In reply to Mike Carrell's message of Sat, 3 May 2008 13:03:03 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Small problem: frenels make cheap concentrators, but then you need >sun-tracking mounting, not shown, and that can be quite expensive. >Non-focusing concentrators have been devised, but such are not shown. > >Mike Carrell I fail to see why solar tracking should be expensive. As I see it there is a relatively simple way this can be done.
First the actual motion of each set of collectors is controlled by a worm gear driven by a stepper motor. This allows for very fine control. Whole sets of units could even be linked together by a single long rod, so that a single motor would move all of them concurrently. Second the actual determination of where the thing should point could be done with a single cheap PC controlling an entire park of units. The amount of computing power required is absolutely trivial, so the PC used should be the cheapest available (read: boat anchor). The software already exists if I'm not mistaken, and is currently used by astronomers for tracking the stars. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk The shrub is a plant.
