2022-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS2022 Volume 8 Mauntz Intl. Symp. Energy Production

Editors:F. Kongoli, H. Dodds, S. Atnaw, T. Turna.
Publisher:Flogen Star OUTREACH
Publication Year:2022
Pages:266 pages
ISBN:978-1-989820-48-3(CD)
ISSN:2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series)
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    Solar-Pumped Laser using 1㎡ class of Fresnel lens and solar cavity of ABS

    Hayato KOSHIJI1; Takumi Shimoyama2; Tomomasa OHKUBO3; Ei-ichi MATSUNAGA3; Yuji Sato4; Thanh-hung Dinh5; Jun-ichi Yokota6;
    1TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan; 2TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, Tokyo, Japan; 3TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, Hachiouji, Japan; 4JOINING AND WELDING RESEARCH INSTITUTE, OSAKA UNIVERSITY, Osaka, Japan; 5NATIONAL INSTITUTES FOR QUANTUM AND RADIOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Kyoto, Japan; 6LAFORET ENGINEERRING CORPRATION, Tokyo, Japan;
    Type of Paper: Regular
    Id Paper: 27
    Topic: 17

    Abstract:

    The sunlight inexhaustibly falls on the earth. In order to realize sustainable society, it is necessary to utilize its energy effectively. However, energy of the sunlight is difficult to use because of its low coherency. A solar-pumped laser that directly converts sunlight into laser was realized in 1965 [1]. In 2012, the authors succeeded in developing a solar-pumped laser system of 120 W using a large 4 m2 of Fresnel lens as the primary focusing concentrator [2]. However, the primary concentrator was so large that it was difficult to create with high accuracy and transparency. As a result, only 42% of solar light collection efficiency was obtained [3].
    In this study, a solar concentrating system using a Fresnel lens and a flat mirror of 1 m2 class was developed. As a result, a solar light collection efficiency of 58.5% was realized. Furthermore, this system is able to track the sun with controlling yaw and pitch angles and it can keep the laser head horizontally.
    The sunlight collected by the Fresnel lens is re-focused into the laser medium by the solar cavity. In this study, the solar cavity was manufactured by 3D printer using ABS resin. Using a 3D printer, it is able to accelerate optimization of solar cavity because required time is much shorter than other methods such as milling and drilling metal materials. We realized 2.43W laser output using the solar cavity of ABS resin made by 3D printer. However, we could keep lasing only for 18 seconds. This is probably due to the deformation of the solar cavity made of ABS resin because collected solar power is partially absorbed by it.
    In the future, we will manufacture a solar cavity that does not deform due to the heat generated by light collection, aiming for stable lasing.

    Keywords:

    Energy; Laser; Sustainability; Technology;

    References:

    [1] C. G. Young, Appl. Opt. 5, 993 (1966).
    [2] T. H. Dinh, T. Ohkubo, T. Yabe, and H. Kuboyama, Opt. Lett. 37, 13 (2012)
    [3] Tomomasa Ohkubo and Ei-ichi Matsunaga, Report of the 476th Laser Society of Japan Workshop (2015)

    Cite this article as:

    KOSHIJI H, Shimoyama T, OHKUBO T, MATSUNAGA E, Sato Y, Dinh T, Yokota J. (2022). Solar-Pumped Laser using 1㎡ class of Fresnel lens and solar cavity of ABS. In F. Kongoli, H. Dodds, S. Atnaw, T. Turna. (Eds.), Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit SIPS2022 Volume 8 Mauntz Intl. Symp. Energy Production (pp. 237-238). Montreal, Canada: FLOGEN Star Outreach