Solar

Circuits
http://makezine.com/projects/make-36-boards/how-to-use-leds-to-detect-light/ LT1006 for converting light on green led to voltage with TransimpedenceAmp. Anode connected to ground, all other opamps the cathode connected to ground. Forest Mims specifies 220pf and 1meg feedback resistor.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.515.3785&rep=rep1&type=pdf pinhole sun sensing for satellite. I/V converter. See journal paper citations Dec.1969.

Foundry
Design and build instructions with pictures. References Redrok_solar_links http://www.foundry.ray-vin.com/fusion/fusionstory.htm Melting furnace with building instructions for heliostat

The mounting bolts are bent using a bending tool to focus the mirrors as per this idea http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/solar/page_44.htm

Steam, Stirling engines
http://www.slamvalvemotor.com/

http://www.redrok.com/engine.htm

Carnutt solar furnace
First published design of Fresnel solar array for a solar furnace. The Carnutt Solar Furnace as presented in "The Mother Earth News".
 * http://www.redrok.com/tmendish.htm

Teton engineering Helio stat
Released free design of huge 4x4m 6000watt concentrating helio stat solar energy and encourages its construction.

Teton Engineering Inc developed a 20,000 Btu (6000 watt) solar concentrator designed specifically for the backyard mechanic to build using simple construction and basic materials. The design was marketed all around the world while interest was high, but eventually that interest faded away. We continue to receive requests for the manual but it has been withdrawn from the market long ago due to the ever increasing litigious atmosphere in the USA. Searching the internet, we find very little information to help the non professional or hobbyist solar energy experimenter so have decided to contribute the successful design to the public domain without an obligation to provide support or expect compensation. This information is offered for historical interest.
 * http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/solar/solarhom.htm

They call this system a Fresnel reflector meaning that the reflector (concentrator is made up of many small segments rather than one continuous surface.
 * Mirror tiles as the segments came from Charles Curnutt, Popular Science, April 1978.
 * SOLAR ENERGY THERMAL PROCESSES by Duffie and Beckman- published by John Wiley and Sons,(1974) was the major engineering referance for this project. They call this system a Fresnel reflector meaning that the reflector (concentrator is made up of many small segments rather than one continuous surface.
 * http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/solar/page_iii.htm  A TRACKING SOLAR CONCENTRATOR construction manual

http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/solar/page_46.htm THE COLLECTOR:

collector must be a rugged device, capable of surviving a loss of fluid, in which case it will heat to about 1200 F before its losses equal the solar energy input. It must be designed to handle the fluid flow rate and pressure to satisfy your application. The first idea that comes to mind, is to use copper tubing, perhaps attached to a flat metal plate similar to the construction of most flat plate collectors. This indeed has been tried and found unsatisfactory. The tubing cannot be soft soldered because of the high temperatures and hard soldering creates monstrous warpage problems. Mechanical attachment such as clamping fails when the copper loses its temper, and oxides form when it overheats, resulting in poor thermal connection. The plate cannot be eliminated, unless you can figure out a way to cover the entire target area with tubing and still manage to have low flow resistance. Tests were made with collectors using aluminum which simply melted and ran like molasses when overheated.

The satisfactory design that was adopted for the prototype is very easy for you to duplicate. Two plates of 14 gauge steel are sandwiched to- gether and the fluid is ran through the space between them. The heat has only a few thousandths of an inch to travel to reach the fluid. The resistance to fluid flow is very low and the design has survived many deliberate dry runs for hours at a time. It is necessarily heavier than some others we tested, weighing in at 23 pounds, but this is acceptable. The collector is built somewhat like a steam boiler with stay bolts to strengthen it, figure 28. Caution: It is not a steam boiler and we have made no attempt to test or prove its capabilities under high pressure steam. The collector is intended to work in a low pressure loop, not to exceed twenty psi. If you need higher pressure, then you should seek out persons skilled in boiler design for advice. http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/solar/page_50.htm

http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/solar/page_53.htm Several pumps are available varying greatly in cost, performance and noise. We have selected a very satisfactory one for the prototype, a Grundfos model UPS20-42 available from heating and plumbing suppliers around the country.

An optional, but recommended safety device that you should consider at this time is a high temperature limit control that will direct the electronic tracking system to get off the sun to prevent a boil-over. We used a Ranco C30-C1250 remote bulb temperature controller with an adjustable range of 120 to 250 F. It has a six foot lead and bulb that can be strapped to the piping at the top of the array while the control is mounted near the hub where you have easy access to it. An alternative is a Honeywell L6008C1206-30 to 270F. Others, who have built copies of our system have elected to install a snap action limit switch, 300F right behind the collector so it can sense an over- heat with no fluid in the system, to transmit heat to the previous device.

Other controls might sense the temperature in a storage tank and direct the array to get off the sun when the desired limit is reached. Any one or all of these controls can be wired into the electronic track- ing system providing they open a circuit when the limit is reached.

