Posted by Bruce Cunningham on Wed, Feb 15, 2012 @ 08:03 PM
The solar photovoltaics industry continues it inexhorable march toward the holy grail of grid parity and the promise of widespread adoption. We read weekly of the gains made in sunlight to electricity conversion efficiency of individual cells and panel arrays, the inverter efficiency improvements in grid connected solar collectors and the vertical integration of manufacturing facilities.
Let's not forget the potential cost savings through energy conservation in the solar cell manufacturing process. An energy and real estate saver that can be implemented by furnace manufacturers is the use of the infrared reflecting ceramic Accuflect in the infrared heated hot zones of the drying and metallizing furnaces used for production of crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells. Accuflect can also be used as a high efficiency infrared reflector in the production of thin film solar cells such as the cadmium telluride cells and CIGS cells.
Accuflect is a clean, low thermal conductivity ceramic compatible with the refractory linings typically found in high temperature furnaces. The Accuflect material is highly refractory, easily tolerating the 1000 C environment of the hot zone with no auxiliary cooling system required to maintain efficiency. The Accuflect does an excellent job of diffusely and efficiently reflecting and homogenizing the NIR and mid-IR radiation from the infrared emitters. More information on using Accuflect in infrared solar cell manufacturing furnaces.
Posted by Bruce Cunningham on Wed, Jan 18, 2012 @ 04:04 PM
Aluminum nitride is one of a very few materials exhibiting high thermal conductivity and high electrical resistivity. Other electrically resistive, high thermal conductivity materials are diamond, CVD silicon carbide and beryllium oxide. Diamond and silicon carbide are hard, difficult to fabricate and high cost. Beryllium oxide ceramic is a toxic material requiring special handling.
The unique set of material properties arises from the simple crystal structures and the small cation size allowing for low scattering of the acoustic phonons responsible for thermal transfer. Unlike metallic materials with their swarm of free electrons to help move the heat these dielectric materials rely on the vibrations of the crystal lattice. As such, temperature has a significant influence on the thermal conductivity value.
The electronics markets are continuing to evolve. There is a continual push to improve the efficiency of electronics to reduce heat generation, increase battery life and use less power. Despite these efforts, the continuing drive to smaller, faster, more capable devices is forcing the electronics into more and more dense packages where heat removal becomes the overriding design constraint. Aluminum nitride with room temperature conductivity on the order of 170 W/mK gets the heat from the generator to the ambient environment quickly and efficiently. More details on aluminum nitride are available from Accuratus.
Posted by Bruce Cunningham on Tue, Jan 10, 2012 @ 03:07 PM
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