Bubble Wrap Device Creates Steam from Sunlight

Aug-28-16 An innovative device from the team at MIT uses bubble-wrap and a sponge to create steam from ambient sunlight.

The solar vapor generator, as it is called, is made up of an array of relatively common materials, eschewing mirrors or lenses. Building on past research in the area, the MIT team improved on their earlier design by replacing the black graphite of the original structure with a spectrally-selective absorber film that both absorbs sunlight and traps heat. That absorber film was then used to coat a thin sheet of copper, which was in turn mounted on a piece of thermally insulating floating foam.

The key to the design, however, is the novel use of bubble wrap, which can be integrated into the structure to keep the heat from escaping through convection, while still allowing the sunlight to pass through. In tests, the bubble wrap device was able to heat water to boiling, even on cool or overcast days.

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[NEWATLAS.COM]
[NEWS.MIT.EDU]

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