SOLAR REFRACTION DEVICE FOR HEATING INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS
Disclosed is a solar refraction device (“SRD”) for heating industrial materials in a heating container, having a bottom, with diffuse solar energy that impinges on an outside surface of the SRD and is refracted through the SRD. The SRD may include a lens array assembly and a plurality of lens panes attached to the lens array assembly. The lens array assembly may include an outside surface corresponding to the outside surface of the SRD, an inside surface, and a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies.
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The present application claims priority from, and is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/829,553 filed Aug. 18, 2015, the contents of which is incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSUREThis invention is generally related to solar systems, and in particular, to solar systems utilized to melt industrial materials.
BACKGROUNDThere is a need to improve the energy efficiency associated with heating and/or melting industrial materials at industrial volumes. At present in the United States (“US”), melting industrial materials entails a large quantity of energy with aluminum fabrication alone accounting for about 30% of that energy consumption. An even greater amount of energy is required when recycled steel is added. As such, major US industries, especially those industries related to metal recycling and stock material fabrication, occupy a major portion of the nation's total energy consumption. Therefore, for nearly every industry involved in the process of fabrication or recycling of existing materials, there is a need for high amounts of energy to melt materials, heat the materials, or for other key stage, or stages, of the process.
In general, the two major problems with conventional heating (e.g., known furnaces (also known as burners) utilize gas, induction, blast, and electric arc furnaces (“EAFs”)) are their dependence on limited and fossil fuels (e.g., coal, oil, and natural gas), as well as the inefficiencies in how they transfer the generated thermal energy to heat a material. It is appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that these types of furnaces have significant energy losses during the thermal energy transfer process (i.e., the process of heating the furnace and then utilizing that heat to melt or heat the material), which ultimately results in about 30 to 40% efficiency. This results generally because large amounts of energy input into a furnace does not directly translate to thermal energy. As an example in a blast furnace, requires massive quantities of input energy to raise its temperature to its operating temperature. In aluminum melting, for example, only about 40% of the energy utilized by the furnace goes to actually melting the aluminum.
This problem is also similar for furnaces utilizing induction melting, which is done typically open to air. Electrical resistance furnaces (“ERTs”) that utilize the principle of indirect heating are capable of utilizing about 40% of their input energy for melting but in practice are only typically about 26% efficient because ERT furnaces typically experience other energy losses that include heating the air and then losing hot air through ventilation conduction to the insulating liner of the furnace and losses of energy when opening the ERT furnace. As a result, EAF furnaces require large quantities of electrical power and can have adverse environmental effects. Additionally, in many EAF furnaces additionally gas burners are typically utilized to assist in heat scrap metal to a temperature where the metal conducts electricity efficiently so as allow the EAF furnace to run properly. Moreover, another major issue with these types of furnaces is the large carbon cost of the process where the amount of carbon dioxide output by these systems. Unfortunately, their continued use is largely due to the relatively cheap cost of current sources of fuel.
Attempts to address and solve these problems utilizing “green energy” (i.e., renewable energy sources) have yet to materialize. Known uses of solar energy are not capable of addressing or solving these problems because known solar technologies are limited in their capacity, window of operation, and overall efficiency when capturing solar energy and transferring it into a usable fashion. Specifically, known solar systems have a number of inefficiencies in how they utilize solar energy to either heat an object or generate electricity. These solar cells placed on solar panels utilize photovoltaic cells to convert solar energy impinging on the solar cell into electricity. Common modernly used crystalline silicon solar cells output on average about 18% energy conversion due to losses of heat and the electricity transfer within the solar cells.
In addition to solar cells, modern solar systems also include systems that heat objects, such as water pipes for example, that transfer the resulting heat energy to other objects for heating those objects or generating electricity through movement of, for example, water through the pipes to a turbine. Moreover, another problem with solar energy is that it is not concentrated enough in any given area to use on an industrial scale or it requires a system in place to utilize the energy in a process which converts it to useable electricity.
Attempts to solve these problems have includes using solar reflector systems to attempt to reflect and focus energy into a small area that may either generate power with a solar cell, heat water to generate electricity through a turbine, or heat a small crucible containing some material in a small furnace. However, even with the use of reflectors, the resulting system still do not have high efficiency. The ones the utilize solar cells still only have 18% efficiency. The ones that heat water still have the same thermal loses as the non-reflector solar heating systems. Additionally, the small furnaces lose energy from having to heat a crucible. Moreover, all of these solar reflector systems lose energy from transferring energy to additional components in the system and from reflection angle losses. Furthermore, some of these systems are stationary in a way that does not allow them to follow the Sun and, therefore, limits the amount of time that they may operate. As a result, without a change to modern solar energy capability, solar energy cannot currently compete on a commercial scale and switching to such a technology would not be a cost benefit for most industries.
