Solar Project Obstacle
Solar Project Obstacle: UFO’s
By Corporal Willy, 5/13/09
“The best laid plans of mice and men,” I’m sure we have heard that one before. With all the FEA computer analysis available to me, a world of knowledgeable engineers, scientists and other solar enthusiasts, who could have predicted a problem that I would have never planned on. I thought I had covered most of the variables in the design, conceptual configuration and the building plan and sequence. But how would I have foreseen a problem of a nature that could devastate the whole project.
What I am talking to you about is Unidentified Flying Objects or UFO’s that are dropping out of the sky into the yard area that I have established as my experimental area. This is my very own Area 51, and it is all mine. As this story unfolds I must state again to the readership that this solar experiment is composed of 72 highly reflective mirrors that are delicately mounted on to a wooden flat surface framing, meant to allow for angulations and tilting to help capture the sunlight in my side yard. At least that is what I had planned to do in order to take care of just two axis that will be manually adjusted hopefully only once. This whole 72 mirror array will be mounted on a base styled after a naval gun turret that can be kept aimed at incoming attacking aircraft. Now for purposes of describing the project better, think of this incoming attacking aircraft as our sun. J Get the picture? When all individual mirrors are aimed and locked down with a certain attack angle to the sun and the bouncing rays off the mirror should stay on the target area if I keep the gun turret at direct angles to the sun. At least that is the point of this part of the discussion. However to keep in harmony with the topic of this article my mirrors are being jeopardized by objects falling in the general area of my setup. These objects that I am referring too are golf balls. Identified. I do not have to go into a long discourse about golf balls and mirrors. They just are not compatible with one another. These balls as it seems are being hit over the cement block wall by a seven year old national junior champion, who just happens to be my next door neighbors kid. These walls separate the individual home sites here in Las Vegas. It is the norm here in this part of the world rather than the exception. It does afford a lot more privacy but not against high arching golf balls and guess what is going to be built right on the other side of that cement block wall? I guess I will have to have a talk with the future Tiger Woods. He supposedly is pretty darn good from what I was told. One of his golf balls hit a piece of wood I had just set up at ground zero. This is another project that I am finishing up on that is not related to the Solar Project but must be finished to stay ahead of the honey do list that needs some attention too. Dennis the Menace, er a, I mean the Tiger Woods protégé and I must have a talk, an understanding, a compromise, a truce, surrender, or a war. How many homes are there in America and I am the neighbor to the national pee wee level golf champion and I am doing a delicate solar mirror experiment. L He is a great kid really. (% $ # & @ ! * &.) I like kids. I used to be one too.
Well my guess is that many people would like to see a closer look at my mirror assembly and I will explain it as I show the screen shots to you. First and second ones:
The little molding that I bought to do this with is called door stop molding. To get the other measurements of that stock here are a couple of other screen shots for you.
The 3 inch mirrors were purchased in a arts and crafts store and they are 1/8 inch thick. I used contact glue to mount the mirrors to the surface of the wood backing frame. I think the pictures can tell the assembly better than I can describe it here. Using 6-32 machine bolts for an axle that mounts to the next outside frame that will give it the angle adjustment from east to west along the horizon finishes the project mirror assembly description down below here.
So we are not without problems to solve here in this engineering quest to bring great amounts of usable heat into a solar thermal storage container for use as a heat source of energy for various uses. At least one of the problems is going to require some tact. I am all ears on how to solve that one. J Take care and stay tuned, this is going to be an interesting project now for sure. Bye.
