Heard of Synlight? World's largest artificial sun being built by Germans

The Germans are experimenting with “the world’s largest artificial sun” in the hope that it can be used to generate climate-friendly alternative fuel.

In an experimental attempt to develop better solar production energy, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) scientists designed ‘the world’s largest artificial sun’ officially named as “Synlight”, a giant honeycomb-like set-up, which can generate climate friendly fuel.

Here’s all you need to know about the project which will illuminate a brighter future for renewable energy.

The light is made up of 149 xenon lamps  and it is so  powerful that it's housed in a radioactive chamber — anyone who enters it while the lamps are turned on would burn.

When all the lamps are swivelled to concentrate light on a single spot, the instrument can generate temperatures of around 3,500C, which is  around two to three times the temperature of a blast furnace.

The project uses as much energy as the average four-person household consumes in one year in just four hours!

By focusing the entire array on an 8-inch square, scientists  can produce the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of solar radiation that would normally shine on the same surface.

Here is everything you should know: 

•On 23rd March, 2017 the Julich town of western Germany received the emitting light of the “Synlight”, which is powered by 149-industrial grade film projector spotlights housed in a three-storey building and each projector emits light which is 4,000 times the average bulb. It produces light at about 10,000 times the intensity of natural sunlight on Earth.

 •As a key to test novel ways to produce hydrogen, which produces no carbon emissions and does not add up to the global warming, the temperatures at the target point of each lamp in the enormous structure can reach up to 3,000 degrees Celsius. The researchers can use these temperatures to manufacture fuels, including hydrogen. The purpose of this experiment is to establish an optimum system for concentrating natural sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen fuel. 

•This global lighthouse project uses an electricity equivalent to that used by a four-person household in a year. In Synlight’s 350-kilowatt array, there are three separate radiation chambers, which generates solar radiation of up to 380 kilowatts and two times up to 240 kilowatts with a maximum flux density of more than 11 megawatts per square metre.

•The Synlight’s task is help scientists understand how to harness the sun’s natural light and power in order to reduce the money and effort required to produce electricity needed to break down water and obtain hydrogen, which could then be used as a fuel source for aeroplanes and cars.

•In the major parts of the world, the sunlight is being immensely variable and unpredictable, the artificial sun is now considered as a favored choice for developing production processes for solar fuels. This project will allow the world to transform from consuming toxic energy to using clean energy like hydrogen.

•Talking about the creation of fuel, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Solar Research Director, Hoffschmidt said that, “hydrogen can be incredibly volatile, but can create environmentally-safe kerosene fuel once blended with carbon monoxide from renewable sources”. For example, it would be easier to make eco-friendly kerosene for aviation industry.