Directing and concentrating solar energy collectors

A directing and concentrating solar energy collector comprising:

• a concentrating reflector constructed to concentrate a radiation from the sun along a substantially straight line of concentration, the major axis of said concentrating reflector defined to be parallel to the line of concentration;
• one or more directing reflectors, at least one of said reflectors located at the end of said concentrating reflector, perpendicular to the major axis of said concentrating reflector, the major axis of said directing reflectors defined to be perpendicular to the major axis of said concentrating reflector, said directions reflectors extending from said concentrating reflector beyond the line of concentration, cooperating with said concentrating reflector by directing radiation to and from said concentrating reflector, such that when the position of the sun changes in the direction parallel to the major axis of said concentrating reflector, radiation concentrated by said reflectors remains directed and optimized between said directing reflectors, at the line of concentration, moving and changing zones of concentration appear at the line of concentration, such that when the sun is located at a direction perpendicular to the line of concentration, at the front of said solar energy collector, the concentration is evenly distributed along the line of the concentration, and when the sun is located at an angle to either side the concentration is varied along the line of concentration;
• means for adjusting said concentrating reflector for the movement of the sun in the direction perpendicular to the major axis of said concentrating reflector for maintaining concentrated radiation at the line of concentration which is stationary;
• means for tracking the movement of the sun in the direction perpendicular to the major axis of said concentrating reflector and using said adjusting means to maintain concentrated radiation at the stationary line of concentration;
• said means for tracking the movement of the sun including:
• a substantially long rod with narrow reflective segments around it, extending from one end to the other, said rod placed in parallel with the major axis of said concentrating reflector and rotated around the axis of said rod, each segment in its turn reflecting radiation from the sun to a wide and thin planar beam, the reflected beam of radiation rotating and sweeping in an angular motion,
• a plurality of photo sensors placed at a stationary location generally between said rod and the sun, facing said rod, and as the sun moves, at least one of said photo sensors is being repeatedly and momentarily exposed to the beam of radiation reflected from each segment of said rod, as the beam sweeps by,
• means for generating a first repeating momentary signal indicating the end of current sweep and the beginning of new sweep, about to be produced as a new segment of said rod approaches the general direction of the sun,
• means for generating a second repeating momentary signal at regular and very fine angular intervals of the rotation of said rod, these angular intervals being smaller than the angular thickness of the planar beam of radiation, as measured at said photo sensors,
• means for detecting and counting the number of second momentary signals and reading the radiation energy level striking each said photo sensor at the time of said second momentary signal,
• means for recording the energy levels and count values produced by said detecting, counting and reading means,
• means for detecting said first momentary signal and calculating an angular direction of highest obtainable energy level by said solar energy collector, detected during completed sweep, and
• means for calculating an adjustment for said concentrating reflector with the angular direction from said detecting and angular direction calculating means, and adjusting said concentrating reflector by using said adjusting means.

A method of collecting solar energy, comprising the steps of:

• concentrating radiation from the sun along a substantially straight line of concentration using a concentrating reflector whose major axis is defined to be parallel with the line of concentration wherein said concentrating reflector includes includes a plurality of independently controllable thermally insulated heat chambers placed along said line of concentration;
• directing radiation to and from the concentrating reflector using two directing reflectors placed at the end of the concentrating reflector, perpendicular to the major axis of the concentrating reflector, an axis of the directing reflectors defined to be perpendicular to the major axis of the concentrating reflector, the directing reflectors extending from the concentrating reflector, beyond the line of concentration, cooperating with the concentrating reflector by directing radiation to and from the concentrating reflector, such that while the position of the sun changes in the direction parallel to the major axis of the concentrating reflector, radiation concentrated by the reflectors remains directed and optimized between the two directing reflectors, at the line of concentration moving and changing zones of concentration appear at the line of concentration, such that when the sun is located at a direction perpendicular to the line of concentration, the concentration is at normal and evenly distributed along the line of concentration, and when the sun is located at an angle to either side, zones of concentration with no radiation at all, with normal concentration, and with nearly double the normal concentration will appear at the line of concentration;
• and
• independently controlling said thermally insulated heat chambers placed along said line of concentration for controlling the rate of heat transfer from each of said plurality of heat chambers.

A method of collecting soar energy, comprising the steps of:

• concentrating radiation from the sun along a substantially straight line of concentration using a concentrating reflector whose major axis is defined to be parallel with the line of concentration wherein said concentrating reflector includes a plurality of independently controllable thermally insulated heat chambers placed along said line of concentration;
• directing radiation to and from the concentrating reflector using two directing reflectors placed at the end of the concentrating reflector, perpendicular to the major axis of the concentrating reflector, an axis of the directing reflectors defined to be perpendicular to the major axis of the concentrating reflector, the directing reflectors extending from the concentrating reflector, beyond the line of concentration, cooperating with the concentrating reflector by directing radiation to and from the concentrating reflector, such that while the position of the sun changes in the direction parallel to the major axis of the concentrating reflector, radiation concentrated by the reflectors remains directed and optimized between the two directing reflector, at the line of concentration, moving and changing zones of concentration appear at the line of concentration, such that when the sun is located at a direction perpendicular to the line of concentration, at the front of said solar collector, the concentration is at normal and evenly distributed along the line of concentration, and when the sun is located at an angel to either side, zones of concentration with no radiation at all, with normal concentration, and with nearly double the normal concentration will appear a the line of concentration;
• and
• independently controlling said thermally insulated heat chambers placed along said line of concentration for controlling the rate of heat transfer from each of said plurality of heat chambers.