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According to report, particular commercial evacuated-tube solar collector performs slightly more efficiently with larger manifold. Tests were performed with Marshall Space Flight Center solar simulator. Report describes test conditions and procedures, provides analysis of results, and presents tables and graphs of data, both measured and calculated.
The consumed primary power is reduced and the efficiency of traveling wave tubes is raised through the use of depressed collectors which passively convert potential energy into electric energy. Efficiency was kept with constant within a 3 dB range while the output power varied by 10 dB. Aspects to be considered in transferring this technology to UHF klystrons are the electron energy spectrum of the klystron and the magnitude of the injection angle required.
Verification testing of a solar collector was undertaken prior to its operation as part of an industrial process heat plant at Capitol Concrete Products in Topeka, Kansas. Testing was performed at a control plant installed at Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico (SNLA). Early results show that plant performance is even better than anticipated and far in excess of test criteria. Overall plant efficiencies of 65 to 80 percent were typical during hours of good insolation. A number of flaws and imperfections were detected during operability testing, the most important being a problem in elevation drive alignment due to a manufacturing error. All problems were corrected as they occurred and the plant, with over 40 hours of operation, is currently continuing operability testing in a wholly-automatic mode.
The utilization potential of the point focusing parabolic dish is identified. Its main design parameters are summarized. Performance tests and the utilization of the collector as primary energy source in a food-water-power complex are described. Process heat, heat storage, heat transfer, and cogeneration are discussed.
The design of a multistage depressed collector (MDC) for use with the F-16 radar dual mode transmitter tube is described. The methods employed and the rationale on which the design is based are presented.
The validity of a computational procedure for the design of multistage depressed collectors (MDC's) is demonstrated for a traveling wave tube (TWT) with a perveance of .00000123. The MDC is used with spent-beam refocusing to improve substantially the efficiency of the TWT. Reports on this subject have verified, under a variety of operating conditions, the MDC design procedure for TWT's with lower perveance. The design procedure is based on two computer programs that create a mathematical model of the electric and magnetic fields of the TWT refocuser MDC system and its electron beam. The two principal outputs of the analysis are a description of the radiofrequency (RF) performance of the TWT and the trajectories of representatives groups of charges from the input of the TWT to their points of interception on the MDC electrodes.
Examination of 526 particles in the 2-50 micron size range obtained from stratospheric impaction collectors has shown that most of them fit into one of three groups on a simple plot of Mg/Si versus Al/Si energy dispersive X ray peak ratios. The particles within a given group exhibit strong correlations in composition and mineralogy to one another, and the groups appear to largely consist either of earth crustal, manmade, or extraterrestrial materials. The temporal variability and relatively flat size distribution of material in the earth crustal group, in particular, suggests an aircraft-related, as opposed to stratospheric, source for these particles.
The Coherent Optical System of Modular Imaging Collectors (COSMIC) is the design concept for a phase-coherent optical telescope array that may be placed in earth orbit by the Space Shuttle in the 1990s. The initial system module is a minimum redundancy array whose photon collecting area is three times larger than that of the Space Telescope, and possesses a one-dimensional resoution of better than 0.01 arcsec in the visible range. Thermal structural requirements are assessed. Although the coherent beam combination requirements will be met by an active control system, the COSMIC structural/thermal design must meet more stringent performance criteria than even those of the Space Telescope.
In parabolic dish solar collectors, walk-off of the spot of concentrated sunlight is a hazard if a malfunction causes the concentrator to stop following the Sun. Therefore, a test program was carried out to evaluate the behavior of various ceramics, metals, and polymers under solar irradiation of about 7000 kW/sq m. (peak) for 15 minutes. The only materials that did not slump or shatter were two grades of medium-grain extruded graphite. High purity, slip-cast silica might be satisfactory at somewhat lower flux. Oxidation of the graphite appeared acceptable during tests simulating walk-off, acquisition (2000 cycles on/off Sun), and spillage (continuous on-Sun operation).
If a malfunction occurs in a solar thermal point-focus distributed receiver power plant while a concentrator is pointed at the Sun, motion of the concentrator may stop. As the Sun moves relative to the Earth, the spot of concentrated sunlight then slowly walks off the receiver aperture, across the receiver face plate, and perhaps across adjacent portions of the concentrator. Intense local heating by the concentrated sunlight may damage or destroy these parts. The behavior of various materials under conditions simulating walk-off of a parabolic dish solar collector were evaluated. Each test consisted of exposure to concentrated sunlight at a peak flux density of about 7000 kW/square meter for 15 minutes. Types of materials tested included graphite, silicon carbide, silica, various silicates, alumina, zirconia, aluminum, copper, steel, and polytetrafluoroethylene. The only material that neither cracked nor melted was grade G-90 graphite. Grade CS graphite, a lower cost commercial grade, cracked half-way across, but did not fall apart. Both of these grades are medium-grain extruded graphites. A graphite cloth (graphitized polyacrylonitrile) showed fair performance when tested as a single thin ply; it might be useful as a multi-ply assembly. High purity slipcast silica showed some promise also.