Improve on Teton
SolarLinks

eskimo
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/amateur/mirror.html INFINITELY LARGE SOLAR FURNACE is another type of Fresnel reflector lens. "....These diagrams show a tiny 6 X 6 mirror-array as an example. Also, I used the silicone-glue "hinges" for this version so my array could be reprogrammable. If you only want a fixed-focus furnace, you can use screws to adjust the mirror chips, then glue them permanently into position. Obviously you can increase the size of the array to large as you wish. My dream is to build an array the size of a 4ft X 8ft sheet of plywood. With 1 inch mirror chips, it should create a focused spot which is 4000 times brighter than normal sunlight...."

My Notes: Funnel this 1x2m board of glass chips focused energy through a frensel, CPC (compound parabolic concentrator) lens through a 3meter fiber optic cable. Arrange 5 such 1x2m boards and five fiber cables total. Thus the combined fiber cables are inserted into a boiler or Stirling element adjacent to the boards. An effective 20square meter of solar energy can thus be focused down to any size without the need for one huge parabolic dish. A 4.5mx4.5m dish would need about 800kg of concrete to anchor into the ground. In contrast five 1x2m panels can be installed on a residential roof. There are patents (some expired) on focusing the sun energy into a fiber cable via fresnel lens, collimating lens or CPC lens.

Such combined energy into fiber would probably allow the fiber cables to be used to cut metal like a laser would. Glass fiber are used to weld metal in industrial robotic welding applications, glass only melts at 2000degrees celcius. A StirlingEngine needs about 400degrees celcius to operate and steam boiler about the same or less.

Eskimo solar furnace

Solar parabolic plans
http://www.ffwdm.com/solar/solar-index.htm linked from http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm

A tracking parabolic trough solar heater you can build I have built a parabolic solar tracking concentrator of my own design. These are pictures of the working prototype. The plan book is now available here Please read this recent review

Time-lapse videos of the system in operation at: youtube.com/user/georgeplhak

Comments from the readers of this project page and the blog: ffwdm.com/solar/comments.htm

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): ffwdm.com/solar/FAQ.htm

Bill Of Materials is here (PDF) including part costs (revised Mar 29/10). This list gives the page number in the book where each part is discussed in detail including methods of fabrication, sources of supply and any alternatives that are suggested. You supply the labor or you can have the parts made for you locally.

Parts cost per section C$185 (Canadian dollars) Parts cost of the motor drive C$235 (only one required) Parts cost of the solar sensor and housing C$60 (one required)

Solar
http://www.briery.com/solar/solar_tracker.html

Links to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGDcVHCKlCI making parabolic

Event horizons
http://www.eventhorizons.com/solar/solarstuff.shtml

http://www.eventhorizons.com/solar/solar2.html picture of mirror cell construction in helio stats.

http://alanod.com/opencms/opencms/Miro/index.html

Selftest.net

 * http://www.selftest.net/media/solar/ tennis balls, helio stat mirror
 * http://www.selftest.net/media/SunCalcs.htm

Axel's Helioworm 	practical
http://www.mikrocontroller.net/articles/Sonnenfolger_/_Heliostat SUN TRACKER

http://home.arcor.de/heliostat/

Axel's Helioworm Heliostat. Helioworm - DIY Heliostat drive with self made worm gear. The worm gear wheel is made from the white plastic of a cutting board. The stepper motors and the gears are taken from an old printer. All moving parts and the control electronics are located in the housing and are the weather proof. The control unit is based on an Atmel Mega168 micro controller. Electronic board and control program.

Heliotrack.com
Commercial product for sale stands, tracking etc.

http://www.heliotrack.com/TheHeliostat.html The goal was to develop a target-axis heliostat built with common construction materials and simple solar tracking electronics capable of sub-degree accuracy. There are advantages and disadvantages of this type of autonomous heliostat design. Advantages: Disadvantages: Spot drift during overcast periods (***WARNING*** this is a major safety concern with heliostats especially if they are optically actuated. If the sun goes behind the clouds or the heliostat malfunctions the focal spot will drift off target. For low solar concentrations and lighting applications this is usually not a problem, but imagine if you had 20 heliostats set up ... anything in the path of the solar spot while it is off target or is moving back to the target could get VERY HOT and possibly CATCH ON FIRE! Screening and blinding are two possible ways to address this problem.)
 * Aiming is simple, just point the heliostat toward the target.
 * Leveling is not required.
 * Simple electronic design. (No encoders, microprocessors, or computers.)
 * Inexpensive DC motors.
 * Low parasitic power consumption. (Approximately 4 milliamps.)
 * Wide power supply range (9 - 36 vdc)
 * Optical sensor will not work if anything gets between it and the sun.
 * Rotary actuatiors can be prohibitively expensive.

