Closet door mirrors for solar heating

No description available.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• aluminium foil
• aluminium
• free heat
• hillybilly
• solar reflection
• solar
• solar heat
• photovolt
• beer can
• coal
• carbon dioxide
• global climate change
• Gore
• polar ice
• glacier
• nuclear energy
• panel
• ventilation
• stirling engine
• lenses
• mirror
• firewood
• energy independence
• oil
• natural gas
• Boone Pickens
• OPEC
• log splitter
• clean energy
• green energy
• alternate energy
• collector
• kyoto
• cell
• furnace
• renewable
• off
• grid
• parabolic
• panels
• fresnel
• lens
• stirling
• engine

[WinterWoodlands]

This is a great idea. Or, using mirrors on north side to reflect light onto corresponding solar furnaces also on north side. See-saw mounting of the mirror/furnace pair and azimuth tracking would be a challenge, but it is entirely mechanical and simple math for azimuth/elevation tracking of the sun. Even on south side of home, mirrors could be used in like fashion to multiply sunlight into solar furnaces. Never tried it myself, just thinking out loud. Appreciate the video very much.

[junkyardnut]

@WinterWoodlands mirrors are much better than standing in front of searing fire or woodstove (too hot) Standing in front of at least 4X concentration of reflected sunlight ( 4 mirrors hitting at you) is nirvana!! It is so natural and relaxing! Of course I have to run outdoors to readjust the mirrrors every half hour or so.

[junkyardnut]

@WinterWoodlands what I really need is a ball and socket assembly like ram mounts you use to mount your gps or cellphone. or like the rear view mirror in your windshield but bigger and able to hold a stiff board. I cannot find any big ball socket except those ball joints used in automoibles steering, you know. It has limited movement only 20 degrees or so. Also I cannot find any lightweight stiff boards able to stay stiff wihtout warping like plywood boards under the weather, you know.?

[RU4BN8OUT]

What about directing the light into windows? That way you don't have to worry about siding and insulation. Just a thought?

[junkyardnut]

@RU4BN8OUT yeah that was what I did! I have a large sliding glass door. I have different mirrors now. I need suntracking device similiar to those used for the solar tower to point the sunlight through my windows and glassdoors constantly as if my window is the tower.

[HamiltonCountyBotany]

I've been testing heliostats quite a bit. What meawins13 doesnt realize is heat travels to from hot to cold. And even tho it is a high heat waste loss to outside air, it is a fact that even if your house wall is insulated, that insulation is not 100% effective and depending on the strength/area of sun reflected by the heliostat a percentage will radiate into the house thru the wall if the wall temperature exceeds the inside room temperature..

[junkyardnut]

@HamiltonCountyBotany are you able to keep the reflected sunlight tracked to same spot while the Sun moves? If so , how did you do that? I would like to know

I basically do it manually every hour or so ...

[WestofKevin]

Great project junkyardnut. It is important to point out that advthinker and others like it are tools for industrial feudalism. Free men work to help one another, are positive, and offer solutions, like wjj4832. Cheers

[junkyardnut]

@danie1murphy maybe they are assuming that we dont want solar energy simply because it rises and set everyday. It is not a question of wanting solar energy or not, it is a question of cutting down our dependence on fossil fuel, etc. We need it badly now! Or the rich will be the onlly one still able to afford fossiil fuel at skyrockiting prices..

[WinterWoodlands]

@junkyardnut Yes I know what you mean. Gotta think about that a bit, how many degrees of rotation do you need each way? Depend on your latitude and longitude I imagine?

[WinterWoodlands]

@junkyardnut I see what you mean. I mean, I have seen videos of people cooking food with nothing more than some reflectors.  Why not just expand on that concept for the home. Running out to readjust the mirrors must be a pain. Gotta be some way to set them up on some gears so you can adjust them simply by pulling on ropes in or near the house. Mirror frames simply click into place every 3 degrees of azimuth or elevation or whatever.

[HamiltonCountyBotany]

lastly..your reflection will arch across the house wall like the sun archs across the sky...if you want to get precise you could add a second axis of tilt to your mirrors frame and use another antenna motor to move them up or down..but hitting the side of a house would not require that level of precision.

[HamiltonCountyBotany]

ran out of room--if your house is South of your mirrors, when the sun comes up E, your mirrors would point SE. The rays come in at 45 degrees angle to mirrors from E and leave at 135 degrees ( 90 d angle) from mirrors hitting the house ,so u program the motor to point the mirrors at SE at 6am and S at high noon and SW at 7pm..a deluxe tv antenna motor has multiple settings and remote control.got it?

[HamiltonCountyBotany]

my set up is different than you trying to hit your house because both my target and my mirrors move together..but it would work for you as well...in your case you mount your mirrors on a frame, in the center of the frame is a swivel..think of a wind turbine...with sunlight "the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence..if u use a tv antenna motor you can program the frame to move to certain points at certain times and hit the house all day. ie sun in E mirrors SE,sun W,mirrors SW.