Thixotropic mixture and method of making same
- Filed
- 6 February 1975
- Granted
- 19 October 1976
- Assignee
- University of Delaware
Solar energy materials
Maria Telkes: inventions and patents
Known for Solar thermal storage and solar heatingNationality Born in Budapest, Hungary12 December 1900 to 2 December 1995
Maria Telkes was a scientist born in Budapest who worked on solar heating, thermoelectric generators and solar distillers. The National Inventors Hall of Fame says that at MIT she worked on the Dover Sun House, which used sodium sulphates to store solar energy, and lists her invention as solar thermal storage systems. Her US patent 3,986,969 for a thixotropic mixture, assigned to the University of Delaware, was granted in 1976. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.1,2
Patents
Inventions
- Solar thermal storage systems. Methods of storing solar heat in salts such as sodium sulphates, used in the Dover Sun House.1
- Thixotropic heat storage mixture (US 3,986,969). A mixture for storing heat using the heat of fusion of sodium sulfate decahydrate, with borax as a nucleating agent and attapulgite clay to keep the salt suspended through repeated melting and freezing.2
Recognition
- 2012 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame1
Sources
- National Inventors Hall of Fame, Maria Telkes (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Google Patents, US3986969A Thixotropic mixture and method of making same (accessed 2026-10-28)