SOLARCONCENTRATIONENHANCEMENTBY

CONDUCTIVEFOCUSING

Abstract:
Solar energy has emerged as a sustainble and renewable source of energy. However, the
development in the field of solar energy has been hampered by the low efficiencies of
conventional solar concentration methods, which discourage investment in the field. A solution
to this problem may be discovered by exploring alternative, noncoventional methods for solar
concentration. The current approaches to solar concentration are based on optical methods such
as mirrors, lenses, funnels, etc. The objective is to discuss the possibility of enhanced solar
concentration by the use of thermal conduction or conductive focusing. This method could be
particulary attractive in cases where the solar radiaion consists of a significant diffused
component,suchasinsubmarineandinterplanetaryapplications.

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