Surface Hardening of Steel Using Highly Concentrated Solar Energy Process

1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ferriere ◽  
C. Faillat ◽  
S. Galasso ◽  
L. Barrallier ◽  
J-E. Masse

A recent French contribution in the field of surface hardening of steel using concentrated solar energy is presented. Single spot and continuous scanning processes have been investigated in a small-scale solar furnace. Hardened regions of 0.5–1.5 mm in thickness have been obtained on specimens of carbon steel, resulting from the transformation hardening process. Compressive stresses are induced in the thermally affected layer, without tensile peak in the bulk.

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
Maria Stoicanescu ◽  
Aurel Crisan ◽  
Ioan Milosan ◽  
Mihai Alin Pop ◽  
Jose Rodriguez Garcia ◽  
...  

This paper presents and discusses research conducted with the purpose of developing the use of solar energy in the heat treatment of steels. For this, a vertical axis solar furnace called at Plataforma Solar de Almeria was adapted such as to allow control of the heating and cooling processes of samples made from 1.1730 steel. Thus temperature variation in pre-set points of the heated samples could be monitored in correlation with the working parameters: the level of solar radiation and implicitly the energy used the conditions of sample exposed to solar radiation, and the various protections and cooling mediums.The recorded data allowed establishing the types of treatments applied for certain working conditions. The distribution of hardness, as the representative feature resulting from heat treatment, was analysed on all sides of the treated samples. In correlation with the time-temperature-transformation diagram of 1.1730 steel, the measured values confirmed the possibility of using solar energy in all types of heat treatment applied to this steel. In parallel the efficiency of using solar energy was analysed in comparison to the energy obtained by burning methane gas for the heat treatment for the same set of samples. The analysis considered energy consumption, productivity and the impact on the environment. Thanks to various data obtained through developed experiences, which cover a wide range of thermic treatments applied steels 1.1730 model, we can certainly state that this can be a solid base in using solar energy in applications of thermic treatment at a high industrial level.


Author(s):  
Brian Dickey

Capstone Microturbine and Heliofocus Solar Thermal Solutions in a partnership built an open loop Brayton cycle system using a 65 kW Capstone Microturbine and a concentrated solar energy receiver. This system was built for initial development testing to validate the ability to generate electricity on a small scale at high efficiencies using only solar energy as the input. A secondary goal was to demonstrate the ability of the receiver to transfer sun energy into the working fluid of air at efficiencies that would support the target overall system electrical efficiency of 21%. Concentrating Solar Power systems in the 20 kW to 100 kW electrical output power range currently do not exist in the market place today. Demand for this type of power generation is high due to its small footprint per kW of energy produced, its ability to be distributed in small kW increments to meet site demand and space, its relatively high electrical efficiency and its projected low cost per kilowatt of generated electricity. This initial testing was done without the production configuration dish concentrator component and instead a solar tower with a field of Heliostats provided the sunlight to the solar generation system. Test results showed that the receiver met the efficiency goal set forth and that the overall system was capable of producing 25kW of electricity to the electric grid. The receiver efficiency measured was 89% at or near the needed airflow and air temperature levels required by the Microturbine to support an overall system efficiency of 21%. The next step in the development process would be to integrate the development system onto a concentrating solar dish and demonstrate the total conversion efficiency at the target 21% prior to commercialization.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Lichty ◽  
Christopher Perkins ◽  
Bryan Woodruff ◽  
Carl Bingham ◽  
Alan Weimer

High temperature biomass gasification has been performed in a prototype concentrated solar reactor. Gasification of biomass at high temperatures has many advantages compared with historical methods of producing fuels. Enhancements in overall conversion, product composition ratios, and tar reduction are achievable at temperatures greater than 1000°C. Furthermore, the utilization of concentrated solar energy to drive these reactions eliminates the need to consume a portion of the product stream for heating and some of the solar energy is stored as chemical energy in the product stream. Experiments to determine the effects of temperature, gas flow rate, and feed type were conducted at the high flux solar furnace at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO. These experiments were conducted in a reflective cavity multitube prototype reactor. Biomass type was found to be the only significant factor within a 95% confidence interval. Biomass conversion as high as 68% was achieved on sun. Construction and design considerations of the prototype reactor are discussed as well as initial performance results.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Steinfeld ◽  
A. Imhof ◽  
D. Mischler