This is unfortunate because solar energy is a free resource which would over long periods of time, pay for itself in any application that can properly capture and transfer solar energy into a usable fashion. As such, there is a need for solar energy capture system that is capable of producing a sufficient amount of energy for use in modern industrial processes that include heating or melting of industrial materials
SUMMARYDisclosed is a solar refraction device (“SRD”) for heating industrial materials in a heating container, having a bottom, with diffuse solar energy that impinges on an outside surface of the SRD and is refracted through the SRD. The SRD may include a lens array assembly and a plurality of lens panes attached to the lens array assembly. The lens array assembly may include an outside surface corresponding to the outside surface of the SRD, an inside surface, and a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. A sub-plurality of lens panes of the plurality of lens panes may be attached to a corresponding lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. Moreover, each lens array sub-assembly has a convex shape and may be configured to have a focal length corresponding to the lens array sub-assembly which results in the lens array assembly having a plurality of focal lengths.
As an example of operation, the SRD is configured to perform a method that includes refracting impinging solar energy on the SRD through the lens array assembly having the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. The refracted solar energy is then focused onto a plurality of focal points, where each focal point corresponds to a lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. Utilizing the plurality of focal points, the process then creates a heating area within the heating container. The process then heats the industrial material within the heating container at the heating area utilizing the focused refracted solar energy.
Also disclosed is a method for fabricating the SRD. The method includes determining the type and amount of industrial material to be melted and determining an amount of energy needed to melt the industrial material. An array size of a lens array assembly is then determined for producing the previously determined amount of energy, where the lens array assembly is configured to refract solar light impinging on the lens array assembly to the industrial material. The method then includes determining a focal length of the lens array assembly, assembling a support frame to support the lens array assembly, and assembling the lens array assembly.
Other devices, apparatus, systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
The invention may be better understood by referring to the following figures. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.
A solar refraction device (“SRD”) for heating industrial materials in a heating container, having a bottom, with diffuse solar energy that impinges on an outside surface of the SRD and is refracted through the SRD is disclosed in accordance with the present disclosure. The SRD may include a lens array assembly and a plurality of lens panes attached to the lens array assembly. The lens array assembly may include an outside surface corresponding to the outside surface of the SRD, an inside surface, and a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. A sub-plurality of lens panes of the plurality of lens panes may be attached to a corresponding lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. Moreover, each lens array sub-assembly has a convex shape and may be configured to have a focal length corresponding to the lens array sub-assembly which results in the lens array assembly having a plurality of focal lengths.
As an example of operation in accordance with the present disclosure, the SRD is configured to perform a method that includes refracting impinging solar energy (i.e., the solar energy that directly strikes and/or illuminates the SRD which may diffuse (i.e., spread) along an outer surface of the SRD) on the SRD through the lens array assembly having the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. The refracted solar energy is then focused onto a plurality of focal points, where each focal point corresponds to a lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies. Utilizing the plurality of focal points, the process then creates a heating area within the heating container. The process then heats the industrial material within the heating container at the heating area utilizing the focused refracted solar energy.
Also disclosed is a method for fabricating the SRD in accordance with the present disclosure. The method includes determining the type and amount of industrial material to be melted and determining an amount of energy needed to melt the industrial material. An array size of a lens array assembly is then determined for producing the previously determined amount of energy, where the lens array assembly is configured to refract solar light impinging on the lens array assembly to the industrial material. The method then includes determining a focal length of the lens array assembly, assembling a support frame to support the lens array assembly, and assembling the lens array assembly. In this disclosure the industrial material may include any type of material utilized in an industrial, heating, or melting process. Examples of industrial material may include metallic industrial materials such as, for example, aluminum, steel, iron or other metals or alloys, non-metallic industrial material such as, for example, plastics or other recyclable non-metals, gasses, or liquids (such as, for example, water).
