The Odeillo Solar Furnace - Case Study Example

Solar Furnace (France) The Odeillo solar furnace in the south of France at the Pyrenees Mountains is the largestsolar furnace in the world. The project was the projection of the Mount-Louis solar furnace prototype that was created in1949 by engineer Felix Trombe. Odeillo solar furnace incorporates architectural, mechanical, civil, and optical designs. The construction of furnace follows the ideas of scientists like Archimedes of the classical Greek period. The design of the furnace follows the principles of reflection and concentration of solar rays. The furnace produces high temperatures that is utilized in large-scale industrial applications. Keywords: Odeillo solar furnace, architectural design, largest furnace, high temperatures Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, commonly known as Odeillo, is a kibbutz located at the Pyrenees Mountains close the border between Spain and France. Located south of France, the region falls in the category of the sunniest localities on the globe (Tabb et al 55). The record annual duration of the places is approximately 3,500. Thus, it is no astonishment that Odeillo habits purportedly the largest solar furnace in the world. A solar furnace refers to a structure that attracts the rays of the sun and coverts them in the production of high temperatures, usually for industrial purposes. The history of construction of the marvel feature dates back to 1969. Image of the Odeillo Solar Furnace The architectural artwork was constructed by the National Scientific Research Center in collaboration with engineer Felix Trombe. The furnace became operational in 1970. The features of the architecture encompass 63 heliostat mirrors that reflect the sun’s rays onto huge concave mirrors. The heliostat mirrors were mounted on the surrounding terraces of the hilly terrain strategically to deviate the rays of the sun onto the concave mirror. The heliostat mirrors focus great quantities of sunlight onto a region with a minute size (size of a cooking pot). The temperatures thus elevate to 3,500 degrees Centigrade (Tabb et al 55). The great solar furnace building is a twelve-storey construction strategically located on slopes of a mountain. On the south side of the building are offices and laboratories in ten floors. On the northern side of the building is a huge solar furnace. The huge parabolic mirror receives rays from the sun-tracking mirrors forming terraces on the hillside. The furnace is a mixed-utilization technology and a mixed-utilization building. The parabolic mirror incorporates almost 10,000 individual mirrors, covering the area of approximately 2,835 square meters (Tabb et al 55). The solar furnace operates based on similar principles to the furnace at Mount-Louis. The solar furnace at Mount-Louis was the first to be built in the region by engineer Felix Trombe. In the principle, the energy of the sun reflects on a collection of mirrors, finally concentrating on a single point to generate great amounts of temperature. The Odeillo solar furnace is a research center for technology firms, scientists, and agencies such as ESA and NASA. The solar furnace aids in the scientific demonstration of the effects of great temperatures on particular materials for utilization in space vehicle entry and nuclear reactors. The resulting effect is the production of nanoparticles as well as hydrogen. Image of Odeillo Solar Furnace The location of the solar furnace was not coincidental but based on the quality of the air and the extreme sunlight in the region (nearly 300 sunny days annually). The huge parabolic mirror portrays great heights that match the height of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (Tabb et al 55). Besides the architectural beauty, the furnace portrays the esthetic beauty of the sky and the surrounding countryside. The solar furnace explores an ever-transforming makeshift view of the entourage that is not only beautiful, but also fascinating. Exhibitions and demonstrations of the operations of the solar furnace can be viewed daily from 10h - 18h. Besides other functions, the furnace explores the latent and real utilization of solar energy for domestic duties and in solving the energy crisis. The principles and the operations of the Odeillo solar furnace can be educative and interesting (Richards 77). The area is a hub of research for exploring scientific principles of the solar energy. But what designs and civilization mode contributed to the construction of the world’s largest solar furnace? By modern building standards, the design of the solar furnace must have been exceptionally great. The design encompasses great architectural designs, great construction work, and a marvelous interplay of the principles of the sun’s rays. At altitudes of 5900 feet and 20 miles eastwards from Andorra, the Pyrenees receives solar intensities that can generate 1000 watts for every square meter. The design of the solar furnace purportedly utilized an overall budget of two million US Dollars (Richards 77). The size of the solar furnace project incorporates the individual sizes of the various features. The focal radius of the parabolic reflector is approximately 59 feet. The reflector has a height of 130 feet and a width of 17.7 inches. The principle of the 63 surrounding heliostats substitutes the parabolic mirrors ineffectiveness in tracking the sun. The heliostats are strategically built on eight tiers to enable the tracking and reflection of the rays onto the parabolic mirror in parallel beams. The dimensions of each heliostat are 24.6 feet length and 19.7 feet width. In every heliostat, there are 180 individual square