Scientists have made a breakthrough in the production of clean and cheap energy Bashny.Net

Scientists at the University of Houston and MIT reported a significant breakthrough in the production of electricity through the combination of concentrated solar energy and thermoelectric materials.


According to the Professor, Jifan Jen, the author, the work illustrates the cheap and non-toxic method of power generation. It is not intended to replace a large power plant, but can be particularly useful for isolated grids territories, small villages or companies.

Technology performance is 7.4%, but the calculations say that it is possible to achieve an efficiency of 9.6%.

"The increase in performance is achieved by a segmented thermoelectric racks, high temperature spectral selective solar absorbing elements that allow for stable vacuum operation temperature of the absorber up to 600 degrees C and a combined optical and thermal concentration, says Jen. — Our work indicates that concentrated solar thermoelectric generators can be a promising technology for alternative energy".





Thermoelectric materials generate electricity using a flow of heat current from zones with higher temperature to areas with lower. Combining two materials, skutterudite and bismuth telluride, the researchers were able to use a wider range of temperatures produced by the absorber, and to increase production efficiency.

With two layers of absorbent element experiment of physics MIT research and technology Institute of Masdar. They are designed to increase the range of absorbed energy. Such a "step" elements normally difficult to produce, but scientists were able to create new, more efficient process. published

 

Source: hightech.fm/2016/10/03/solar termoelectric