Liquid Metal Concentrated Solar Power

Basics

• Concentrated Solar Power or CSP that uses a Liquid Metal (instead of water or salt) as the Heat Transfer Fluid
• Offers some dissadvantages/challenges as well as some advantages

Dissadvantages/Challenges

• Maitnance Issues
• Difficulty in dealing with higher temperatures (Increased Corrosion and/or structual failure under heat)
• Difficulty in obtaining some metals

Advantages

• Higher Heat Ceiling due to the boiling point of metals being much higher
• Higher Heat Conductivity of Heat Transfer Fluid

Ways to Deal With Dissadvantages/Challenges

• Use Ceramic and/or High Temp + Corrosion Resistant Metal Materials
• Modularity + Redundancy to allow easy maintenence + repair
• Possibly an auxillary heat source to act as a sort of "Defrost" if areas get clogged (This is just a guess/ponder)

Ways to Utilize Advantages

• Run **HOT** (1000°C +)

See Also

• The "Discussion" section of this page
• Atomistic Simulation & Energy Research Group

=Useful Links