mirrors with dimensions of 19.7 inches. The overall design of the furnace is strategic in the manner of tracking, reflection and concentration of the beam. The project was deli9cate and capital intensive as it incorporated the utilization of many mirrors. The designs regarded the location of the sun and the track that it followed. By all accounts, the construction of the furnace is one of a kind in the history of construction. It is surprising that by 1969, the principles of converting the rays of the sun would be practiced on large-scale (Richards 77). The design might seem simple on paper; nevertheless, conversion of simple scientific principles into large-scale economic use is a daunting task. The energy produced in the furnace has varied applications. The uses include the generation of electricity using steam turbines, the production hydrogen fuel and in the testing of materials required in reentry of space ships (Richards 77). Moreover, the furnace is useful in conducting of metallurgic laboratory experiments that require high-temperature. The huge and extreme temperatures in Odeillo allow for the generation of zinc nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes through solar induced sublimation. The high temperatures of the furnace facilitate the melting of aluminum and steel. The principles applied in the focusing the rays of the sun applied in predecessor generations, though on small-scale. Even before the Romans and the Greeks, people had learned to manipulate sunlight (Richards 77). History of the concentration of the sun’s rays dates back to the time of Archimedes. Archimedes ostensibly utilized "burning lens" to burn a whole Roman fleet. Similarly, Vikings purportedly utilized "Visby lenses" ground obtained from rock crystal in the 9th Century. The Egyptians and the Celts also apparently employed the technology of lenses. The contribution of the Odeillo solar furnace project to the built environment is commendable. Contrary to other forms of construction that only regard the building specifications; the design of the furnace covers many facets (Richards 77). Many factors aside from the terrain and available space influenced the location of the project. Most importantly is the annual duration of sunlight in the area. The Pyrenees Mountains receive huge amounts of sunlight annually. The great sunlight makes habitation of the area difficult. Thus, the furnace project converted the sunlight rays for economic use. The region is now renowned for the production of energy and a hub for scientific research. The history of the design of the furnace dates back to the classical Greek periods during the times of scientists like Archimedes (Richards 77). The term heliostat comes from the ancient Latin/ancient Greek term heliocaminus, meaning "solar furnace". The design of the furnace comprises of glass-enclosed sunlight room. From the times of the ancient Greek, the design of the furnace served to increase the temperatures to be higher than the surrounding temperature. Perhaps engineer Felix Trombe manipulated the ancient principles in the design of the Odeillo solar furnace. The design is a transformation of the small-scale ideas in ancient Greek civilization into large-scale application. The modern architectural and construction design protocols would recognize the design of the furnace as unique. The properties of angle deflection and reflection of light come into play. The design of the solar furnace at Odeillo utilizes the scientific theories of double reflection of light. The heliostat (mirror surface) reflects the rays of sunlight that falls on them. The mirrors the send the reflected rays parallel onto the parabolic concentrator (Richards 77). The concentrators reflect the rays onto the paraboloid’s focal point and. The whole structure of the rows and horizontal lines is mobile. The structure has to track the sun’s path for continuous reflection of the sun rays. The reflection occurs parallel to the rotation axis of the concentrator. The facilitators of the movement are four hydraulic jacks. Around two of the jacks result in “site” orientation, while two other jacks orient the rays in the azimuth directions (East-West axis). An optoelectronic lens controls the movement of heliostats according to the position of the sun. The activities of the lens result in a fixed focal spot. The lens is located in a horizontal and parallel axis to the concentrator’s rotation (Rajput 56). Two pairs of cells that are photo-resistant are located at the periphery of the lens. The cells capture light beams reflected from the heliostat, directing them towards the concentrator. The potential difference (voltage) between the cells regulates the azimuth and on-site movement of the heliostats. During the morning hours when the sun rises, orientation of the heliostat occurs manually. Automatic operation ensues when the four cells attain a particular voltage. Principle of the Solar Furnace The concentrator is paraboloid in shape with an area of 2000 m2, comprising 10,000 elementary mirrors, each of spherical type. Individual mirrors are fixed onto constructed frames using adjustable spring-mounted screws. The adjustment aids in focusing the reflected rays of elementary mirrors onto a definite focal point (Richards 77). The adjustments enable the attainment of the set diameter of the focal spot. The accurateness of the adjustment dictates the rate of concentration of the reflected rays of the parabola. The concentrated sunrays infiltrate into a furnace centrally placed on the paraboloid. The furnace forms the point of transfer of the thermal for domestic or industrial purposes. The aforementioned design specifications