturing is crucial to enable such an efficient thermal transfer from the photovoltaic chip over to the cooling liquid," said Andre Bernard, head of the MNT Institute at NTB Buchs. "And by using innovative ways to fabricate these heat transfer devices we aim at a cost-efficient production."

In the HCPVT system, instead of heating a building, the 90 degree Celsius water will be used to heat salty water that then passes through a porous membrane distillation system where it is vaporized and desalinated. Such a system could provide 30-40 liters of drinkable water per square meter of receiver area per day, while still generating electricity with a more than 25 percent yield or two kilowatt hours per day -- a little less than half the amount of water the average person needs per day according to the United Nations**, but a large installation could provide enough water for a town.

Remarkably, the HCPVT system can also provide air conditioning by means of a thermal driven adsorption chiller. An adsorption chiller is a device that converts heat into cooling via a thermal cycle applied to an absorber made from silica gel, for example. Adsorption chillers, with water as working fluid, can replace compression chillers, which stress electrical grids in hot climates and contain working fluids that are harmful to the ozone layer.

Scientists envision the HCPVT system providing sustainable energy and potable water to locations around the world including southern Europe, Africa, Arabic peninsula, the southwestern part of the United States, South America, and Australia. Remote tourism locations are also an interesting market, particularly resorts on small islands, such as the Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius, since conventional systems require separate units, with consequent loss in efficiency and increased cost.

A prototype of the HCPVT system is currently being tested at IBM Research - Zurich. Additional prototypes will be built in Biasca and Rueschlikon, Switzerland as part of the collaboration.

*Concentrating Solar Power: Outlook 2009 published by Greenpeace International, SolarPACES and European Solar Thermal Electricity Association

**http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/water/

 About AIRLIGHT ENERGY

AIRLIGHT ENERGY is a private Swiss company based in Biasca that supplies proprietary technology for large-scale production of electricity using solar power and for energy storage. AIRLIGHT ENERGY has developed an innovative and complete solution for the markets of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). For further information visit www.airlightenergy.com

About IBM Research

For more information visit www.research.ibm.com

About ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich is one of the leading international universities for technology and the natural sciences. It is well-known for its excellent education, ground-breaking fundamental research and for putting its new findings directly into practice. Founded in 1855, ETH Zurich today has some 18,000 students from over 100 different countries, 3,800 of whom are doctoral students. It offers researchers an inspiring working environment and its students a comprehensive education. 21 Nobel Laureates have studied, taught or conducted research at ETH Zurich, underlining the excellent reputation of the institute.

To learn more about ETH Zurich visit: www.ethz.ch/index_EN.

About Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB

For more information visit www.ntb.ch