Heliostats are solar power plants that collect sun light by mirrors - sometimes hundreds of them - sending it to a receiver where the energy is converted. The main challenge is how to distribute the mirrors such that a maximum of light is collected. Prof. Manuel Torrilhon from MathCCES collaborated with Prof. Alexander Mitsos and his graduate student Corey Noone (both from MIT) to find a bio-mimetic mirror layout that is inspired from the arrangement of sunflower seeds. The result decreases the area needed for the heliostat and increases the over-all efficiency at the same time. The paper will be published in the journal 'Solar Energy'. Additionally, MIT and RWTH are applying for a patent together with the involved researchers.
The results of this project were featured on the MIT frontpage on January 11, 2012, see also the MIT news. It also made it into several online blogs and technology news, like Wired.com. The January 21 print issue of The Economist contains a short article about it, too.
Alexander Mitsos was a Junior Research Group Leader at the AICES Graduate School of RWTH in 2008.
Arriving August 2015, Prof. Henning Struchtrup from University of Victoria is visiting MathCCES for the two months.
Arriving December 2012, Prof. Clinton Groth from University of Toronto is visiting MathCCES for the winter term of 2012/13.
Arriving mid of March 2011, Prof. Benjamin Seibold from Temple University is visiting MathCCES for the summer term of 2011.
* Speaker: Prof. Rodolphe Turpault, Université de Nantes, France
* Title: Asymptotic Preserving Scheme for Systems of Conservation Laws with
Stiff Source Terms
* Location and Time: MATHCCES seminar room 1090|328, 16:30 - 17:30
* Speaker: Prof. Benjamin Seibold, Temple University, USA
* Title: New computational approaches based on the method of characteristics
* Location and Time: MATHCCES seminar room 1090|328, 15:45 - 16:45
New Master program Nuclear Safety Engineering