Hostname: page-component-6d856f89d9-4thr5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T07:47:13.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Salt-gradient Solar Ponds for Solar Energy Utilization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Carl E. Nielsen
Carl E. Nielsen
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Salt-gradient solar ponds function as systems to collect and store solar energy. The upper zone of the pond is rendered non-convective by the salt gradient and serves as a partially transparent insulator, permitting some of the incident solar energy to penetrate to the bottom and heat the lower zone to a temperature as high as 95°C. A pond 3 m deep and 150 m2 in area is expected to provide all of the winter heat required by a house of the same area in Columbus, Ohio.

Solar ponds occur in Nature. Research on artificial solar ponds was first begun in Israel in 1958 and some research has since been done in other countries. Recent results obtained by the author and collaborators indicate that solar ponds will be simple to operate and will provide low-temperature heat at a cost of perhaps $0.010 per kW-hr thermal. Experiments to obtain more definitive cost information are now in progress.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , Winter 1975 , pp. 289 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, G. C. (1958). Some limnological features of a shallow saline meromictic lake. Limnol. Oceanogr., 3, 259–70, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eliseyev, V. N., Usmanov, Y. U., Teslenko, L. N. (1971). Theoretical investigation of the heat regime in a saltwater solar pond. Geliotekhnika (Heliotechnology), 7, p. 17.Google Scholar
Eliseyev, V. N., Usmanov, Y. U., Umarov, G. Y. (1973). Determining the efficiency of a salt solar pond. Geliotekhnika (Heliotechnology), 9, p. 44.Google Scholar
Hirschmann, J. R. (1970). Salt flats as solar-heat collectors for industrial purposes. Solar Energy, 13, pp. 83–97, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, G. C. (1973). Heating of Solar Pond. Proc. Int. Congr.: The Sun in the Service of Mankind, Paris, sponsored by UNESCO and others, Paper EH. 61, 10 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Von Kalecsinsky, A. (1902). Über die ungarischen warmen und heissen Kochalzseen als natürliche Wärmeaccumulatoren. Ann. Physik IV, 7, pp. 408–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melack, J. M. & Kilham, P. (1972). Lake Mahega: a mesotrophic, sulphato-chloride lake in western Uganda. African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries, 2, pp. 141–50, illustr.Google Scholar
Nielsen, C. E. & Rabl, A. (1975). Operation of a Small Saltgradient Solar Pond. Paper presented at 1975 meeting, International Solar Energy Society, Los Angeles, California: 15 pp., illustr. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
Nielsen, C. E., Rabl, A., Watson, J. & Weiler, P. (in press). Maintenance of Salt Concentration Gradient in Solar Ponds. (To be published: typescript of 15 pp., illustr., available from C. E. Nielsen, Department of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.)Google Scholar
Rabl, A. & Nielsen, C. E. (1975). Solar ponds for space heating. Solar Energy, 17, pp. 1–12, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabor, H. (1963). Large-area solar collectors for power production. Solar Energy, 7, pp. 189–94, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabor, H. (1966). Solar ponds. Science Journal, 66 (06 1966), pp. 66–71, illustr.Google Scholar
Umarov, Y. U., Eliseyev, V. N. & Umarov, G. Y. (1971). Investigating the heat regime in a saltwater solar pond. Geliotekhnika (Heliotechnology), 7, p. 24 (transl.).Google Scholar
Usmanov, Y. U., Umarov, G. Y. & Zakhidov, R. A. (1969). Salt ponds as accumulators of solar energy. Geliotekhnika (Heliotechnology), 5, p. 49 (transl.).Google Scholar
Wilson, A. T. & Wellman, H. W. (1962). Lake Vanda: an antarctic lake. Nature (London), 196, pp. 1171–3, illustr.Google Scholar