Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24S—SOLAR HEAT COLLECTORS; SOLAR HEAT SYSTEMS
  • F24S23/00—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors
  • F24S23/30—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors with lenses
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24S—SOLAR HEAT COLLECTORS; SOLAR HEAT SYSTEMS
  • F24S23/00—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors
  • F24S23/12—Light guides
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24S—SOLAR HEAT COLLECTORS; SOLAR HEAT SYSTEMS
  • F24S23/00—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors
  • F24S23/70—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors with reflectors
  • F24S23/71—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors with reflectors with parabolic reflective surfaces
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24S—SOLAR HEAT COLLECTORS; SOLAR HEAT SYSTEMS
  • F24S23/00—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors
  • F24S23/70—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors with reflectors
  • F24S23/79—Arrangements for concentrating solar-rays for solar heat collectors with reflectors with spaced and opposed interacting reflective surfaces
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/40—Solar thermal energy, e.g. solar towers

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and a device for heating using sunlight.
• the present invention solves the above described problems.
• the invention relates to a device for heating using sunlight, whereby at least two sunlight focusing devices are arranged to focus sunlight and to convey the focused sunlight into and along a respective one of at least to optical fiber devices, and is characterised in that the at least two optical fiber devices are arranged to convey the light to a cer- tain common area so that the light from the at least two optical fiber devices incides towards the common area.
• Figure 1 is a simplified outline sketch of a device according to the present invention comprising several sunlight focusing devices ;
• Figure 2 is a simplified outline sketch of a sunlight focusing device according to the invention.
• Figure 1 illustrates a device 10 according to the present invention for focusing large amounts of sunlight towards a common area 20, arranged as a part of an object 21 to be heated and possibly to be disinfected.
• common area shall, in this context, be interpreted so that light from more than one fiber device (see below) is directed so that it incides towards a common area on or inside an object, in the form of a common focus point, across a common, limited surface, through a limited common volume of a translucent material or the corresponding.
• the common area does preferably not have a larger magnitude of size than an area which is lit by the light from one single fiber device, and it is preferred that the area onto which the light from each fiber device is focused overlaps with the light from at least one other fiber device. It is realized that the "area” can be in the form of a one-dimensional point, a two-dimensional surface or a three-dimensional vol ⁇ ume .
• the fibers 14, 15, 16 convey the thus collected sunlight further to the object 21, and direct the light 17, 18, 19 towards the common area 20, which then becomes warm. It is preferred that the material in the optical fiber is selected so that sufficient amounts of UV light is conveyed through it in order for the area 20 to also be disinfected. It is preferred that the fibers 14, 15, 16 each are at least 10 meters of length.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a device according the present invention for focusing incident sunlight into an optical fiber 53 or an optical fiber cable which itself comprises several parallel optical fibers.
• the device comprises a primary sunlight focusing device 50, such as a parabolic mirror which is conventional as such, as well as a secondary sunlight focusing device 51, such as an additional mirror.
• a primary sunlight focusing device 50 such as a parabolic mirror which is conventional as such
• a secondary sunlight focusing device 51 such as an additional mirror.
• Incident sunlight L is first reflected by the primary focusing device 50 and is then directed towards, and is reflected further by the secondary focusing device, whereby the light is directed towards a lens 52, which in turn is arranged to focus the light towards and into an end 53a of the fiber 53.
• a challenge in concentrating sunlight from one or several sources into one or several optical fibers is that high power then needs to be transported from one medium into another. Foremost at the borders there is a risk for large energy losses .
• the side of the lens 52 through which the light exits the lens 52 and the end surface of the fiber end 53a constitute two respective limiting walls of a chamber 54 in the interior 55 of which there is a limited pressure, preferably vacuum.
• the light travelling between the lens 52 and the fiber end 53a will not pass through any other medium apart from the vacuum in the interior 55 of the chamber 54.
• the focused light cannot heat any other medium, such as air, except the fiber end 53a itself. Since the fiber end 53a can lead surplus heat away along the fiber 53a, this way a very intensive incident sunlight radiation can be focused down into and along the fiber 53 without risking overheating at the very transition into the fiber end 53a.
• a more low performing material regarding the fiber 53 itself and connections, etc., at the said transition can be selected at the same incident light radiation intensity.
• the vacuum is preferably a gas pressure inside the interior 55 of the chamber 54 of 0.05 bars or less, preferably 0.01 bars or less.
• the fiber end 53a projects a certain distance into the chamber 53, so that a part of the envelope surface of the fiber 53 constitutes a limiting wall of the chamber 53. This results in that the location where the sunlight is focused can be kept at a safe distance from all thermally conductive media.
• the lens 52 has a maximum diameter of at the most 10 cm, preferably at the most 5 cm.
• the fiber end 53a projects into the chamber 54 at least 5 mm, preferably at least 10 mm, so that it runs freely this distance inside the interior 55 of the chamber 54 with no contact with surrounding material, such as housings, air or jointings.
• a first example, which is illustrated in figure 3a, is for achieving a gas for use in different industrial processes.
• Sunlight is conveyed via fibers 114, 115, 116 in a way simi- lar to the one described above, and rays of light 117, 118, 119 are directed towards a common focus area 120 on a black body 121 arranged in a boiling container 122 for a fluid, with a fluid surface 123.
