Sunpower Corporation, Systems

Sarasota Instruments Inc.

Wallace L Minto

A heat storage medium includes a halide or sulfate salt of a divalent or trivalent metal which salt has hydrated and dehydrated states with high heat of hydration. The medium is dehydrated by heating it with heat derived from a natural source such as solar or geothermal energy or from industrial waste heat and the evolved water removed from the medium. The heat is recovered by rehydrating the medium by the addition of water. The medium may be a porous mass, a slurry of the salt in a water immiscible liquid or a suspension of the salt in a gas and it may be dehydrated by source heating the slurry and separating the water or by passing a source heated gas or immiscible liquid through the medium and the heat may be released from the medium by injecting water into the slurry or by passing a water carrying gas or immiscible liquid through the permeable mass. The storage and recovery procedure may be continuous or batch with the medium being recycled.

Method and apparatus for accumulating, storing and releasing thermal

An apparatus for measuring the index of refraction of a specimen includes a stage plate having a small exposure opening behind which are located a point source infra-red light emitting diode and a photoresistor. A first lens focusses the LED point source along a first optical axis at the exposure opening on the plane of the specimen receiving face of the stage plate defining a sensing area and a second lens focusses the image on the sensing area along a second optical axis onto the photoresistor. The optical axes form equal angles to the perpendicular to the exposure plane at the center of the sensing area. The light emitting diode and the photoresistor are connected through a common normally open switch to a battery.

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Sarasota, FL, United States of America

Wallace L Minto