Aerogel Derived Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials

Technical Report · Fri Oct 08 04:00:00 EDT 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/990203· OSTI ID:990203

Rhine, Wendell E ^[1]; Dong, Wenting ^[2]; Caggiano, Greg ^[2]

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1. Aspen Aerogels, Inc., Northborough, MA (United States); Aspen Aerogels, Inc
2. Aspen Aerogels, Inc., Northborough, MA (United States)

America’s dependence on foreign sources for fuel represents a economic and security threat for the country. These non renewable resources are depleting, and the effects of pollutants from fuels such as oil are reaching a problematic that affects the global community. Solar concentration power (SCP) production systems offer the opportunity to harness one of the United States’ most under utilized natural resources; sunlight. While commercialization of this technology is increasing, in order to become a significant source of electricity production in the United States the costs of deploying and operating SCP plants must be further reduced. Parabolic Trough SCP technologies are close to meeting energy production cost levels that would raise interest in the technology and help accelerate its adoption as a method to produce a significant portion of the Country’s electric power needs. During this program, Aspen Aerogels will develop a transparent aerogel insulation that can replace the costly vacuum insulation systems that are currently used in parabolic trough designs. During the Phase I program, Aspen Aerogels will optimize the optical and thermal properties of aerogel to meet the needs of this application. These properties will be tested, and the results will be used to model the performance of a parabolic trough HCE system which uses this novel material in place of vacuum. During the Phase II program, Aspen Aerogels will scale up this technology. Together with industry partners, Aspen Aerogels will build and test a prototype Heat Collection Element that is insulated with the novel transparent aerogel material. This new device will find use in parabolic trough SCP applications.

• Research Organization: Aspen Aerogels, Inc., Northborough, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science and Technology (EM-50)
• DOE Contract Number: SC0000948
• OSTI ID: 990203
• Report Number(s): DOE-F--241.3; R-09017
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Aerogel
Electricity
Insulation
Nanotechnology
Renewable Energy
Solar
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