Engineers from Sandia national laboratories of the U.S., have designed an unusual variant of the receiver of energy for power plants in which sunlight is concentrated by mirrors at one point. This will allow you to absorb practically all the radiation and people’s significantly the efficiency of the installation.
In a typical solar power without photovoltaic panels mirrors-heliostats focus “sunbeams” in the compartment with tubes through which flows the solution. Light when it falls on a flat surface at an angle and is partially reflected, flying without any benefit. This is especially a shame, because it is not conventional about the sun, and powerful, focused radiation, which carries a lot of energy.
In the new design of the heat exchanger reflection of light delivered in the first place, only now it will go into the installation, whose architecture is designed using the principles of fractal. Nothing gone, just like that experimental model showed an increase in light absorption by 20% in comparison with flat surfaces.
Because solar energy is distributed between the individual sections of the heat sink, and does not focus strictly in one point, you can do them less durable and resistant to heat. That is, it is cheaper, including printing on a 3D printer Nickel alloy Inconel 718. It will make a small power, with a capacity of 1-10 MW, considerably more available to consumers.
Source — Sandia National Laboratories