indicate the utilization of scientific principles of reflection and concentration (Rajput 56). Thus, the overall design incorporated the architectural and building designs based on the scientific principles of reflection and concentration. The side of the concentrator is parabolic in design in accordance with the desire to concentrate the suns rays onto a focal point. In contemporary modern design, engineers would have applied similar principles and techniques. The only purported difference would be in the efficiency of the reflection and concentration process. Materials Various materials were in the construction of the Odeillo solar furnace. The materials include varied forms of installations for concentrating the energy from the solar rays. The distinction between installations uses occurs in the manner by which the rays of the sun are converted into thermal energy (Hantula 44). Based on the perception, the installations can either be used for refraction or reflection. For the Odeillo solar furnace, the engineers employed reflection installations. Such installations utilize the reflective abilities of mirrors in concentrating the solar energy. In the Odeillo solar furnace system, the concentration produces a single diversion (direct concentrators) in some points while in others it produces numerous diversions (indirect concentrators). The reflection of light occurs along the whole range of wavelengths. The mirrors used were reflective and had minimal absorption rates (Hantula 44). Thus, the entire energy of the solar rays falling on the heliostats converted into thermal energy. The efficiency of conversion of the rays into energy is commendable. The concentration of the Odeillo furnace resulted in a maximum power density of 10,000 kW/m2, which translates to a power of 1000 kW. Reflectors The Odeillo solar furnace has dish parabolic reflectors of the full-surface kind. The whole surface of the furnace forms a nearly parabolic shape with multifaceted concentrators. The concentrators comprise various elemental parts with the arrangement of parabolic structure (Hantula 44). The structure is effective in the reflection of solar radiations, concentrating them onto a focal point. The ability to concentrate solar radiations is dependent on the size of the concentrator, the aperture and the surface quality. The radiations of the sun that fall on the focal point follow the Gaussian distribution. Thus, the energy efficiency of the furnace is enormous because of the high concentration. The Odeillo solar furnace project utilized huge sizes of reflector concentrators. The design considered the reflective abilities of the heliostats and the concentrating ability of the parabolic concentrators (Hantula 44). The engineers envisioned the design of the concentrators to attract the reflected light of the adjustable heliostats. Thus, at any point during the day, the rays from the heliostats would fall on the concentrators. Similarly, the parabolic concentrators served to concentrate the reflected rays onto a focal building. Concentrating solar collector The concentrating solar concentrators are engineering materials used in the Odeillo solar furnace project. Typically, concentrators comprise of curved mirrors with surfaces coated with either silver or aluminum. The reflecting surfaces coat the back or front surfaces that may be made of glass or plastic. The back surfaces of Odeillo solar furnace is majorly glass. However, with the technological developments in the contemporary world, researchers are increasingly developing relatively cheaper alternative surfaces (Hantula 44). For instance, recent design of solar furnaces utilizes polymer films that are cheaper than glass. The design of the Odeillo solar furnace, if it were drafted today, would have cheaper materials than the expensive glass. Alternatively, another novel technique utilizes pliable membranes stretched on the front side of cylinders while other membranes are stretched on the rear side. A partial vacuum then forms between the membranes. The vacuum triggers the formation of spherical shaped membranes that easily concentrate sunlight. Concentrating solar energy is an inexpensive and viable technique of generating electrical energy/power on large-scale from the radiations of the sun. Thus, concentration of radiations has the capability of availing solar power at cheaper and competitive rates. Recent trends in the corporate world aim at the reduction of the costs of manufacturing solar energy concentrators (Camacho 34). Besides other applications, one crucial high-temperature use of concentrators is a solar furnace. The Odeillo furnace is the largest in the world and portrays the effective application of solar concentrators as construction materials. With 63 mirrors covering a total area of nearly 30,515 square feet, the project produces temperatures of extremes of 5800°F. The heat generated by such furnaces is apt for research that demands chemical-free high temperatures, in environments that are contaminant-free. Such experiments include the determination of the reactive processes of various materials in the presence of high temperatures. The only other ways to obtain such temperature extremes would be through the utilization of chemical reactants (Camacho 34). The disadvantage is that such reactants may also react with the chemicals and affect experimental results. Thus, the Odeillo furnace has been a research hub for tests of materials used in nuclear reactors and space ships. Modern solar furnaces comprise solar concentrators referred to as central receivers, or power towers. Such concentrators are more efficient than the concentrators used in Odeillo