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Fig. 4.The Solar Energy Sputnik,
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Fig. 4. The Solar Energy Sputnik,
generating electricity from the sunlight
The most efficient way of generating electricity from sunlight, however, seems to be the 'solar battery'. The first of this type was demonstrated in 1954 by a team of scientists from the American Bell Laboratories. It operated with semi-conductor crystals similar to those used in transistors either of germanium or of silicon. When sunlight strikes such a crystal, an electric current is generated. A Bell battery of 400 silicon cells was able to produce a 12-volt current. Since its first demonstration, the solar battery has been extensively developed and has taken part in one of Man's greatest adventures — the sending of satellites and rocket vehicles into space. Solar batteries, as well as the already mentioned atomic batteries, are very suitable for powering the transmitters in space vehicles because of their long life.
French scientists have designed a solar lamp. It is about as big as a small suitcase; at the top it has a collector panel consisting of a few dozen photo-sensitive silicon cells, and the solar energy which they collect is stored in a small accumulator. The underside of the 'suitcase' consists of a fluorescent tube. During day-time the device is put out in the sun, and in the evening it is taken indoors and the lamp switched on. Depending on the time the collector has been exposed to the sun the lamp will then shine for a few hours.
In the 1950' s, the Solar Energy Committee of the British National Physical Laboratory made a suggestion which could help to provide tropical regions with perpetual energy: the planting of quick-growing forest wood such as eucalyptus, and its continuous combustion in medium-size power stations. A few square miles of eucalyptus forest would yield enough wood to fire the boilers of the power station for ever because the wood would grow as fast as it is used up.
PHRASES & WORD COMBINATIONS TO THE TEXT
1. its modern off-spring is – ее современным воплощением является
2. usually a coil of pipes – змеевик
EXERCISES
TASK 1. Answer the questions:
1. What is the most primitive device for catching the heat of the sun? ___________
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2. How do different countries use the sun energy? __________________________
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3. Who suggested the introduction of a cheap solar cooker? ___________________
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4. What is the most efficient way of generating electricity? ___________________
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5. What is the solar battery? ____________________________________________
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6. Who has designed a solar lamp? ______________________________________
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7. What does the lamp consist of? _______________________________________
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8. What suggestion the Solar Energy Committee of the British National Physical Laboratory made to provide tropical regions with perpetual energy? ____________
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9. What does electricity from eucalyptus show? ____________________________
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10. Today it is the amount of horsepower or kilowatt-hours available to everybody which indicates the degree of civilization, isn’t it? __________________________
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TASK 2. Match the equivalents:
Solar lamp, crystal, arrangement, glass roof, reflecting mirror, abundance, supply, water circulating, solar water-heater, device.
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кристалл
циркуляция воды
стеклянная крыша
солнечная лампа
солнечный водонагреватель
устройство
отражающее зеркало
снабжать
избыток
TASK 3. Continue the sentenses according to the text:
1. The most primitive device for catching and trapping the heat of the sun__________________________________________________________
2. The water circulating in the pipes is heated________________________________________________________
3. In Florida alone ________________________________________________
4. India has______________________________________________________
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5. The Indian National Physical Laboratory___________________________
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6. Another very important device____________________________________
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7. French scientists________________________________________________
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8. The Solar Energy Committee of the British National Physical Laboratory__
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9. Electricity from eucalyptus_______________________________________
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10. In the old days________________________________________________
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TASK 4. Translate into English:
Наиболее эффективный способ генерации электричества солнечного света - солнечная батарея. Первая была продемонстрирована в 1954 группой ученых из Американской Лаборатории. Когда солнечный свет попадает на такой кристалл, возникает электрический ток. Свою первую демонстрацию солнечная батарея произвела, когда принимала участие в отправке спутников и ракет в космос. Солнечные батареи, а также атомные батареи, очень важны для снабжения энергией приборов в космосе.
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TASK 5. Write down your opinion on the text.
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TASK 6. Give annotation of the text.
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TASK 7. Give a short summary of the text.
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TEXT 8
ELECTRIC AND HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
Electricity from eucalyptus may not be the most efficient system of turning the energy of the sun into power, but it shows the ingenuity of our scientists in finding new ways and means to provide mankind with more and more energy; and that means: to raise its standard of living. In the old days, the stage of civilization reached by a nation used to be measured in pounds of soap per head a year; today it is the amount of horsepower or kilowatt-hours available to everybody which indicates the degree of civilization.
Electric power is generated at electric power plants. The main unit of an electric power plant comprises a prime mover and the generator which it rotates.
The order to actuate the prime mover energy is required. Many different sources of energy are in use nowadays. To these sources belong heat obtained by burning fuels, pressure due to the flow of air (wind), solar heat, etc.
According to the kind of energy used by the prime mover, power plants are divided into groups. Thermal, hydraulic (water-power) and wind plants form these groups. According to the kind of prime mover, electric power plants are classed as:
a) Steam turbine plants, where steam turbines serve as prime movers. The main generating units at steam turbine plants belong to the modern, high-capacity class of power plants.
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b) Steam engine plants, in which the prime mover is a piston-type steam engine.
Nowadays no large generating plants of industrial importance are constructed with such prime movers. They are used only for local power supply.
c) Diesel-engine plants; in them diesel internal combustion engines are installed. These plants are also of small capacity, they are employed for local power supply.
d) Hydroelectric power plants employ water turbines as prime movers. Therefore they are called hydroturbine plants. Their main generating unit is the hydrogenerator.
The sum total of the electric power plants, the net works that interconnect them and the power utilizing devices of the consumers is called a power system. All the components of a power system are interrelated by the common processes of protection, distribution and consumption of both electric and heat power. In a power system, all the parallely operating plants takel part in carrying the total load of all the consumers supplied by the given system.
An economical utiliztaion of the power plant installations and of the sources of power is achieved by inter-connected operation of a series of power plants in a common power distribution system.
Modern wind-electric power plants utilize various turbines; these plants as well as the small capacity hydroelectric power plants are widely used in agriculture.
Hydroelectric power plants are built on rivers. Large-capacity hydroelectric power plants are commonly located at considerable distances from the consumers of electric power. The production process at these plants is rather simple: the water flows into the hydroturbine runner, acts upon the runner blades and rotates the runner and the turbine shaft.
The generator shaft is connected to the turbine runner shaft. The difference in the water level influences the power; capacity of a plant, i. e. the magnitude of the water head and the daily inflow of water fluctuates considerably according to the season. The production process is different at power plants of different constructions and of different kinds. In atomic power plants, for example, it is not so simple as in hydroelectric plants.
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