• the focus area 120 may be arranged on, at or inside the container 122, so long as the black body 121 is heated using the incident sunlight radiation.
• the liquid surrounding the black body 121 and especially that which surrounds the focus area 120, is also heated.
• the liquid is heated to its boiling point, and the gas phase of the liquid formed by the boiling is transported through a conduit 124, via a valve 125, to a process step 132 in which the gas is to be used.
• the used gas, or condensed gas in liquid phase is preferably transported back from the process step 132, via a conduit 126 and a valve 127, back to the boiling container 122 so that a closed loop is achieved.
• the liquid may be any suitable liquid the gas phase of which is useful in an industrial process. However, it is preferred that the liquid is water and that the gas phase is steam.
• the produced gas phase can selectively be pressurized and/or hot, something which may be exploited in various industrial processes.
• Preferred such industrial processes in which the produced gas can be used comprise use in steam turbines and steam engines in order to perform mechanical work, in particular mechanical work for producing electricity.
• the pressurized gas is transported to a turbine driven by the gas pressure, which in turn drives a generator producing electricity. This way, electricity can be produced only using solar energy and based upon the existence of only a small amount of water.
• a preferred process step 132 is an adsorption cooling step, in which the hot gas phase is used as a heating source in a per se conventional circuit for adsorption cooling of another medium.
• the achieved cool can for instance be used for cooling indoors air and for various other industrial cooling processes.
• the adsorption material can for instance be water or other fluid material, as well as silica gel or zeolite which may be combined with water.
• FIG 3b sharing reference numerals with figure 3a for corresponding parts, illustrates an alternative use for the produced gas, in order to obtain distilled liquid, preferably distilled water, for instance potable water.
• steam that has been evaporated in the boiling container 122 is transported, via the conduit 124 and the valve 125, to a container 131 for distilled water.
• the steam is either condensed in a separate condenser (not shown) , or by heat exchange using a heat exchanger 130, which preferably is of counterflow type and is arranged to transfer thermal energy from the steam in the conduit 124 to supply water to be cleaned.
• the supply water is supplied through a conduit 128 and a valve 129, and is in thermal contact, via the heat exchanger 130, with the steam in the conduit 124.
• This way, potable water can be achieved in a very energy efficient way, based upon filthy or infected water, since the water to be cleaned is preheated before it enters the boiling container 122.
• Such a device can be driven without externally provided energy, except solar energy, in case for instance the water to be cleaned is supplied via the conduit 128 using a pump driven using electricity produced by a turbine and a generator as described above.
• the production of a gas phase in this way is very energy efficient, since essentially all collected solar energy is used to heat and to boil the liquid to gas phase.
• the system can in many cases be made self-circulatory, so that it is driven by the gas pressure itself. When this is not possible, it can be driven using solar driven pumps or the like according to the above.
• high power can be guaranteed by arranging a sufficient number of solar collecting devices 11, 12, 13. This results for instance in that the temperature of the exiting gas can be high, such as substantially higher than the condensing temperature, which can increase the efficiency of the process step 132.
• the light being conveyed up to the boiling device 122 through the fibers 114, 115, 116 can be collected at a distance from the boiling device 122 and also be conveyed up to a clearly defined area also deep inside the boiling device 122.
• light 217, 218, 219 which has been focused according to the above, is conveyed through respective fibers 214, 215, 216, and is focused towards an area 220 on a material 221 arranged in a container 222.
• the material 221 is preferably a moist fraction, such as biomass sludge; other moist industrial products, such as for instance minerals in concentration processes; or foodstuffs or fodder, and the solar energy is used to dry the material 221 by heating.
• This arrangement brings with it also the advantage that the material 221 can be disinfected using the UV radiation contained in the sunlight. This is especially useful for steri- lizing for instance sludge from a sewage water treatment plant or foodstuffs .
• Dried off moist from the material 221, in the form of hot steam is thereafter brought, via a conduit 223 and a valve 224, to another container 225, which comprises an additional container 226 onto which the hot steam condenses and thereby transfers thermal energy to the container 226. Thereafter, the remaining gas phase and condensate are transported, via a conduit 227 and a valve 228, for further treatment.
• the con- tainer 226 contains an additional moist fraction, which may be the same as or similar to the material 221, but which may be dried at lower temperatures.
• the second moist fraction is dried using the thermal energy from the condensed liquid in the container 225. Evaporated gas from the fraction in the container 226 is led off, via a conduit 229 and a valve 230, for further treatment.
• the heating of the material 221 can also take place indirectly, by focusing the incident solar radiation towards an area on a receiver which is in thermal contact, either through heat conduction, heat radiation or convection, with the material 221. Indirect heating can also take place using boiled off gas from a boiling device 122 according to the above said in connection to figure 3a.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Sustainable Development (AREA)
• Sustainable Energy (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Photovoltaic Devices (AREA)

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• 2012
  • 2012-06-29 SE SE1250743A patent/SE1250743A1/sv not_active Application Discontinuation
• 2013
  • 2013-06-28 EP EP13808482.7A patent/EP2867594A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-06-28 WO PCT/SE2013/050820 patent/WO2014003680A1/en not_active Ceased

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