Solar heating apparatus
AssigneeMalz Nominees Pty. Ltd.
InventorJohn Massey Trihey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Solar heating apparatus for heating a heat transfer medium comprising a support structure, a light absorbing surface arranged to transmit heat to a heat transfer medium, focussing means mounted on said support structure for focussing solar energy upon the light absorbing surface, and tracking means for tracking movement of the sun and moving the focussing means relative to the support structure to maintain the solar energy focussed upon the light absorbing surface.
Claims11
Solar heating apparatus for heating a heat transfer medium comprising a support structure, a solar energy absorbing surface which is at least partly spherical arranged to transmit heat to a heat transfer medium, focussing means mounted on said support structure for focussing solar energy upon the solar energy absorbing surface, tracking means for tracking movement of the sun and for rotating the focussing means relative to the support structure about first and second mutually perpendicular axes to maintain the solar energy focussed upon the solar energy absorbing surface, and support means for said absorbing surface, said support means being fixed relative to said focussing means and mounting said absorbing surface in a fixed location relative to said support structure and immovable relative thereto and such that said first and second axes intersect at the geometric center of said absorbing surface, said support means including concave surfaces which are of complementary configuration to said absorbing surface and which surround the spherical part of said absorbing surface.
Solar heating apparatus for heating a heat transfer medium comprising a support structure, a solar energy absorbing surface arranged to transmit heat to a heat transfer medium, focussing means having a principal optical axis, said forcussing means being mounted on said support structure for focussing solar energy upon the solar energy absorbing surface, and tracking means for tracking movement of the sun and for moving the focussing means relative to the support structure to maintain the solar energy focussed upon the solar energy absorbing surface, said tracking means comprising sensing means for sensing mis-orientations between the principal optical axis and the direction of the sun, said sensing means having an optical axis which is arranged to be parallel with the optical axis of the focussing means and including a pair of heat or light sensitive elements disposed on opposite sides of said optical axis, said elements being exposed to a different degree of solar radiation when said optical axis is mis-aligned with the direction of the sun, said sensing means also including shading means disposed along its optical axis for shading said heat or light sensitive elements in a predetermined manner when the optical axis of the sensing means is directed at the sun and for shading said heat or light sensitive elements in a manner which is different from the predetermined manner when the optical axis of the sensing means is not aligned with the direction of the sun, and drive means responsive to the sensing means and operable to move the focussing means relative to the support structure to a position in which its principal optical axis is aligned with the direction of the sun.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.