An engineer at Stanford University, using a computer model, studied the motion of heat-absorbing particles in the air to improve the efficiency of solar thermal power plants. The principle of operation of a solar thermal power plant is to focus the rays with a mirror system on the walls of a black metal tank filled with water, air or other heat-conducting material. However, until now the energy output of solar thermal stations has been disappointingly small, since about half of the solar energy was wasted, and not converted into useful energy. Using computer simulation, engineer Ali Mani decided to test another, potentially more efficient method of using concentrated sunlight. Instead of focusing the beams on a black tank, they are directed to a transparent tank. Photons, passing through it, will collide with molecules of a liquid and heat it from within with much less loss of energy. This method was proposed several years ago by the US Department of Energy. It also has its own difficulties - because the working fluid (in this case, the air) is often also transparent, like the walls of the vessel, photons can pass through it without colliding or exchanging heat. Mani and his colleagues decided to change this approach a little and study another option - when the air in the vessel is filled with small solid particles resembling dust. They tested various computer models in which light passes through a vortex of such particles, obeying the laws of turbulence. Such models will allow one day to create more efficient heat exchange systems.

Original article: A new method for the conversion of solar heat.