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Solar Energy and Its History

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The Histor of Solar Energy

TWO PIONEERS IN AMERICA: Eight years after he began his first experiments Mouchot (1868), a Swedish engineer, emigrated to the U.S. In 1939, John Ericsson, he proclaimed his hope that the solar energy would move some day the machines of the industrial age.

In 1870, Ericsson completed the construction of a solar engine steam wrongly claimed as the first solar engine, and pushed into the category of "mere toy" the engine made by Mouchot 4 years earlier. This invention bore a remarkable resemblance to that of Mouchot as both totaled three key elements: concentrator mirror, boiler and steam engine.

A Solar Hot Air Machine

In 1872, Ericsson tried a completely different way: Heat the air (instead of water) contained in a cylinder located at the focus of a curved reflector. Ericsson was ecstatic about the performance of your engine. But three years later, he tempered his spirits, realizing that the concentrator apparatus is so large and so expensive that the engines were activated by solar energy actually more expensive than similar powered by coal.

A Cheap Solar Reflector

The next attempt to Ericsson, is the replacement of silver mirror silver glass glazing behind. To maintain its reflectivity is only necessary to remove the dust deposited on the surface of the reflector, and not as was formerly, it was necessary to polish the surface of it, thus saving both cost the same as in its maintenance.

Low Temperature Solar Motors

The French engineer Carles Tellier (1885), would be the first person to develop low-temperature solar collectors to drive machines. While conventional engines used steam pressure, Tellier mills used steam pressure in certain liquids with boiling points well below that of water. By example, hydrate, ammonia boils at -33 º C, and sulfur dioxide at -10 º C. Called the "father of refrigeration," Tellier radically transformed international trade by restoring the ship to transport Frigorifique first cooled by the world.

Practical First Solar Energy Motor

Another American engineer, Frank Shuman, in the early twentieth century, realized that the high temperatures that are working, favored by conduction and convection losses, besides the high cost of silver-coated mirrors. So, back to school with hot boxes, saying the idea Saussare, Langley, ..., that with these boxes could get temperatures high enough to boil water.

His first attempt was to build a box inside which provided hot tubes that housed painted black liquid low boiling point (ether). With this talent, Shuman got positive feed engine eighth horse.

Shuman realized that to attract investors should build a display engine capable of delivering positive results. With the money left as profit for other business ventures, he built a solar engine demonstration in the garden of his house. In August 1907, printed program inviting the public to attend the demonstration of the first practical solar engine.

The solar power plant was an enlarged version of the low temperature engine previously tested by Shuman. The Hot Box totaling 100 square meters, lying flat on the floor and contained a series of black tubes that circulate a liquid of low boiling point. The steam heated by the sun, triggered a 3 hp motor and a half.

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