A solar receiver-reactor has been designed to conduct solid-gas chemical reactions, using concentrated solar radiation as the energy source of high-temperature process heat. It consists of a conical cyclone gas-particle separator that has been modified to let concentrated solar energy enter the cavity through a windowless (atmospheric-open) aperture. It combines the advantages of cavity receivers and volumetric reactors, and permits continuous mode of operation. A small-scale prototype reactor to conduct the thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate at 1300 K was experimentally investigated in a solar furnace. Its thermal performance was evaluated. The mean energy absorption efficiency, based on the optically measured power incident on the receiver aperture, was 43 percent. Reaction products showed high degree of calcination.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 638-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. T. Chen ◽  
A. Kribus ◽  
B. H. Lim ◽  
C. S. Lim ◽  
K. K. Chong ◽  
...  

The basic mathematics and structure of heliostat have remained unchanged for many decades. Following the challenge first made by Ries et al., the non-imaging focusing heliostat recently proposed by Chen et al. provides an alternative in the field of concentrated solar energy. This paper investigates the performance of a heliostat field composed of the newly proposed heliostats. In contrast to the dynamic curvature adjustment proposed in our previous work for a solar furnace, a fixed asymmetric curvature is used here with the spinning-elevation tracking method. This restriction is intended to equalize the manufacture cost of the new heliostat with that of traditional heliostats with azimuth-elevation tracking and spherical curvature. Fixing the curvature results in only partial aberration correction, compared to full correction using the dynamic adjustment of curvature. Nevertheless, the case studies presented in this paper show that the new heliostat design can reduce the receiver spillage loss by 10–30%, and provide a much more uniform performance without large variations with time of day.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Weidenkaff ◽  
Armin Reller ◽  
Aldo Steinfeld

The thermal extraction of zinc from its ore willemite, Zn2SiO4, is investigated using concentrated solar energy. Experiments conducted at above 1750 K in a high-flux solar furnace yielded the products Zn(g), O2, and SiO2l.


Author(s):  
Paul Lichty ◽  
Christopher Perkins ◽  
Bryan Woodruff ◽  
Carl Bingham ◽  
Alan Weimer

High temperature biomass gasification has been performed in a prototype concentrated solar reactor. Gasification of biomass at high temperatures has many advantages compared to historical methods of producing fuels. Enhancements in overall conversion, product composition ratios, and tar reduction are achievable at temperatures greater than 1000°C. Furthermore, the utilization of concentrated solar energy to drive these reactions eliminates the need to consume a portion of the product stream for heating and some of the solar energy is stored as chemical energy in the product stream. Experiments to determine the effects of temperature, gas flow rate, and feed type were conducted at the High Flux Solar Furnace (HFSF) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). These experiments were conducted in a reflective cavity multi-tube prototype reactor. Biomass type was found to be the only significant factor within a 95% confidence interval. Biomass conversion as high as 68% was achieved on sun. Construction and design considerations of the prototype reactor are discussed as well as initial performance results.


2020 ◽  
pp. 339-342
Author(s):  
V.F. Bez’yazychny ◽  
M.V. Timofeev ◽  
R.V. Lyubimov ◽  
E.V. Kiselev

The theoretical justification for the hardening process of the surface layer of machine parts for combined methods of surface hardening with subsequent application of strengthening coatings, as well as reducing or increasing the fatigue limit due to the fretting process is presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Isabel Padilla ◽  
Maximina Romero ◽  
José I. Robla ◽  
Aurora López-Delgado

In this work, concentrated solar energy (CSE) was applied to an energy-intensive process such as the vitrification of waste with the aim of manufacturing glasses. Different types of waste were used as raw materials: a hazardous waste from the aluminum industry as aluminum source; two residues from the food industry (eggshell and mussel shell) and dolomite ore as calcium source; quartz sand was also employed as glass network former. The use of CSE allowed obtaining glasses in the SiO2-Al2O3-CaO system at exposure time as short as 15 min. The raw materials, their mixtures, and the resulting glasses were characterized by means of X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and differential thermal analysis. The feasibility of combining a renewable energy, as solar energy and different waste for the manufacture of glasses, would highly contribute to circular economy and environmental sustainability.


Author(s):  
S. Kh. Suleimanov ◽  
V. G. Babashov ◽  
M. U. Dzhanklich ◽  
V. G. Dyskin ◽  
M. I. Daskovskii ◽  
...  

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