Paul Scherrer Institut | CH-5232 Villigen PSI | Phone +41 56 310 21 11 | Fax +41 56 310 21 99 Solar Technology Laboratory

Solar Concentrating Research Facilities

40kW High-Flux Solar Furnace

PSI's solar furnace consists of a 120 m² sun-tracking flat heliostat on-axis with an 8.5 m-diameter paraboloidal concentrator. It delivers up to 40 kW at peak concentration ratios exceeding 5000 suns (1 sun = 1 kW/m²). The solar flux intensity can be further augmented to up to 10'000 suns by using CPC secondary concentrators. A Venetian blind type shutter located between the heliostat and the concentrator controls the power input to the reactor.

 
Solar Furnace

Technical information: Haueter P., Seitz T., Steinfeld A., "A New High-Flux Solar Furnace for High-Temperature Thermochemical Research", ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 121, pp. 77-80, 1999.