The influence of technological parameters the Big Solar Furnace on structure and properties materials synthesized from melt has been studied in this work. It was found that crystalline state, phase composition, microstructure, mechanical pyroxene group material were strongly dependent flux density solar radiation cooling speed. findings showed homogeneous disperse microstructure with optimal co...

A solar-driven Stirling engine is modelled as a combined system which consists of a solar collector and a Stirling engine. The performance of the system is investigated, based on the linearized heat loss model of the solar collector and the irreverisible cycle model of the Stirling engine affected by finite-rate heat transfer and regenerative losses. The maximum efficiency of the system and the...

Many small mammals bask in the sun during rewarming from heterothermy, but the implications of this behaviour for their energy balance remain little understood. Specifically, it remains unclear whether solar radiation supplements endogenous metabolic thermogenesis (i.e., rewarming occurs through the additive effects of internally-produced and external heat), or whether solar radiation reduces t...

A new spectrally selective coating based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for solar thermal applications is demonstrated. For optimized coatings solar absorptance coefficients α40.92 and thermal emittance coefficients εo0.1 (400 °C) were achieved. These results render CNT coatings as a low cost and high performance alternative to commercially available vacuum deposited cermet coatings for concentrate...