研究显示太阳能发电站使用熔融金属可能造价更为低廉（在线收听）

研究显示太阳能发电站使用熔融金属可能造价更为低廉

While water circulates in this scale model of a concentrated solar power plant, a full-size plant uses molten salt.

水在这种规模的太阳能集中发电厂循环时,这座实际大小的工厂会使用熔融盐。

But the man behind the radical new design says using tin instead of molten salt could make the process dramatically more efficient.

但这项彻底革新设计的创造者表示使用熔融锡替代熔融盐将会使这一过程更具效率。

“The main thing that makes it better than the state of the art is really the fact that by pushing up the temperature we were able to use a higher efficiency power cycle and the higher efficiency means for the same size of field you get more power out."

“超越当前技术发展水平最主要的环节在于我们能够通过使用更高效率的动力循环及更高效率将温度提高，这就表示相同大小的空间会产生更多电力。”

Molten tin can get hotter than molten salt, but it cannot flow through metal pipes.

相比熔融盐，熔融锡会产生更多的热能,但这种材质不能在金属管道中流动。

Experimenting in his lab, Henry found that it easily flows through pipes and valves made of graphite.

在实验室所进行的试验中,亨利发现熔融锡顺利流经用石墨制成的管道及阀门。

“It's machineable so it allows us to make complicated components like this where you can thread them, you can still use mechanical interfaces you are used to."

“这是可以进行加工的,因此这使得我们可以制造像这样能够通过的复杂零部件，而且你仍然可以使用过去的机械接口。”

His design uses ceramics that can also withstand high temperatures, do not corrode and do not react with tin.

他的设计还将陶瓷加入，这种材料能够耐高温,不易腐蚀,而且不会与锡发生化学反应。

With good insulation, tin can stay liquid even overnight.

如果绝缘性能优良，锡在夜间甚至可以维持液态。

So far, all the critical parts have been tested.

到目前为止,所有的关键零部件都已经进行了测试。

“We can pump liquid metal, we can valve it, and control it, we can bond these tubes together without getting leaks."

“我们可以注入液态金属,我们可以进行调节，控制,我们可以将这些管子连接在一起，不会造成泄漏。”

Taking into account the size of the required mirror field and the cost of the special salt, Henry expects using molten tin should reduce the overall cost of building a concentrated solar heat plant by as much as 30 percent.

考虑所需的镜像场大小及特殊盐的成本,亨利预计使用熔融锡应该能够将建立一座集中太阳能发电厂的成本最多减少30%。