Solar Concentration

Tracking Concentration Transmission Reaction Urine Disinfection

Our parabolic solar concentrators are more than 50% efficient. The best commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems are 20% efficient. We’re able to generate more power than a PV array of similar size and directly drive feces pyrolysis.

Sol-Char solar concentrator array in action 

concentration photo

Quartz rods

concentration 2
  • Parabolic dishes concentrate solar energy by a factor of 2000, with a peak flux approaching 5500 W/m2
  • To protect the fibers from high peak flux, a quartz rod is used to homogenize, or flatten, the solar flux 

View Monte Carlo Ray Tracing Results