Transparency-switching optical element for sun tracking applications

Harry Apostoleris; Samuele Lilliu; Matteo Chiesa; Marco Stefancich

doi:10.1117/12.2179947

6 May 2015 Transparency-switching optical element for sun tracking applications

Harry Apostoleris, Samuele Lilliu, Matteo Chiesa, Marco Stefancich

Proceedings Volume 9516, Integrated Optics: Physics and Simulations II; 951618 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2179947
Event: SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, 2015, Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract

We present a novel optical element that behaves as a dynamic aperture capable of tracking a moving light source. The element is based on a composite material which when heated undergoes reversible transition from an opaque to transparent state, resulting from a phase transition in one of its components that modifies the microstructure of the material. The material has been designed to undergo a localized transparency transition at the point of illumination by a focused beam, activated by the absorption and conversion to heat of a portion of the incident light. As a result of this mechanism the aperture reactively tracks a moving light spot, such as that created by focusing sunlight onto a surface during the sun’s apparent motion through the sky. Such an element has been proposed as a solution to the sun tracking problem of solar concentration, as it allows admission of sunlight into a concentrating light trap over a wide range of solar angles.

Citation Download Citation

Harry Apostoleris, Samuele Lilliu, Matteo Chiesa, and Marco Stefancich "Transparency-switching optical element for sun tracking applications", Proc. SPIE 9516, Integrated Optics: Physics and Simulations II, 951618 (6 May 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2179947

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