Photothermal utilization
Its basic original is to collect solar radiation energy and convert it into thermal energy by interaction with materials to be utilized. There are three main types of solar energy collection devices used at present, such as flat plate collectors, vacuum tube collectors and focusing collectors. Solar thermal utilization is usually divided into low temperature utilization (<200°C), medium temperature utilization (200-800°C), and high temperature utilization (>800°C) according to the temperature that can be reached and the purpose. At present, the low-temperature utilization mainly includes solar water heater, solar dryer, solar distiller, solar room, solar greenhouse, solar air conditioning and cooling system, etc. The medium-temperature utilization mainly includes solar cooker, solar thermal power generation concentrating collector, etc. The high-temperature utilization mainly includes high-temperature solar furnace, etc.
Solar Energy
Solar power generation
The future large-scale use of solar energy is used to generate electricity. There are various ways to use solar power generation. The following two are the main ones that have been practical so far.
① Light-thermal-electricity conversion. This is the generation of electricity from the thermal energy generated by solar radiation. Generally, solar collectors are used to convert the absorbed heat energy into steam, and then the steam drives a gas turbine to drive a generator to generate electricity. The former process is photo-thermal conversion, and the latter process is thermal-electric conversion.
②Photo-electric conversion. The basic principle is to use the photovoltaic effect to directly convert solar radiation energy into electricity, and its basic device is the solar cell.
Photochemical utilization
This is a photo-chemical conversion method that uses solar radiation energy to directly decompose water to produce hydrogen.
Photobiological utilization
The process of converting solar energy into biomass by photosynthesis of plants. Currently, the main types of plants are fast-growing plants (e.g., fuel carbon forests), oilseed crops, and giant seaweeds.
