Dieter Gruen - Solar Energy

Solar Energy

In order to convert solar energy efficiently, a variety of approaches are being developed. The one chosen by Gruen was a heat pump driven by solar energy inputs. A novel concept was elaborated, which utilized a pair of metal alloy hydrides whose hydrogen dissociation temperatures could be adjusted by varying the alloy composition. This, as all of Gruen's work, was motivated by a desire to achieve fundamental understanding, in this case of the science underlying the heats of formation of alloy hydrides. The specific problem to which the basic knowledge was applied, namely the actual operation of a hydride heat pump demonstrated that solar inputs at modest temperature can be used for space heating and air conditioning. The synthesis of the metal alloy hydrides provided an early example of a field that has come to be known as "materials by design."