 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Solar : Real, real nubie here
| Author | Message | ||||
Todax Newbie  Joined: 06/11/2010 Location: United StatesPosts: 10 |
Out of work cabinetmaker here and trying to cut my heating bills this winter. Was really impressed with my first basic step of checking out solar possibilities by building a single window recycled can space heater. Totally passive with no moving parts that I can simply place in a window. Heats up ambient air of 65 degrees to over 115 degrees in a minute and keeps my kitchen nicely warmed for over eight hours though the window only gets a few hours of direct sun a day. A small success, but it was simple and cost me a can of spray paint. I've been thinking of a project in Dubia (I think)that focuses the sun light onto a focal point. Granted, this would take some tracking to work well, but can anyone here point me towards a small, or model scale, project to give me some ideas and/or background? Thanx. |
||||
MacGyver Guru  Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Todax I know what you are referring to and it's a bit complicated. Here's what I've done in past times; it's not exactly the same, but easier to build: I made up what is called a Frustum. It is a section out of a 90* cone. I manufactured it out of a rather large sheet of aluminum and mounted the finished frustum onto a frame made of square aluminum tubing and hung it on a fence so it faced due North. I live in the northern hemisphere as you, so this will work for you too. The Frustum gathers whatever amount of light its area will gather and being coated with aluminized mylar on its inner surface, all the light coming in parallel to its center axis, will be focused to a single line up that axis. The sunlight was directed from a flat-plate mirror (recycled mirrored closet door) and hung on a gimbal, so it could be moved about in two planes (up & down as well as left & right). The mirror bisected the angle from the sun's position to the target (Frustum) providing light entering the face of the mirror parallel to its axis. The center axis of the Frustum consisted of a 1/4" soft copper tube wound around another pipe into a coil. I pumped water through this coil. The water went in cold and came out wet steam! I build little steam and air engines as a part of my hobby and this became my "fuel-less" boiler. Hope that gives you some ideas. . . . . . 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 |
||||
| Todax Newbie Joined: 06/11/2010 Location: United StatesPosts: 10 |
Finally, I got back in. The site kept saying I was in, but wouldn't let me post any replies. Anyway, I like the frustum idea and I've even thought about it before I knew its name. I was thinking more along the lines of a stepped unit that didn't need as much tracking. Sort of like giving it a fresnel look. I was going to try it out someday when I find some mylar to make a model with. Two other things... wet steam?? Huh? And, what's up with the guy killing the poor bike? |
||||
 Print this page |
