IBM Research Unveils Breakthrough In Solar Farm Technology/ プレスリリース (IBM、集光型太陽電池の冷却システムを発表): ソフトエネルギー

IBM Research Unveils Breakthrough In Solar Farm Technology/ プレスリリース (IBM、集光型太陽電池の冷却システムを発表)

-----image(pop up ; ”IBM researchers have achieved a breakthrough in photovoltaics technology that could significantly reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun's power for electricity.”)　& text : IBM,15 May 2008発表より

" IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a research breakthrough in photovoltaics technology that could significantly reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun's power for electricity.

By mimicking the antics of a child using a magnifying glass to burn a leaf or a camper to start a fire, IBM scientists are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun’s power, capturing a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics, or CPV. That energy is then converted into 70 watts of usable electrical power, about five times the electrical power density generated by typical cells using CPV technology in solar farms.
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The trick lies in IBM’s ability to cool the tiny solar cell. Concentrating the equivalent of 2000 suns on such a small area generates enough heat to melt stainless steel, something the researchers experienced first hand in their experiments. But by borrowing innovations from its own R&D in cooling computer chips, the team was able to cool the solar cell from greater than 1600 degrees Celsius to just 85 degrees Celsius.
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Specifically, the IBM team used a very thin layer of a liquid metal made of a gallium and indium compound that they applied between the chip and a cooling block. Such layers, called thermal interface layers, transfer the heat from the chip to the cooling block so that the chip temperature can be kept low. The IBM liquid metal solution offers the best thermal performance available today, at low costs, and the technology was successfully developed by IBM to cool high power computer chips earlier.

While concentrator-based photovoltaics technologies have been around since the 1970s, they have received renewed interest in recent times. With very high concentrations, they have the potential to offer the lowest-cost solar electricity for large-scale power generation, provided the temperature of the cells can be kept low, and cheap and efficient optics can be developed for concentrating the light to very high levels.
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関連記事
・IBM、太陽光発電の新技術を発表――チップ冷却技術応用で大幅コスト削減-----ITmedia News,2008年05月17日

コメント
　先週の木曜日のエントリーに続いて、また集光型太陽光発電の話題。今回は、IBMで独自の冷却技術を開発したということです。集光型太陽電池では、レンズを使って小さな太陽電池セルに光を集める。とうぜん熱も集まり、ほうっておけば内部抵抗の上昇なんてレベルではなく、それこそ物質の溶融温度にまで達してしまう。ということで、熱の対策は集光型太陽電池には必須のものといえそうです。今回IBMが開発したのは、リキッドメタルを利用し熱を逃がすという技術で、ヒートシンクや素材の工夫に比べて、積極的な冷却効果がのぞめそうです。

　まだ研究段階とはいえ、集光型太陽光発電も俎上にのぼってきたということでしょうか？　もっとも、追尾と冷却という制御系の技術が必須の太陽光発電は、家庭用というより、大型の太陽光発電所向けの技術ということになるようです。あとは、日本での条件にあった製品についての、条件と技術の確立が可能なのかという点にも興味がわきますね。(t_t)

追加情報
・集光型太陽光発電 / 自然エネルギーの世界-----自然エネルギー、2010/07/15