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Solar Devices: Sun Wheel II Kinetic Solar Sculpture

Client

Joan Brigham, Environmental Artist
Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T.

Description

Sun Wheel II is a prototype model for public sculpture using solar energy to power the movement. The sun's heat is focused by a parabolic mirror onto a horizontal vessel fed with water. The steam produced spins the vessel and its double helix, sending plumes of steam into the surrounding spaces.

Details

6' High, 2' Wide, 4' Deep
Aluminized acrylic mirror, horizontal boiler of copper with selective coating encased in glass tube, stainless steel, teflon, vinyl tubing, phenolic, glass tubing, mounted on aluminum frame.

Credits

Cabot Fund, M.I.T.
Day Star Corporation
Department of Mechanical Engineering, M.I.T.
Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, M.I.T.
G. Finkenbeiner Inc., Scientific Glassblower

Exhibitions

"Sun as a Source" World's Fair, Knoxville, Tenn.
Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, 1982.

Picture of the Sun Wheel II Kinetic Solar Sculpture