A few details:
- Those are just simple, band-sawn parabolic arches. The mirror is attached with velcro. Works awesome. Ly.
- I suspended the mirror from the pipe thinking that would keep the focal length constant while allowing simples changes of elevation. Why do I always go straight for the complicatedest solution in the universe?
The highest temp on there is almost 140°C. That's over 280°F. According to my rough calculations, the four steepest upward slopes indicate powers in the range of 20-25 watts. (Some of those dropouts are me messing around with the setup, some are cloud cover. Also, I later discovered that true solar south is like 15 or 20° east of where I've been pointing.)
Two big changes from the last run, other than the already-mentioned one of shortening the excess pipe.
- Painted the pipe flat black.
- Used a laser pointer to adjust the focus. I mounted a frosted glass square (I happen to have a bunch I bought for just such a use as this) at what I thought would be the focal length. Then I stood back and aimed the laser pointer in a roughly perpendicular way and looked where the point fell. This really needs a System to keep it perpendicular, but anyway I was able to determine that my focus was off by over an inch.
Two addendae:
ReplyDelete1) Last night I discovered that the velcro isn't quite as awesome as I thought. Probably the focus was an inch off because some of the velcro had pulled off the ribs. But for a permanent installation, this could be liquid nails or something.
2) I just remembered why I wanted to suspend the mirror from the pipe: So the pipe doesn't move as sun elevation changes. If the pipe moves, the fittings have to be flexible and/or use hoses or something.