Solar furnaces use an array of mirrors to concentrate sunlight and produce extremely high temperatures. They have existed since the 18th century but were first developed as a furnace in the 1940s in France. There are two main types - direct and heliostat - and they work by using plane and parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight at a focal point. Solar furnaces can be used for applications like generating steam power, cooking, drying foods, and melting metals. In Africa they have potential uses for cooking, agriculture, industry, and reducing environmental impacts. However, widespread commercial use of solar furnaces has been limited by their high costs and requirement for large spaces.

1. Solar
Furnaces
Azeez Akeem Abiodun
40432
Ibrahim Jumal
40433
Lecturer: Prof. Esidor Ntsoenzok
Group 5

2. Outline
 What are solar furnaces?
 History of solar furnaces
 Fundamental of solar furnaces
 Types of solar furnaces
 State of art design of solar furnaces
 Application and general uses of solar furnaces in Africa
 Impact of solar furnaces in Africa
 How solar furnace works
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3. Sun: Power house of the
solar system
 The Sun is by far the largest object in the solar system. It contains
more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System (Jupiter
contains most of the rest).
 diameter: 1,390,000 km.
mass: 1.989e30 kg
temperature: 5800 K (surface) 15,600,000 K (core)
 The sun’s energy output (3.86 x10 26Watts) is produced by nuclear
fusion reaction.
The sun [8]
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4. What are solar furnaces?
Solar furnace is a device that uses an array of mirrors to redirect
and concentrate the sun’s rays onto a small surface area thus
producing extremely high temperature.
The temperature can go as high as 3500o C.
http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il 4

5. History of Solar furnaces
 Legend claims that Archimedes used polished shields to
concentrate sunlight on the invading Roman fleet and repel
them from Syracuse.
Archimedes “heat ray” gun. (a legend only)[1]
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6. History of Solar furnaces
cont’d
 By focusing sunlight over flammable materials using lenses,
combustion was generated, experiment conducted by
Lavoisier Circa 1770s.
The French chemist Lavoisier experimented with concentrating
solar energy using a large parabolic mirror.[1]
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7. History of Solar furnaces
cont’d
In 1861, Mouchout developed a steam engine powered entirely by
the sun. He produced the first solar steam engine in history in
1866 by using a parabolic trough.
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8. History of Solar furnaces
cont’d
 The solar furnace in Mont Louis, France, built in 1949 by
Professor Félix Trombe, was the first solar furnace in the
world.
 In 1993,the solar furnace was used for industrial and
manufactured products such as the firing of ceramics, and
bronze and aluminum products.
The solar furnace in Mont Louis [5]
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9. Fundamental of Spherical
mirror
 A spherical mirror is a mirror which has the shape of a piece
cut out of a spherical surface. There are two types of
spherical mirrors: concave, and convex.
Image formation by a concave mirror[2]
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10. How solar furnaces work?
 The operation principle of a solar furnace is quite simple. It
entails the use of two mirrors, plane mirror and parabolic
mirror. The plane mirror is known as Heliostat and is angled
such that it directs parallel beam of light to the parabolic
mirror. The parabolic mirror then brings the light beam to
focus at the focal point.
 When the number of mirrors is increased, then it is possible
to achieve energy and heat levels where one can actually boil
water, cook food or even melt metals!. The amount of energy
and efficiency of the solar furnace relay completely on how
accurate the mirrors are focused on one point.
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11. How solar furnaces work?
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[5]

12. Types of solar furnaces
There are two types of solar furnaces:
 Direct solar furnace
 Heliostat solar furnace
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Types of solar furnaces[3]

13. General uses of solar furnaces
 Running Steam Turbines for Solar Power Plants
 Cook Food and Boil Water in a Solar Oven
 Produce Hydrogen Fuel
 Perform Scientific Experiments Which Require Extreme
Temperatures Without Pollution
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14. Application of solar furnaces in
Africa
 Domestic uses
− Cooking
− Heating of water
 Agricultural uses
− Drying of farm produce
− Incubation of chicken
 Industrial uses
− Recycling of waste
− Welding of machine parts
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15. Application of solar furnaces in
Africa
Small natural convection solar dryer design.[4]
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16. Impact of Solar furnaces in Africa
 Environment
− Prevention of desert encroachment
− Decrease in overdependence of fossil fuel
− Global warming
 Economic
− Recycling of waste
− Recycling of metal scrap
sun’s rays are focused on the crucible holding the
ore [3]
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17. State of art designs of solar furnaces
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18. State of art designs of solar furnaces
high power concentrated solar power stations [9] 18

19. Prospect of solar furnaces
 It is believed that solar furnaces can be used in the production
of aerospace products, defense products, and in electronics.
 Solar furnaces also could be used to break down and destroy
toxic waste.
 High flux solar furnace would replace laser furnaces and
furnaces using fossil fuels.
 Solar furnace application can be expanded to metallurgical
industries
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20. Advantages
 heat produced is very clean Can be applied where pollution is to
be avoided
 Research can take place in areas previously deemed too costly or
polluting to be worthwhile.
 Low cost
 Reduces the Need to Burn Fossil Fuels
 Reduces the Need to Cut Down Forests For Firewood
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21. Limitation of Solar furnace
 Solar furnace technology has existed for many years but has never
been fully explored or used on a widespread commercial basis.
 It is unclear if solar furnaces will ever be used on any type of scale
because of the limitations in their placement and use.
 Large solar concentrators are expensive.
 They occupy large amount of space
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22. Innovative Ideas
 Solar energy can be used in baking of pastries.
 It can also be used in firing earthware materials like
clay pots e.t.c
 More awareness must be created to enlighten people
on the usage and advantages of solar furnace.
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23. Conclusion
Solar furnace technology has existed for many years but never
has been fully explored or used on a widespread commercial
basis.
It is unclear if solar furnaces will ever be used on any type of
scale because of the limitations in their placement and use.
However, with research and development, there could be
breakthroughs that will improve the technology and/or lower the
cost.
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24. Acknowledgment
 Prof. Esidor NTSOENZOK
 Our fellow colleagues
 Nelson Mandela Institute
 Africa Development Bank (AFDB)
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25. References
1. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/solar_time_1900.html
2. http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/energy/EnergySources/Solar/SolarF
urnace/FSolarFurnace16.htm (retrieved on 1/2/2016)
3. http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il
4. Solar Energy: Fundamentals and Applications By Garg &
Prakash, H. P. Garg
5. http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/solar4.htm
6. http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/jiqweb-edf
7. www.constructionphotography.com (retrieved on 1/2/2016)
8. http://nineplanets.org/sol.html (retrieved on 29/1/2016)
9. http://www.cmigroupe.com/ (retrieved on 30/1/2016)
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