furnace. Power towers comprise a range of reflectors that track the sun and mounted heliostats, controlled by computers. The construction design for solar furnaces is a multifaceted process that involves civil, mechanical, architectural and optical wing of engineering. Moreover, such projects have installations of systems that offer automatic control. Tracking the movement and the reflections of the sun’s rays can be daunting and unpredictable (Camacho 34). Thus, automated control systems are the most suitable, rather than the manual systems. Although the Odeillo solar was constructed in 1969, the design standards were determined early through its prototype- the Mont-Louis solar furnace- that was developed in 1949 by Professor Felix Trombe. Thus, the designs for constructing the Mont-Louis solar furnace became the default designs for almost all solar furnaces built in France. The conception of the prototype occurred during the era of conversion of solar energy. Archimedes engineered the principal of focusing the rays of the sun to produce energy. Although the theory faced many objections, scientists all over the world endeavor to utilize solar energy in the production of large-scale solar thermal and electrical energy (Camacho 34). Thus, in 1949, Professor Felix Trombe developed a prototype of a solar furnace model to be used for larger projects. The prototype became the blueprint for the development of the largest solar furnace in the world at Odeillo. The specifications used in the construction of the prototype include: Parabolic concentrators of area 100m2 each, 10 meters of height and 12 meter width Heliostats of 141 m2 each, elevation and azimuth-rotations, 10.70 m of height and 14 meter width 50 kW of thermal power Furnace temperatures of approximately 3000 C° Focal point of diameter 18 cm Capacity of receiver for firing ceramic of 500 l capacity Firing temperatures of 1,000 C° in about two and half hours; and 1,300 C° in about three hours Firing capacity of one to three m3 of ceramics daily Firing capacity for bronze or aluminium of 200 to 500 kg daily The construction design incorporated the use of manual labor and the use of technological systems. The structure in Odeillo consists of the main building carrying the solar concentrator (Walther 66). In front of the main building is the focal building that consists of a focal point. Just ahead of the main and focal buildings are terraces of reflecting heliostats referred to as the heliostat field. The labor force in the project comprised of experts in all fields of engineering. The project was a delicate one and required the services of experts. The surrounding communities and the locals provided all the manual labor required in the construction. On the other hand, mechanical, optical and civil engineers determined the design and specification of the building materials (Walther 66). The outlook of the Odeillo solar furnace and the energy output depict a great work of engineering. Consequently, many countries in the world such as India and Morocco are steadily adopting similar designs. The equipment used in building the furnace at Odeillo is sophisticated and capital intensive. Thus, the project became costly, taking up a construction budget of about two million US Dollars. Many techniques exist in tapping the solar radiation for energy production. The technique used in Odeillo is the Thermo solar technique (Walther 66). The high-temperature furnaces utilizing the Thermo solar techniques operate on the principles of reflection and concentration to produce heat. However, modern forms of solar furnaces utilize the photovoltaic solar techniques. The photovoltaic techniques result in the direct production of electricity. By contrast, the heat produced in the Thermo solar technique drives steam turbines that produce electrical energy. Perhaps, modern systems of engineering would apply the photovoltaic systems in production of electricity. If utilized in the Odeillo solar furnace, the technique guarantees cost-effective efficiency (Walther 66). Nevertheless, the Odeillo solar furnace is a new dimension in the world of energy. Most scientists applaud the capability of such furnaces to produce such high temperatures from solar rays. By modern standards, the furnace at Odeillo remains a mystery and depicts the strength of optical systems. Solar energy is likely to transform the future of energy in France and the surrounding areas. If countries adopt similar designs globally, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, then it would minimize energy crisis. Solar energy from furnaces has numerous benefits ranging from economical to environmental considerations (Walther 66). The recyclable form of energy reduces the reliance on exhaustible sources, sustains climate and protects biodiversity. The social benefits include employment creation directly and indirectly. The economic benefits include the investment return on the pedagogical and furnace for south urban France. Works Cited Camacho, E F. Control of Solar Energy Systems. London: Springer, 2011. Print. Hantula, Richard. Solar Power. New York, NY: Chelsea Clubhouse, 2010. Internet resource. Rajput, R K. Non-conventional Energy Sources and Utilization (energy Engineering): For Students of Be/b Tech. New Delhi: S Chand, 2012. Print. Richards, Julie. Future Energy. South Yarra, Vic: Macmillan Education, 2007. Print. Tabb, Phillip, and A S. Deviren. The Greening of Architecture: A Critical History and Survey of Contemporary Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. Co, 2013. Print. Walther, John. Earths Natural Resources. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2014. Print. Read More