Looking at the photo of a unique building, it is difficult to imagine that this is not a scenery for a fantastic film, but a completely terrestrial object. Its history began in the 1980s, when the construction of the world's largest solar oven began in the vastness of the Land of Soviets (in Uzbekistan). Moreover, the greatness and power of the "Sun" solar complex is not so much in the futuristic forms of the structure, but in the functionality, because its installation is capable of raising the temperature in the furnace to 3500 ° C in a matter of seconds, using only the energy of the luminary.
The solar solar complex is the greatest achievement of Soviet science (Changikhisarak village, Uzbekistan).
An unusual construction began in 1981 in the foothills of the Tien Shan at an altitude of 1100 m above sea level. The territory of Uzbekistan, which was then part of the USSR, was not chosen by chance, for this kind of complex special conditions were required and here they met the main scientific requirements.
The solar complex "Sun" is located in the foothills of the Tien Shan at an altitude of 1100 meters above sea level (Changikhisarak village, Uzbekistan).
Firstly, the entire object must be located on an integral rock mass in order to avoid destruction during earthquakes, and any tremors of the earth's crust did not lose the established direction of the heliostats to the concentrator.
Secondly, in this area during the year more than 270 days, the quality of directed sunlight meets the required parameters.
And most importantly, at this altitude, there is very little dust in the atmosphere, because this complex is designed to work with ultrapure materials.
The Odeilia solar oven is located on the slopes of the Eastern Pyrenees (France).
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Interesting fact: The prototype of such a solar object exists only in Font-Rome-Odeillo, on the slopes of the Eastern Pyrenees, in France. Since 1970, on the basis of the complex, a research center for the study of materials at ultrahigh temperatures has been conducting its research.
The Large Solar Oven is a complex optical-mechanical complex with automatic control systems (Heliocomplex "Solntse", Uzbekistan).
The engineering development of this complex cost the country's treasury fabulous money, but the result surpassed even the most daring expectations. Not only is the operation practically free, but scientists have received a unique basis for research. For the "Institute of the Sun" to work in full, a lot of efforts and enthusiasm had to be made by the scientists who worked under the supervision of Academician S. Azimov, because the calculation and development of experimental installations required special knowledge.
62 heliostats, consisting of 195 flat mirror elements, are located on the slope of the mountain (Heliocomplex "Sun", Uzbekistan).
Each heliostat is connected to an automatic system that controls its turns depending on the movement of the sun (Heliocomplex "Sun", Uzbekistan).
The complex design of the solar oven required precise calculations, given that it is a complex optical-mechanical complex equipped with automatic control systems. It consists of 4 structural units, one of them is a heliostat field located on a gentle slope, on which 62 heliostats assembled from 195 flat mirror elements are installed in a checkerboard pattern.
A parabolic solar concentrator with an area of 1840 sq.m. consists of 10.7 thousand mirrors (Solar solar complex, Uzbekistan).
Opposite the automatically controlled mirrors of the heliostat field is a paraboloid (concave) concentrator made of 10,700 mirrors distributed over an area of 1,840 m². It is this design that is capable of forming a stationary high-density energy flow in the focal zone of the concentrator, which is redirected to the central tower, in which a temperature of over 3500 ° C is created, which is the equivalent of the energy of "10 thousand suns".
Interesting: The diameter of the parabolic mirror in the "Solntse" solar complex is 47 m, and in the Odeilia solar oven - 54 m.
In the center of the parabolic concentrator, at the 6th floor level, there is a pyrometric laboratory, which controls all processes during smelting (Solntse Heliocomplex, Uzbekistan).
Naturally, no one uses such superpowers for the sake of banal remelting of metals, they are used for scientific purposes, since testing of equipment and materials that are involved in the aviation and aerospace industries cannot be carried out under normal conditions.
The flow of sun rays is reflected from the mirror surface of the parabolic concentrator and is focused into a circular target with a diameter of 40 cm. (Heliocomplex "Sun", Uzbekistan).
For example, to create the skin of a spacecraft or orbital station, you need to know exactly how the body of the object tolerates heat under constant exposure to sunlight and how it reacts to a sharp drop in temperature. It is clear to everyone that such research will not be possible without the solar complex. Although such installations can easily be used for a variety of purposes, for example, for generating electricity, hydrogen fuel or creating nanomaterials, as well as melting steel and other high-strength materials.
A breathtaking view of the technological tower and the concentrator of the solar solar complex (Uzbekistan).
Solar oven advantages:
- thanks to the system of mirrors and concentrators, it became possible to raise the temperature over 3500 ° literally in a matter of seconds, which makes it possible to obtain pure materials without impurities at the output;
- the solar system is capable of providing an instantaneous temperature change, which makes it possible to thoroughly investigate the effect of thermal shocks on materials;
- environmental safety is ensured due to the fact that the object undergoing research is heated only by radiation. This means that the oven does not produce any contaminants.
The parabolic solar concentrator consists of 214 blocks, measuring 4.5x2.25 meters, with 50 mirrors each.
Despite the fact that the Soviet Union is long gone, the "Institute of the Sun" was renamed into the Physicotechnical Institute NPO "Physics-Solntse" of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, and in the same mode it is inspiredly engaged in research work, regularly experimenting with solar panels, nanomaterials, optoelectronics and many others.
Recently, the "Sun" solar complex has become a popular tourist attraction (Uzbekistan).
According to the editors of Novate. Ru, the scientific institution is also engaged in commercial activities, because modern technologies more than ever need highly accurate optoelectronics, pure semiconductors, special ceramics, ultra-precise elements for creating medical equipment and medical equipment, etc.
Tourism has also become popular recently. Travel companies organize exciting day trips so that everyone can see with their own eyes the greatness of the Institute of the Sun and its unique oven.
During the Soviet era, many grandiose scientific and military projects were created. Some objects, without exaggeration, really could be ranked among the greatest achievements of mankind. But, unfortunately, most of them suffered a sad fate - they became gigantic "abandoned", in which at the time to shoot horror films or post-apocalyptic thrillers.
