In reply to ChemE Stewart's message of Mon, 30 May 2016 00:02:57 -0400: Hi, [snip]
Lightning on bright sunny days is very rare. ;) >You guys are ignoring all of the mechanical and structural challenges of >pointing 350,000, 30 foot mirrors at the ground using worm gears and >stepper motors that have just lost power due to a storm and/or lightning >strike. No motor power, no movement. The fuel source (the sun) keeps >moving up and then down towards the west, so the focal point(s) of all of >that incident power is constantly changing. > >It is not like a typical boiler where the flame safety system can cut the >source of fuel. It is more like a cross between fukushima and the towering >inferno :) > >On Sun, May 29, 2016 at 10:46 PM, <mix...@bigpond.com> wrote: > >> >> In reply to Stephen A. Lawrence's message of Sat, 28 May 2016 17:18:24 >> -0400: >> Hi, >> [snip] >> >It ought to be possible to build the things with a fail-safe mode >> >wherein loss of power results in the mirrors defocussing. Shouldn't be >> >hard; the /hard/ thing, presumably, is getting them all pointing at the >> >_same_ spot. Making them /not/ do that should be easy. >> > >> >> Just turn them all upside down so they point at the ground. >> >> Regards, >> >> Robin van Spaandonk >> >> http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html >> >> Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
