Floating solar pond

Conference · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1980 · Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5856528

Crevier, D; Moshref, A

The possibility of making the nonconvective zone of a salt gradient solar pond float over a layer of fresh water is investigated. Such a construction would greatly reduce salt costs in ponds equipped with deep storage layers, and might eventually permit the construction of solar ponds as floating structures in natural bodies of water. Such a procedure would permit the location of large solar ponds close to densely build urban centers, where they could not otherwise be installed because of space limitations. It is proposed to separate the salt gradient insulating layer from the fresh or sea water underneath by an impermeable membrane stabilized by weights and buoys attached to it. A stability criterion expressing the number of buoys to be used as a function of the difference in density between the bottom of the insulation layer and the storage layer is presented. A mathematical analysis of the heat flows in the pond has been carried out, and results similar to those derived by Rabl and Nielsen resulted with the difference that the infinitely deep ground layer underneath the pond is replaced by a nonconvecting layer of water of finite depth, contained by the hull.

• Research Organization: McGill Univ., Montreal, Quebec
• OSTI ID: 5856528
• Report Number(s): CONF-810509-(Vol.1)
• Journal Information: Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States), Journal Name: Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States) Vol. 4.1; ISSN PMSID
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
COST
DESIGN
EQUIPMENT
FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD
FRESH WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ITERATIVE METHODS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MEMBRANES
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PONDS
SALINITY GRADIENTS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR PONDS
STABILIZATION
SURFACE WATERS
WATER