Editing Solar furnace (section)

== History ==

The [[ancient Greek]] / [[Latin]] term ''heliocaminus''  means "solar furnace" and refers to a [[glass]]-enclosed [[sunroom]] intentionally designed to become hotter than the outside air temperature.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eng-forum.com/articles/Glossaries/Architecture_Roman.htm |title=MEEF Roman Architectural Glossary<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2009-12-05 |archive-date=2017-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612121650/http://www.eng-forum.com/articles/Glossaries/Architecture_Roman.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Legendary accounts of the [[Siege of Syracuse (213–212 BC)]] tell of [[Archimedes' heat ray]], a set of burnished brass mirrors or [[burning glass]]es supposedly used to ignite attacking ships, though modern historians doubt its veracity.

On 24 September 1901, Knut C. Wideen was granted a patent for a "System for collecting and utilizing solar heat", which included a solar furnace.<ref>[https://patents.google.com/patent/US683088A/en U.S. Patent 683,088]</ref>

The first modern solar furnace is believed to have been built in France in 1949 by Professor Félix Trombe. The device, the [[Mont-Louis Solar Furnace]] is still in place at Mont-Louis. The Pyrenees were chosen as the site because the area experiences clear skies up to 300 days a year.<ref>[http://www.promes.cnrs.fr/ Odeillo Solar Furnace official website], retrieved 12 July 2007</ref>

The [[Odeillo solar furnace|Odeillo Solar Furnace]] is a larger and more powerful solar furnace. It was built between 1962 and 1968, and started operating in 1969. It's currently the most powerful, based on an achievable temperature of 3500&nbsp;°C.

[[Solar furnace of Uzbekistan|The Solar Furnace of Uzbekistan]] was built in Uzbekistan and opened in 1981 as a part of a Soviet Union "Sun" Complex Research Facility, being the world largest concentrator.<ref>[http://englishrussia.com/2012/01/25/the-solar-furnace-of-uzbekistan/#more-88701 English Russia's post about the Uzbekistan Soviet Solar Furnace]</ref>