What's the hottest you can make something using the sun?

[Rubycon]

The Solex Agitator can melt steel pretty quick.

If pumping is allowed one can burn anything - a solar pumped YAG laser can achieve power densities (theoretically) in the petawatt/cm² range. :Q

EDIT: In the tropics I've measured temperatures of dark painted surfaces exceeding 115°C from exposure to the sun. That'll cook ya! :Q

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: Pheran
Pretty darn hot.

Solar Two Power Tower

They're building another one of these in Spain called Solar Tres.

So you've got a couple thousand heliostats producing 10MW of power.

Wonder how many it'd take to just make a few thousand watts...

It looks like some company already makes an all-in-one type thing which has a parabolic mirror with a Stirling engine attached. But they are huge and I imagine expensive.

Seems like you could come up with something smaller, large backyard size, for 10-20k, and would give you power to some degree during an outage.

 

[sdifox]

I wouldn't mind having some solar power plant at the backyard. It will at the very least slow down the weed growth.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

It seems like a closed system seems more feasible. Some sort of high temp liquid in a pipe.

Mirrors heat the pipe, fluid gets warm. Fluid is pumped into some vessel containing high heat storage material. Material heats up, fluid cools down.

Cooler fluid is then pumped back out to the mirrors and the cycle repeats.

This could occur during the day when I'm not home. Then when I get home, use the heated material to run a generator.

This could be my Masters project at the Wile E Coyote School of Engineering.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
The Solex Agitator can melt steel pretty quick.

If pumping is allowed one can burn anything - a solar pumped YAG laser can achieve power densities (theoretically) in the petawatt/cm² range. :Q

EDIT: In the tropics I've measured temperatures of dark painted surfaces exceeding 115°C from exposure to the sun. That'll cook ya! :Q

115C in the sun? That's 239F ... not sure if I can believe that!

 

[pontifex]

has anyone posted a hot chick sunbathing yet?

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: pontifex
has anyone posted a hot chick sunbathing yet?

Nope, the topic hasn't come up yet.

Having lady problems there, Pontifex?

 

[RU482]

you need a fresnel lens

a few summers ago, I made a solar water heater using a 8ft x 3ft x 6in plywood box, with clear plexiglass on the top face. I ran 10 6ft copper pipes through it, painted the plywood black, and hooked the pips up to my hose.

It would boil water in the pipes if you had no flow through.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: pontifex
has anyone posted a hot chick sunbathing yet?

Well, I would post some...but a link to what comes up on google for sunbathing, tanned, or tanning would be a quick ban...

 

[Lalakai]

Solar Ovens are used in many countries and pretty simple to build. Just concentrating the sun's energy, this unit can achieve 400 degrees F.. Great beach unit or camping addition.

edit; it can be used as a stand alone, without electicity. lol that's what i get for just grabbing the first yahoo search. oh well

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
So my car sits outside, and while only 100 degrees F outside, the inside approaches 130.

Say if I were to take 6 steel plates, 9ftx9ft each, and make a cube. Throw that out in the sun, how hot would it get inside?

Going along in that vein, what would be the hottest you could make something (either ambient air temperature, or the surface of something) using just the sun?

The is because the glass in your windows reflects infrared light much more efficiently than ultraviolet, so when ultraviolet light enters the car and is absorbed by the interior, infrared is emitted and reflected off of the windows. Thus your car temperature increases above ambient.

I'm aware of what's going on, was just using it as an example of hot stuff

Not the hottest, but along the same lines here is a satellite dish partly covered with mirrors:

http://www.cockeyed.com/incred...solardish/dish01.shtml

Video is here: http://www.cockeyed.com/body.html

Ooh man you made me read all that and he isn't finished yet :| That's more of the idea I'm looking at.

Would be nice to have a backyard supply of power when nuclear winter comes :foilhat:

I was sooooo close to doing that exact same thing. In fact, I have/had the same model of satellite dish. Instead, we attempted to use it as a fire pit. It melted.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: pontifex
has anyone posted a hot chick sunbathing yet?

Nope, the topic hasn't come up yet.

Having lady problems there, Pontifex?

I always have lady problems but not sure what that has to do with my post?

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: Tizyler
I came out to my car the other day and it was COVERED in soda... I was so pissed at first, not knowing what had happened, then I looked in the back seat and found a Coca-Cola can with the lid blown completely off... It was about 104 that day.

<---Pointing and laughing at you.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Safeway


115C in the sun? That's 239F ... not sure if I can believe that!

That's what the scanning IR thermometer with emissivity compensation said. It was hot enough to make a spittle sizzle so I believe it! :Q

 

[imported_Baloo]

Put some on the surface of the sun, and it would heat up to 10,000 Degrees Fahrenheit.