Case 14333

Discretely Actuated Solar Mirrors

Keywords:

Solar mirror, Binary actuation, Active optics, Tracking

Applications:

Thermal solar energy collectors

Problem:
  • Sensitivity of conventional solar mirrors to disturbances such as thermal gradients
  • High costs of manufacturing precision mirrors and tracking systems

Technology:

The invention provides a new approach to correct manufacturing imperfections and shape deformations for solar concentrators. In this approach, binary actuators are embedded in a compliant mirror substructure. Actuators are deployed in a specified pattern to correct the mirror shape. The precision of the binary actuated system is determined by location and number of actuators. As the number of actuators in a system increases, the precision of the device approaches a conventional continuous system.

Advantages:
  • Improve solar mirror system robustness and performance
  • Decrease manufacturing costs

Inventors:
  • Professor Steven Dubowsky (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT)
  • Seung Jae Lee (Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT)
  • Amy Marlou Bilton (Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT)

Intellectual Property:

US Patent Application Number 12/839479, filed on July 20, 2010

Publications:

S. Lee, A. Bilton, and S. Dubowsky “On the Kinematics of Solar Mirrors using Massively Parallel Binary Actuation.” Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 15‐18, 2010.

Last revised: April 30, 2013

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