A New High-Temperature Solar Research Furnace

1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Diver ◽  
D. E. E. Carlson ◽  
F. J. Macdonald ◽  
E. A. Fletcher

A new highly concentrating solar research furnace has recently been completed at the University of Minnesota. The experimentally observed flux concentration ratio, at small aperture, of a cavity receiver is about 7000. The furnace embodies features which may be of interest to others in the solar energy community. This paper describes its construction and performance.

Author(s):  
Patrick Davenport ◽  
Janna Martinek ◽  
Zhiwen Ma

Abstract A Concentrating solar thermal (CST) system integrated with a high-performance solar receiver can provide high-temperature process heat to drive thermochemical energy storage (TCES) or thermochemical fuel production processes with improved equilibrium conversion and fast reaction rates. An advantage of integrating a CST system with a thermochemical process is the ability to store chemical energy in large quantities for continuous downstream operations. However, a challenge in the effective conversion of solar energy to power or fuels is that high-temperature thermochemical process operating conditions require a high solar concentration ratio for efficient operation which imposes design difficulties for solar energy collection. Integration of the solar collection system with a thermochemical process affects the system efficiency and final product cost due to the relatively high solar field cost. Thus, optimization of the collection system provides a significant opportunity to reduce cost of solar thermochemical power or fuel. In this paper, we present a solar field layout strategy and assess the feasibility of a novel planar-cavity receiver to drive thermochemical processes with reaction temperatures in the range of 500–900°C. The complete solar collection system performance is examined and importance of conducting coupled field/receiver analyses is demonstrated by illustrating how improved spillage control by a modified heliostat aiming strategy impacts system radiative losses downstream. The planar-cavity receiver shows improved performance with increasing concentration ratio and superior performance over a flat plate receiver operating under the same prescribed operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Gerald B. Feldewerth

In recent years an increasing emphasis has been placed on the study of high temperature intermetallic compounds for possible aerospace applications. One group of interest is the B2 aiuminides. This group of intermetaliics has a very high melting temperature, good high temperature, and excellent specific strength. These qualities make it a candidate for applications such as turbine engines. The B2 aiuminides exist over a wide range of compositions and also have a large solubility for third element substitutional additions, which may allow alloying additions to overcome their major drawback, their brittle nature.One B2 aluminide currently being studied is cobalt aluminide. Optical microscopy of CoAl alloys produced at the University of Missouri-Rolla showed a dramatic decrease in the grain size which affects the yield strength and flow stress of long range ordered alloys, and a change in the grain shape with the addition of 0.5 % boron.


1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-151
Author(s):  
Lillian Glass ◽  
Sharon R. Garber ◽  
T. Michael Speidel ◽  
Gerald M. Siegel ◽  
Edward Miller

An omission in the Table of Contents, December JSHR, has occurred. Lillian Glass, Ph.D., at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and School of Dentistry, was a co-author of the article "The Effects of Presentation on Noise and Dental Appliances on Speech" along with Sharon R. Garber, T. Michael Speidel, Gerald M. Siegel, and Edward Miller of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.


1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (03) ◽  
pp. 289-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Sielaff ◽  
D. P. Connelly ◽  
K. E. Willard

Abstract:The development of an innovative clinical decision-support project such as the University of Minnesota’s Clinical Workstation initiative mandates the use of modern client-server network architectures. Preexisting conventional laboratory information systems (LIS) cannot be quickly replaced with client-server equivalents because of the cost and relative unavailability of such systems. Thus, embedding strategies that effectively integrate legacy information systems are needed. Our strategy led to the adoption of a multi-layered connection architecture that provides a data feed from our existing LIS to a new network-based relational database management system. By careful design, we maximize the use of open standards in our layered connection structure to provide data, requisition, or event messaging in several formats. Each layer is optimized to provide needed services to existing hospital clients and is well positioned to support future hospital network clients.


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