Ag/PMMA hollow waveguide for solar energy transmission

Abstract

This paper describes an elaborate study on obtaining Ag/PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) leaky hollow waveguide which has a large aperture and low loss in transmitting solar energy. Through analyses and comparison, a quartz capillary with the inner diameter of 2 mm was chosen as hollow waveguide. We used the xenon light source, which has the similar spectrum as the sunlight to test and analyze the performance of the Ag/PMMA leakage hollow waveguide. The results are consistent with the transmitted theory of the dielectric/metal leaky type well. Meanwhile, the Ag/PMMA leaky-type hollow waveguide in this work had good qualities. Therefore, it will be a satisfactory medium for solar energy transmission.

Key words： hollow waveguide; transmit the solar energy; Ag/PMMA multiple film; parabolic collector

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2009CB939704) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (No. IRT0547). The authors thank the Center for Materials Research & Analysis of Wuhan University of Technology for the SEM images.

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