The value of the zeta-potential does not have an explicit effect, which is expressed by a simple math correlation, on filtration rate when a solution of the tested collector is filtered through a cake prepared under standard conditions from the examined particulate material. The zeta-potential measurements and filtration tests were carried out on silica and galena with solutions contg. a cationic container ANP and Et xanthane, resp. at PH = 6.5, varying concentration of the agent (0-2500 g/ton), and under a vacuum of 100 to 600 mm Hg.
The utilization of fiber optics and compound flux collectors as optical components in stellar photometers is discussed. Basic principles are outlined for such components and systems issues are addressed.
If a malfunction occurs in a solar thermal point-focus distributed receiver power plant while a concentrator is pointed at the sun, motion of the concentrator may stop. As the sun moves relative to the earth, the spot of concentrated sunlight then slowly walks off the receiver aperture, across the receiver face plate, and perhaps across adjacent portions of the concentrator. Intense local heating by the concentrated sunlight may damage or destroy these parts. The behavior of various materials under conditions simulating walk-off of a parabolic dish solar collector were evaluated. Each test consisted of exposure to concentrated sunlight at a peak flux density of about 7000 kW/square meter for 15 minutes. Types of materials tested included graphite, silicon carbide, silica, various silicates, alumina, zirconia, aluminum, copper, steel, and polytetrafluroethylene. The only material that neither cracked nor melted was grade G-90 graphite. Grade CS graphite, a lower cost commercial grade, cracked half-way across, but did not fail apart. Both of these grades are medium-grain extruded graphites. A graphite cloth (graphitized polyacrylonitrile) showed fair performance when tested as a single thin ply; it might be useful as a multi-ply assembly. High purity slipcast silica showed some promise also.
The first physical demonstration of the principle of image reconstruction using a set of images from a diffraction-blurred elongated aperture is reported. This is an optical validation of previous theoretical and numerical simulations of the COSMIC telescope array (coherent optical system of modular imaging collectors). The present experiment utilizes 17 diffraction blurred exposures of a laboratory light source, as imaged by a lens covered by a narrow-slit aperture; the aperture is rotated 10 degrees between each exposure. The images are recorded in digitized form by a CCD camera, Fourier transformed, numerically filtered, and added; the sum is then filtered and inverse Fourier transformed to form the final image. The image reconstruction process is found to be stable with respect to uncertainties in values of all physical parameters such as effective wavelength, rotation angle, pointing jitter, and aperture shape. Future experiments will explore the effects of low counting rates, autoguiding on the image, various aperture configurations, and separated optics.
If a malfunction occurs in a solar thermal point-focus distributed receiver power plant while a concentrator is pointed at the sun, motion of the concentrator may stop. As the sun moves relative to the earth, the spot of concentrated sunlight then slowly walks off the receiver aperture, across the receiver face plate, and perhaps across adjacent portions of the concentrator. Intense local heating by the concentrated sunlight may damage or destroy these parts. The behavior of various materials under conditions simulating walk-off of a parabolic dish solar collector were evaluated. Each test consisted of exposure to concentrated sunlight at a peak flux density of about 7000 kW/square meter for 15 minutes. Types of materials tested included graphite, silicon carbide, silica, various silicates, alumina, zirconia, aluminum, copper, steel, and polytetrafluoroethylene. The only material that neither cracked nor melted was grade G-90 graphite. Grade CS graphite, a lower cost commercial grade, cracked half-way across, but did not fall apart. Both of these grades are medium-grain extruded graphites. A graphite cloth (graphitized polyacrylonitrile) showed fair performance when tested as a single thin ply; it might be useful as a multi-ply assembly. High purity slipcast silica showed some promise also.
Electron backstreaming reduced. Significant increase in overall efficiency of traveling-wave tubes (TWT's) brought about by conception and development of multistage depressed collector (MDC).
Performance of multistage depressed collectors (MDCs) using textured carbon on copper substrate electrode surfaces was evaluated in conjunction with medium-power traveling wave tubes (TWTs). The MDC and TWT overall efficiencies for these electrodes were measured and compared with those obtained with the same TWT and a copper electrode MDC of identical design. Long-term stability of the carbon-coated copper electrode surfaces was investigated by periodic evaluation of TWT-MDC performance over an extended period of continuous wave (CW) operation. Application of textured carbon coating on copper MDC electrode surfaces produced a 13% improvement in both MDC and TWT overall efficiencies for the TWT-MDC tests. During 1600 hr of CW operation with a medium power TWT, no significant changes in MDC performance were noted. This indicated good stability of the textured carbon electrode surfaces. This stability was confirmed by scanning electron microscope examinations of the electrode surfaces before assembly of the MDC and after completion of the test program.
Computational procedures are reported for treating power losses due to secondary electrons in multistage depressed collectors (MDC) for traveling wave tubes (TWT) and other O-type electron tubes. The MDC is modeled with an advanced, multidimensional computer program. Representative beams of secondary electrons are then injected at the points of impact of the primary beams. Separate programs are used to calculate representative beams of high-energy primary electron beams and of low-energy true secondaries. The recomputation of the MDC model including the true secondary beam allows determination of the secondary emission losses, and, if necessary, redesign of the MDC to improve performance. Recomputation of the MDC model including the primary beams is used to check on possible backstreaming from the MDC to the RF interaction structure of the tube. A comparison with experimentally measured values of TWT and MDC efficiencies is made.