In
In this example, the lens array assembly 100 is shown having nine (9) lens array sub-assemblies 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, and 126. Each lens array sub-assembly is shown having a sub-plurality of lens panes (from the total plurality of lens panes 104) attached to the corresponding lens array sub-assembly. As an example, part of a support structure 128 is also shown attached to one side of the lens array assembly 100. The support structure 128 may be attached to the support frame 106 in a way that allows the support structure 128 to maintain the lens array assembly 100 at a predetermined distance from a heating container (not shown but described later) where the predetermined distance is a distance that is based on the multiple focal lengths of the lens array assembly 100 (described in more detail later). The support structure 128 may be connected to, or part of, a solar tracker (not shown), where the solar tracker is configured to move the support structure 128 (and the as the lens array assembly 100) in a manner that maintains a high amount of solar energy being refracted through the SRD 102 and focused at a heating area. In this disclosure, a “high” amount of solar energy is considered enough solar energy for the SRD 102 to operate according to the present description. Similar to the support frame 106, the support structure 128 may also be constructed of constructed of a rigid material that is strong enough to support the weight of, and stresses caused by, the lens array assembly 100 an may include metallic and non-metallic rigid materials. Furthermore, in this example, the lens array assembly 100 is shown to have a three-dimensional convex shape with each corresponding lens array sub-assemblies 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, and 126 also being convex. The convex shape is approximately parabolic along the x-axis 130 and z-axis 132 and also along the y-axis 134 and z-axis 132. In an example of operation, the SRD 102 would refract diffuse solar energy 136 (i.e., the impinging solar energy) that impinges on the outside surface 108 (of both the SRD 102 and lens array assembly 100) through the SRD 102 resulting in a focused beam of refracted solar energy 138 that is focused in a direction along the z-axis 132 away from the inside surface of the lens array assembly 100.
In this example, it is appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that only nine (9) lens array sub-assemblies 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, and 126 have been shown in
From the detail in
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In general, the amount of energy produced by the SRD 102 is directly related to location where the SRD 102 will be utilized and the array size of the lens array assembly 100. The higher the concentration of sunlight the higher the amount of energy that may be produced by the SRD 102 for a given size of the lens array assembly 100. Specifically, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”) average data from 1998 to 2009, areas within the United States such as Arizona and parts of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, and Hawaii receive as an annual average over 7.5 Kilowatt hours (“KWh”) per square meter (m2) per day of concentrated solar power (“CSP”) that is available for use by solar systems.
Generally, the amount of solar energy which falls on the Earth in any a calendar year dwarfs the total energy output of all the world's fossil fuels used in world's industries. For example, the State of Kentucky receives about 3.75 kW/m2 of solar energy per day from the Sun and higher energy areas, such as Hawaii, receive about 5.75 kW/m2 of solar energy per day. Only a fraction of these totals are used for creating useable energy with the current solar cells because, current commonly used solar cells generally only reach about 18% energy conversion due to losses of heat, reflection angle, and electricity transfer.
As such, utilizing Hawaii as an example for melting aluminum, a 6 foot by 6 foot (i.e., an area of about 4 m2) lens array sub-assembly 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118 would be able to focus about 4 KWh of solar energy such that the lens array assembly 100 would be able to focus at least 28 KWh of solar energy taking into account the five (5) rectangular shaped lens array sub-assemblies 110, 112, 114, 116, and 118 and four (4) triangular shaped lens array sub-assemblies 120, 122, 124, and 126. Assuming, 85% efficiency in this example, the SRD 102 would be capable of melting about 74 pounds of aluminum per hour.
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Additionally shown in this example is the support structure 128 that may be supporting the lens array assembly 700. In this example, the heating area 724 is shown to be a predetermined distance 728 from the lens array assembly 700. Specifically, the predetermined distance 728 is the distance 728 between a center-line 730 of the plane of the heating area 724 and another center-line 732 of the lens array assembly 700. The predetermined distance 728 is generally related to the focal lengths of the individual lens array sub-assemblies 704, 706, 708, 710, and 712 the corresponding produce the focal points 714, 716, 718, 720, and 722 that result in the heating area 724. As a result, the predetermined distance 728 is based on the design of the lens array assembly 700 because the focal lengths are based on the design of the lens array sub-assembly 700. The support structure 128 is configured to maintain this predetermined distance 728 between the lens array assembly 700 and the heating area 724 within the heating container 726. As such, since the type of material, thickness, position, and angle of the lens panes within each lens array sub-assemblies 704, 706, 708, 710, and 712 determines the corresponding focal points 714, 716, 718, 720, and 722, it is appreciated that the type of material, thickness, position, and angle of the lens panes within each lens array sub-assemblies 704, 706, 708, 710, and 712 may also be designed such that they produce the corresponding focal points 714, 716, 718, 720, and 722 at the predetermined distance 728.