http://www.heliotrack.com/Parabolic.html The CSP collector element is a 10" diameter spiral coil of 3/8" soft copper tube. To absorb more energy it has painted with high temperature black B-B-Q paint purchased from Home Depot. Water, antifreeze, or mineral oil is circulated through the collector coil and then through another copper heat exchange coil in the holding tank or boiler. The white fiberglass insulation on the back of the coil is there to reduced re-radiation and convection losses. The tank heating element is a coil of 1/4"copper tube. The temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the cooling coil is 40˚F at a circulation volume of .3 gallons per minute. It is imperative that this system has some means of pressure relief. At some point the transfer fluid will flash into steam causing pressure buildup in the system. It is possible to get a constant flow of steam by using a positive displacement feed pump adjusted to the proper flow rate.
 * http://www.heliotrack.com/Heliostat1M.html
 * http://www.heliotrack.com/ Helio stat design

This is a prototype parabolic dish thermal collector. In this case we are using it to heat water. Parabolic dish collectors require dual-axis solar tracking. The collector element is a coil of 1/4"copper tube painted with high temperature black paint. The tracking range of this dish is 300˚ which makes it great for higher latitudes, it also has a tilt back feature for low latitude operation where the sun seasonally goes from the northern to southern sky.

The collector element is a coil of 1/4"copper tube painted with high temperature flat black paint. Water or antifreeze is circulated through the collector coil and then through a copper heating coil in a holding tank. We can heat about 10 gallons of water from 60˚F to about 120˚F in 8 hours. This dish collects about .28 square meters of sun. If it were 100% efficient it would produce about 280 watts of power or 956 BTU's per hour or 7648 BTU in 8 hours. In actuality it produces about 4980 BTU in 8 hours. This is a system efficiency of about 65%.

There is controversy surrounding ethanol and whether it contributes a net gain or loss in the sustainable energy equation. One of the main drawbacks with ethanol fuel is that it takes energy to manufacture - first in the cultivation and harvesting of sugar crops, and again in the distillation process. Another drawback is that the cultivation of crops to make fuel could compete for resources needed to grow food.
 * http://www.heliotrack.com/Solar-Ethanol.html

But consider this: - regardless of where it fits into the sustainability equation, ethanol is one of the only liquid fuels that can be easily made by the average person. If the gas stations run dry, not to worry! If you can procure sugar and yeast; with a well crafted still you can make fuel to power your car, motorcycle or lawnmower. It might not be very feasible on a large scale, but on a small scale, this process empowers the individual tremendously. With the exception of Italy and New Zealand, personal manufacture of ethanol is illegal. Fortunately, in the United States a person can apply for an alcohol fuel producer permit, which provides a legal avenue for citizens to make their own ethanol for fuel. The catch: you must surrender the property where your still is located to spontaneous government inspection. This is a big deterrent for many people. The people we talked with at the TTB were professional, friendly, and to the point. They issued our permit in less than a month. It seemed to move things along that we had a facility dedicated to this type of research and had everything setup and ready to go.

totem
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/03/21/the-five-best-micro-wind-turbines/3/

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/10/30/new-micro-wind-turbine-company-makes-owning-wind-power-a-breeze/

otempower’s New Micro-Wind Turbine

The new wind turbine was developed under a partnership with the City University London, based on a patented, low cost technology developed by the University called the Passive Air-jet Vortex Generator. The high-efficiency aerodynamics enable the turbine to operate at lower speeds, which presumably would help mute the any noise. More to the point, Totempower’s goal is to make wind turbine ownership as simple as owning any other standard home energy device such as a furnace or hot water heater. Testing at the University is under way and the company hopes to secure financing to bring two models into production by 2012 – a smaller model for individual homes and a larger one for commercial facilities or community power generation.

Links
http://raenergy.igc.org/home.html

http://raenergy.igc.org/ultimatveh.html

http://www.ece.vill.edu/~nick/usenet/

http://www.ush2.com/ hydrogen

http://www.knowledgepublications.com/

Hydrogen Generator Gas for Vehicles and Engines: Volumes 3 and 4 by Compiled by KnowledgePublications.com ISBN:250 pages  8.5x11 inches [size]

Yes you can run a generator on wood. Contains Hands ON DIY STEP By STEP Construction of a Simplified Wood Gas Generator for an engine in a Petroleum Emergency. Includes detailed, illustrated instructions for the fabrication, installation, and operation of a Biomass Gasifier plus it contains The Handbook of Biomass Gasifier Engine Systems, which gives you all the theory and background on design, testing, operation and manufacture of small-scale gasifiers. We have combined two unique works and republished them as the second book in our Hydrogen Generator Gas for Vehicles and Engines series to help fill the continuing needs for information in this needed DIY home power field.

http://www.redrok.com/NewtonSolarSteamManuscript.pdf turbine thesis