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Forum Index : Solar : Solar Furnace from satelite dish
| Author | Message | ||||
Tim_the_bloke Senior Member  Joined: 15/11/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 105 |
I have just come across this story of solar power gone mad. This kid glued mirror tiles to the inside of an old satelite antennae. Just place it in the sunlight, and he has a death ray. Death Ray Unsurprisingly, he burnt down his shed. |
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| VK4AYQ Guru  Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Tim it isn't a new thing mate, we played with this when I was a boy more than 50 years ago, the fact is, that it only works a a single focal point and the reflective energy is enough to melt steel at that point, as I found out when the water supply pump stopped, once out of the focal point the temperature dropped dramatically, at focal point the energy collected was around 80% of the suns energy. Solar collection towers work on this principal and are quite effective. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
NICE 
just what i need  Luck favours the well prepared |
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MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Tim If you want to mess around with this sort of thing, a safer way (at least at my latitude of 34*n 2'w) is to mount the dish facing due north in a fixed vertical position. Next, make a "heliostat" (moveable flat-plate mirror) and mount it on a gimbal. What you do is reflect the sun's light onto a fixed target and if things get out of hand, simply swing the flat-plate mirror anywhere but where it bisects the angle between the sun's position in the sky and your target (the dish). The only semi-critical aspect is that the sun's rays must be reflected into the dish so as to make their pathway perpendicular to the face plane of the dish's circumference at its front edge. Doing it this way pretty much assures that your hand doesn't accidentally pass into the region of concentrated solar rays, in which case you'll hear a pop as your hand explodes! You'll soon find that you get a more-controllable platform if you use what's called a "frustum" instead of a full dish. A frustum is a section of a cone with a mirrored interior. Of course, if the satellite dish already has a mount, use it that way and forget all the fancy stuff; works about the same. . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
I wont be building one as the three and five year olds may hurt themselves I like to see the "pop" though Luck favours the well prepared |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Karl et al All kidding aside, some of the stuff we concoct in our "sheds" can be downright dangerous. Be careful out there! . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| Tim_the_bloke Senior Member Joined: 15/11/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 105 |
It is not unusual for me to go into my shed and find my son has been fiddling with stuff. The mess he can make with a drill press is impressive. I have been imagining a hand going pop. I will not be making a death ray dish. |
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