Solar One can Really Cook

Solar One, of Engineering.com Shows What it CAN DO ;Lots of pictures to accompany this big revelation to the readership on what Solar One can do. I could not be happier but for you to find out how happy I am the latest article I posted on the web site on this project.

Solar One, of Engineering.com  Starts Cooking

By Corporal Willy, June 14th 2009

         Well folks I finally got the full 72 mirrors made and assembled.  There is a lot of work to build a prototype that has not been done exactly the same before to see and perhaps improve upon some areas.  So I did make some mistakes that caused me to start over again with some things.  The cost is considerably much higher than I had planned but that is because I came up with other ideas after I had already proceeded to a point that I did not want to start over again.  However, let’s take a look at this very small scaled 72 mirror array.

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I thought I would give you a picture of this project with the guy who does the building and writing about this project.  Yup, that is Corporal Willy but a much older version now.  Notice too that this mirror array is not very big.  There are 72 of those 3 inch square mirrors.  When the mirror array section is mated to the tracking section there will be a 120 degree separation angle between both halves.

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These next four pictures will give you a much better idea about the conceptualization I am planning to build next and will probably start it this coming week.

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Much work is yet to be done on this support base in order to keep the mirrors looking directly at the sun.  I already have some definite ideas about this and even though this apparatus on the support base could change, the box enclosure for the mechanism will be utilized.

Now, let us take a more futuristic look at the whole project assembly of Solar One, of Engineering.com  

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The bottom most box shape will be the Thermal Storage Container with the blue colored 2 inch thick top Styrofoam. Optimally it was supposed to be buried in the earth but I have to have it accessible for testing, so it will be left above ground.   I will describe briefly once again about that Thermal Storage Container box to you.  It will have an outside ½ thick plywood shell for physical protection with the Styrofoam lining the inside of the plywood box.  Then I will put a ½ thick sheetrock lining on top on the inside facing Styrofoam surface.  That will be a necessary thermal barrier that will help to protect the Styrofoam from being subjected to, too high of a heat source.  I was told by one of the readers of this series of articles that this Styrofoam insulation has a melting point of 250 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Am I being too overly optimistic here?  Well I guess I have kept you all in suspense too long now, so see for yourself in the pictures down below here on the temperatures I reached in my driveway testing.  Remember please that this is still not the most optimal position for this test because the mirrors are not looking directly into the sun.  Here are my most recent test results down below this first picture that shows you how the orientation was shining on that black Target Receiver Box.

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High

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Higher

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Higher Yet

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Highest Temperature Reached

Highest temperatures reached: were 345-350 degrees Fahrenheit (173.89 degrees Celsius) and it only took about ten minutes to reach this level.  I was hopeful of getting to temperatures of 200-250 degrees Fahrenheit so needless to say this made me ecstatic.  I even produce a little steam with this test on that olive can and a half pint of water but it wasn’t done in a proper testing procedure.  It was just done to see if it could and it did and it blew the plastic cap off that was just slightly put on. 

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 Sorry for the glare from the intense light reflections but a professional camera was used to zoom in on the dial.  My little digital camera could not take close ups at the right angle and endangering myself or the camera coming into contact with the focused rays.

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Well folks my driveway testing is about done now.  In the future I will have to move into the back yard where it will be more permanently positioned and tested by a well known testing company that I am negotiating with now.  Hope you enjoyed this article.  Amazing temperatures from such a small mirror array and it far exceeded my expectations.  Bye for now.  Corporal Willy.

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