Heliostatic mirrors in your garden?

tomasz

Heliostatic mirrors — mirrors that automatically follow the sun are being used in a Europe's First Commercial Solar Plant in Spain.

They are available now in USA for domestic applications.

http://www.practicalsolar.com/

The program for 345$ can control up to 200 mirrors
Each heliostat (heliostat housing + mirror frame ) = $995

It it a relatively new thing on a market. Have someone seen it in action?

@unknownuser said:

Individual heliostats can be used for direct thermal applications, meaning that sunlight is applied directly to an area or object(s) to be heated, rather than going through a central collector or receiver. For example, heliostats can supplement a building’s heating systems by simply directing sunlight through windows and skylights.

Practical Solar is currently developing ancillary products like thermal receivers that would be paired with a heliostat system for more sophisticated thermal applications. The heliostats reflect concentrated sunlight onto the central receiver or collector ("CSP receiver"), which distributes the heat. Practical Solar Heliostat Systems are most easily adapted for thermal applications that require low-grade thermal energy (<232°C or 450°F). Oil or steam is the preferred heat transfer medium for applications in the range of 100-232°C (212-450°F). For applications requiring thermal input below 100°C (212°F), water can be used as the heat transfer medium. For applications requiring thermal input higher than 232°C, the system can be customized to increase the concentration of energy.

Direct thermal applications include:
* Interior space heating
* Swimming pool heating
* Drying paint or wood, melting ice dams on roofs, and other miscellaneous direct thermal applications
Thermal applications with ancillary products include:
* Building heating and cooling (HVAC)
* Potable hot water heating
* Air conditioning (with hot water-driven absorption chillers)
* Thermal desalinization
* Hydrogen (H2) production (for fuel cells)
* Low temperature industrial and agricultural applications (e.g. drying of wood, grain, leather)
* Powering a thermal engine

Mike Lucey

Thanks for the heads up Tomasz. Its an interesting technology and now that its being adapted / utilized for domestic type arrangements its becoming more interesting.

I wonder could buildings actually incorporate this technology in roof shapes / orientations? It might make more sense than slapping solar energy collectors onto south facing roofs and having to transfer the energy to space heating. This direct method / technology makes more sense.

I imagine we might see then popping up in future renders

Mike

dale

Nice find. Focusing a trackable heliostat panel on a static mounted solar water collecter would really increase its efficiency. Thanks