Fiches de cours

Solar energy conversion

ME-468

Enseignant(s) :

Haussener Sophia

Langue:

English

Summary

The course will provide fundamentals and technological details of solar energy conversion devices and systems, including 1) solar fuels by photoelectrochemistry, photocatalysis, and solar thermochemistry, 2) solar electricity by PV and concentrated solar power, and 3) solar heat by solar collectors.

Content

The generalities and fundamentals cover: Solar energy characteristics, radiation and electromagnetic wave propagation, multi-mode heat transfer, semiconductor physics, electrochemistry, thermochemistry, fluid flow and species transport.

Solar fuels: Photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical, and solar thermochemical approaches, conversion devices, and technologies.

Solar electricity: PV and concentrated solar power approaches, devices, and technologies.

Solar heat: Low-temperature solar collectors and high-temperature solar receiver, thermal energy storage.

Computational examples and projects: Monte Carlo techniques, finite differences and finite volumes

Experimental techniques with laboratory projects: High-flux solar irradiation measurements, electrochemical techniques

Keywords

Solar energy, electrochemistry, solar fuels, hydrogen, thermal storage, multi-physics modeling

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

Thermodyanmics and energetics 1

Heat and mass transfer

Recommended courses

Thermodyanmics and energetics 2

Advanced heat transfer

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Advise on solar energy conversion approaches and technologies
• Implement solar energy conversion problems using computational methods
• Design codes for solar energy conversion problems
• Compute solar energy conversion devices
• Characterize solar energy conversion devices
• Carry out experiments on solar devices

Transversal skills

• Access and evaluate appropriate sources of information.
• Continue to work through difficulties or initial failure to find optimal solutions.
• Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.

Teaching methods

ex cathedra and exercises, computational project, laboratory project, group project

Assessment methods

Group project during semester, (computational and lab) exercises during semester, written exam