Technology Available for Licensing

Case 13251

Solar Power Tower with Direct Absorption of Solar Radiation in a Salt Bath with Nanoparticles

Keywords:

Solar power tower, Nanoparticles, Salt bath, Fluoride and Chloride

Applications:

New generation of solar power towers

Problem:

• High heat loss of current solar boilers
• High capital costs in building heavy solar boilers

Technology:

Light from the collecting mirrors is reflected by mirrors in the solar power tower to an insulated salt-filled tank on or under the ground. The focused light strikes a transparent fluoride or chloride salt bath containing nanoparticles. Fluoride and chloride can operate at temperatures significantly above 1000⁰C. Most of the light enters the molten salt and is absorbed by nanoparticles within the salt. The use of nanoparticles allows controlled bulk heat absorption rather than heat absorption on a heat transfer surface. The salt bath both collects and stores the energy.

Advantages:

• Higher efficiency
• Low capital costs

Inventors:

• Professor Jacopo Buongiorno(Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT)
• Dr. Charles W. Forsberg(Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT)

Intellectual Property:

US Patent Application 12/886039 filed September 29, 2010

US Patent Application 12/886052 filed September 20, 20120

PCT Patent Appliation PCT/US2010/049474 filed September 20, 2010

Publications:

N/A

Related Cases:

13283: Device for Tactile Sensing and Surface Metrology

13728: Concentrating Solar Power Receiver, Storage Tank, and the Salt Bath with Nanoparticles

14322: CSPonD: Concentrated Solar Power on Demand

14620: Site Selection for Hillside Central Receiver Solar Thermal Plants

Please contact: Christopher R. Noble MIT Technology Licensing Officer 1 Cambridge Center, Kendall Square, NE18-501 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142-1601

Email: crn@mit.edu Tel: 617-253-6966 Fax: 617–258-6790 Website: http://tlo.mit.edu