Turning to
In some melting cases, an individual SRD 800 may not be able to properly generate enough energy to properly melt an industrial material 812 in a heating container 810 or to melt enough quantity of the industrial material 812 to be competitive with non-solar methods. In these cases, multiple SRDs may be utilized in a chain to increase the amount of industrial material to be melted, heat the industrial material in stages, or both. In
Turning to
In
It is appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that while the previous examples describe heating and melting industrial materials in heating container, the SRD may also be utilized to heat (and not melt) different types of materials for use in, for example, industrial boilers and electro-chemical processors where the energy provided by the SRD is used to heat intermediate materials such as water to produce steam that may be utilized for other processes such as powering turbines, heating chemicals, or providing heat transfer for other types of heating systems.
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It will be understood that various aspects or details of the invention may be changed without departing from the scope of the invention. It is not exhaustive and does not limit the claimed inventions to the precise form disclosed. Furthermore, the foregoing description is for the purpose of illustration only, and not for the purpose of limitation. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above description or may be acquired from practicing the invention. The claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A method for heating contents in a container using a solar refraction device, the method comprising:
- refracting solar energy impinging on a first surfaces of a lens array assembly of the solar refraction device through the lens array assembly toward second surfaces of the lens array assembly, the lens array assembly having a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies;
- refracting the solar energy at the second surfaces of the lens array assembly to focus refracted solar energy at a plurality of focal points of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies, wherein each focal point corresponds to a lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies; and
- creating a heating area within the container with the refracted solar energy.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of focal points are below a bottom of the container.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies have different focal lengths.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies include a plurality of Fresnel lenses arranged on a curved frame of the lens array assembly.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies are arranged on a curved frame of the lens array assembly such that light from multiple directions is focused through the lens array sub-assemblies toward the container.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein a curved frame is curved along at least two orthogonal axes.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of focal points includes multiple locations in the container.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the contents are metals, non-metals, gasses or liquids.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the non-metals comprise plastics.
10. A method for heating contents in a container using a solar refraction device, the method comprising:
- refracting solar energy impinging on the solar refraction device through a lens array assembly having a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies, wherein a first lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies has a substantially parabolic shape and is configured to maintain a plurality of lens panes arranged in an array of columns and rows in a fixed relationship, and wherein the lens array assembly is configured to have a plurality of focal lengths;
- focusing refracted solar energy at a plurality of focal points with the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies, wherein each focal point corresponds to a lens array sub-assembly of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies; and
- creating a heating area within the container with the refracted solar energy.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising moving the solar refraction device to track movement of the sun.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising moving the container from a first location that receives the refracted solar energy from the solar refraction device to a second location that receives second refracted solar energy from a second solar refraction device.
13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:
- placing solid contents in the container; and
- melting the solid contents in the container to a liquid phase with heat from the heating area.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising removing liquid phase material from the container.
15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:
- placing liquid contents in the container; and
- heating the liquid contents in the container.
16. The method of claim 10, wherein the contents are metals, non-metals, gasses or liquids.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the non-metals comprise plastics.
18. A method for fabricating a solar refraction device for heating industrial materials in a heating container having a bottom, the method comprising:
- determining a first amount of energy needed to melt or heat an amount of an industrial material;
- determining an array size of a lens array assembly for focusing the first amount of energy, the array size based on the amount of the industrial material, wherein the lens array assembly is configured to refract solar light impinging on the lens array assembly to the industrial material;
- assembling a support frame to support the lens array assembly; and
- assembling the lens array assembly.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:
- determining that the first amount of energy needed to melt or heat an amount of an industrial material exceeds a second amount of energy that a single solar refraction device can redirect;
- assembling one or more additional lens array assemblies; and
- assembling a track system to move the heating container to a first focus area associated with the lens array assembly and to second focus areas associated with the one or more additional lens array assemblies.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein assembling the lens array assembly includes:
- assembling a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies; and
- attaching the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies to the support frame, wherein each lens array sub-assembly has a corresponding focal length, and
- wherein each lens array sub-assembly has a convex shape.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein assembling the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies includes attaching a plurality of lens panes to each plurality of lens array sub-assemblies.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein attaching the plurality of lens panes includes attaching a plurality of Fresnel lenses to each of the plurality of lens array sub-assemblies.
23. The method of claim 18, wherein the lens array assembly is shaped to form an approximate parabolic shape.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein assembling a plurality of lens array sub-assemblies further includes assembling a first lens array sub-assembly with a different corresponding focal length than a second focal length corresponding to a second lens array sub-assembly.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 12, 2019
Publication Date: Jan 2, 2020
Applicant:
Inventors: David P. Heck (Chicago, IL), Michael R. Zolnowski (Chicago, IL)
Application Number: 16/537,912