DIY Fresnel Mirror Solar Concentrator

Fresnel Mirrors can be made with different techniques. This is the simples way to make a Fresnel Mirror. The beam concentrates to a 2 inch diameter which is good for boiling water. The center is filled with the flat cut away circle not shown in this video. This is a great demo project explaining the structure of a Fresnel Lens.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• SOLAR
• POWER
• FRESNEL
• MIRROR
• LENS
• OVEN
• COOKING
• BOILING
• WATER
• GREENPOWERSCIENCE

[darkvader47]

I enjoy your videos immensely. I said it before and I'll say it again, you put some science teachers to shame!  Had I had you 30 years ago, it would be Christmas everyday coming to your class.

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

@darkvader47 Thank you very much for the great comment:-)

[cohetesdeagua3g]

Very good Trick, thanks for the idea. Could you show the table saw and the cut?

[GREENPOWERSCIENCE]

@cohetesdeagua3g Check the video response. I have a blue shirt on:-)

[Buddyb309]

dan, what does your house look like? how fast is your electrical meeter spinning backwards?

[ianmanfredsengensen1]

@caneywaney it can be pronounced either way. "Frez-nell" is correct as well. Don't you just love French?

[caneywaney]

FRENEL mirror?

[23027851b]

@junkyardnut thanks for the reply you somtimes cant see the wood for the trees,forgive the quote?i worked as a plumbers mate and used to watch them working out surface developments for joining large pipes a odd angles.some of it stuck

[junkyardnut]

The most important thing is a ultra smoothenss of the surface to maximize eficiency. Do you know that the mirror in the Hubble telescope is so smooth and even that if it is as wide as the Gulf of Mexico, the waves wont be more than one foot high . Wow! With this kind of mirror ring you got here it bounces a lot of photons off the intended target unseen to your own eyes.. about 10-20% of the photnos will be bounced off the intended target! This is why it is so important to be ultra precise

[junkyardnut]

@23027851b you are right I forgot my geomtery lessons long ago..

[junkyardnut]

it is just , well, a solar art... If you like circles , sure thing.. tiles? why not? They are still all the same.. We can etch micromirrors down to a nanometer in diameter to boost temp well above the nuclear reactor if we want to..

[23027851b]

if you had cut a wedge out of the circle before you cut the rings ,you could get the to make a cone .then cut the rings

[christo930]

@christo930 I find that reinforced tape (the tape with the string in it, not duct tape, but clear packing tape) is much stronger and doesn't get gummy the way electrical tape does when it gets hot. Since you would want to put this in the sun, it is going to get hot, especially with it being black, at least try and use white electrical tape so it doesn't absorb so much heat.

[ckeilah]

This is great! And all the collaborative comments got me thinking... Wouldn't it be simple as pi to drill a hole in the center of your mirored acrylic, mount a dremmel with a cutting wheel on an adjustable arm (like a record baby!), and simply rotate out your rings? 2hrs?! More like 20 minutes! :-)

The dowel idea for focusing is brilliant! And using a CNC machine would make this child's play.

What about taking a cheap piece of plexiglas and carving rings. Could we make a poor-man's fre

[bornkool]

I wonder how else this parabolic mirror can save conserve energy?