Browsing by Author "Martinez, Diego"
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- Current Progress of Activities at EU-SOLARIS ERIC: The European Research Infrastructure Consortium for CSP TechnologiesPublication . Sánchez-Moreno, Ricardo; Blanco Galvez, Julian; Guillot, Emmanuel; Flamant, Gilles; Blanco Muriel, Manuel Jesus; Benitez, Daniel; Georgiou, Marios; Fylaktos, Nestor; Cardoso, João; Canavarro, Diogo; Martín, José; Martinez, DiegoABSTRACT: An ERIC, established by a decision of the European Commission, is a legal entity possessing legal personality and full legal capacity acknowledged across all EU Member States. Its primary role is to establish and operate a research infrastructure on a non-economic basis. Under the initiative of Spain, France, Germany, and Cyprus as Members, with Portugal as an Observer, a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) has been formed. This consortium, named "European Solar Research Infrastructure for Concentrated Solar Power" (EU-SOLARIS ERIC) is established in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No. 723/2009 of 25 June 2009. The establishment of an ERIC was sanctioned by the European Commission, as evidenced in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2297 of 19 October 2022 [1]. The inaugural assembly of the EU-SOLARIS ERIC took place at the CIEMAT Headquarters in Madrid on 12th January 2023. During this gathering, the General Assembly was officially convened, and the Statutes along with other governing documents were formally endorsed. At the time of composing this document, negotiations for the accession of three additional countries—Greece, Turkey, and Italy—are underway. This paper summarizes the R&D activities carried out during this first year of the ERIC, particularly, we describe the new projects achieved.
- EU-SOLARIS: The European Research Infrastructure Consortium for CSP TechnologiesPublication . Martinez, Diego; Blanco Galvez, Julian; Zarza, Eduardo; Sánchez-Moreno, Ricardo; Bataille, Francoise; Flamant, Gilles; Georgiou, Marios; Richter, Christoph; Blanco, Manuel; Cardoso, João P.; Horta, Pedro; Canavarro, DiogoABSTRACT: After many years of fruitful collaboration in the field of research infrastructures (RIs) for concentrated solar power/solar thermal energy applications, several European countries decided to apply to the European Commission to go a step forward and create a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), a new legal form of association which poses a number of advantages in the endeavour for a further development of this technology in Europe at all levels. This new consortium, EU-SOLARIS ERIC, is likely to be legally implemented in October 2022, after a long negotiation and evaluation process, where the support of the respective Governmental research agencies of the countries involved has been crucial. EU-SOLARIS ERIC will be a legal entity and its main goal will be the improvement of the interoperability, accessibility and quality of services provided by the existing European research infrastructures to the CSP/STE research communities and industrial stakeholders. Although the current Members of the EU-SOLARIS consortium are Germany, France, Cyprus and Spain (Statutory Seat at Plataforma Solar de Almeria, Spain), plus Portugal as an Observer, it is open to any other country willing to participate as Member or Observer.
- Heterogeneity along the Height in Disc Specimens of Graphite/Tungsten Powder Mixtures with Sub-Stoichiometric Carbon Atom Ratios Heated by Concentrated Solar Beam to 1600 CPublication . Shohoji, Nobumitsu; Magalhães, Teresa; Oliveira, Fernando Almeida Costa; Rosa, Luís Guerra; Fernandes, Jorge Cruz; Rodriguez, Jose; Cañadas, Inmaculada; Martinez, DiegoCompositional heterogeneity along the thickness of compacted disc specimens of graphite/tungsten powder mixtures with substoichiometric carbon atom ratios (0.35, 0.50 and 1.00) heated by concentrated solar beam to 1600 C was characterised by X-ray diffraction. Top surface of any examined test piece was consisted purely of mono-carbide WC while the bottom surface showed different constitution depending on the net initial C/W ratio of the test piece; almost pure metallicWfor the C/W ¼ 0:35 specimen, dominant metallicWassociated with small proportion ofW2C for the C/W ¼ 0:50 and dominantW2C with trivial proportion of WC for the C/W ¼ 1:0. In the intermediate zone between the top and the bottom layers, the constitution held virtually constant depending on the nominal C/W ratio of the starting material: co-existing metallicWandW2C for the C/W ¼ 0:35, pureW2C for the C/W ¼ 0:50 and predominant WC with traceW2C for the C/W ¼ 1:00. Unlike for the top surface of the C/W ¼ 0:35 test piece heated in a solar furnace to 1900 C reported earlier, no evidence of formation of nano-meter scale WC whisker was detected for the top surface in any sample heated to 1600 C in the present work.
- Mechanical properties of dense cordierite discs sintered by solar radiation heatingPublication . Oliveira, Fernando Almeida Costa; Shohoji, Nobumitsu; Martinez, Diego; Fernandes, Jorge Cruz; Rodriguez, Jose; Rosa, Luís Guerra; Cañadas, InmaculadaConsolidation of cordierite disc specimens was undertaken under concentrated solar beam in a solar furnace at PSA (Plataforma Solar de Almerıá). Satisfactory extent of densification was achieved by the present solar-sintering experiment. The mechanical properties measured for the solar-sintered cordierite test pieces were; density ¼ 2:45 0:02 g/cm3, Vickers microhardness HV ¼ 7:31 0:29 GPa, Young’s modulus E ¼ 97 5 GPa, shear modulus G ¼ 38 2 GPa, Poisson ratio ¼ 0:27 0:01, fracture toughness KIC ¼ 1:50 0:15 MPa m1=2 and modulus of rupture evaluated by ring-on-ring test MORROR ¼ 57:8 13:7 MPa which were comparable to those of the counterparts sintered by conventional industrial gas furnace.
- Synthesising carbo-nitrides of some d-group transition metals using a solar furnace at PSAPublication . Shohoji, Nobumitsu; Oliveira, Fernando Almeida Costa; Rosa, Luís Guerra; Fernandes, Jorge Cruz; Magalhães, Teresa; Coelho, Manuel Caldeira; Rodriguez, Jose; Cañadas, Inmaculada; Ramos, Carlos; Martinez, DiegoCarbo-nitride synthesis was undertaken using a solar furnace at PSA in flowing N2/Ar gas mixture under total pressure 1 atm and processing temperature T = 1600ºC for some d-group transition elements (Ti; Zr, V, Nb, Mo, W) starting from 1.5G/M (graphite/metal powder mixture with mole ratio 1.5:1) compact to ensure co-presence of free carbon with the reaction product. Clear X-ray diffraction (XRD) evidence of formation of carbo-nitride was detected for Ti (IVa group metal) showing higher N content in the carbo-nitride synthesised in N2 gas environment at partial pressure p(N2) = 1 atm than that at p(N2) = 0.5 atm. For M = V and Nb (Va group metals), formation of mono-carbide MC single-phase was detected in the N2 environment showing no evidence of formation of carbo-nitride in spite of presence of N2 in the environment. For M = Mo and W (VIa group metals), formation of higher carbide, among several options of carbide phases, appeared to be promoted in the N2 gas environment although, like in cases with the Va group metals, no evidence of dissolution of N into the reaction product was detected. As such, at T = 1600ºC in N2 gas environment up to p(N2) = 1 atm under concentrated solar beam, carbo-nitride formed from the 1.5G/M mixture only for IVa group metal (Ti) but not for Va and VIa group metals. Anyway, it seemed certain that N2 gas affected somehow the reaction path between G and M to yield the carbide phase for M = V, Nb, Mo and W.