Light-admitting heliostat

摘要

A heliostat optimized to be positioned near a skylight or other aperture is disclosed. The heliostat comprises a plurality of reflective elements arranged in a substantially planar array, each element being mounted so as to be rotatable about a longitudinal axis of rotation. A first motor rotates the array about an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of the array; and a second motor rotates the reflective elements about their respective axes of rotation. A processor provides control signals to operate the first motor as required to orient the array such that the respective axes of rotation of the reflective elements are substantially perpendicular to an azimuth to the sun and to operate the second motor as required to rotate the reflective elements about their respective axes of rotation to position the reflective element to reflect the sun's light to a target area.

主权项

1. A heliostat, comprising:
a housing; a plurality of elongated reflective elements arranged in a substantially planar array, each element mounted in the housing so as to be rotatable about a longitudinal axis of rotation of the element, the respective longitudinal axes of rotation being substantially in parallel and lying substantially in a plane or substantially parallel to a plane of the array, and each reflective element having a width that is narrow relative to its length, the width being such that a perpendicular distance from the longitudinal axis of rotation to an outer edge of the reflective element is less than a design distance at which the heliostat is configured to be placed on a light egress side of a fixed light-admitting aperture oriented at an arbitrary pitch and direction; a first motor configured to rotate the array about an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of the array; a second motor configured to rotate each of one or more of said reflective elements about its respective longitudinal axis of rotation; and a processor configured to provide control signals, determined by the processor based at least in part on the pitch and direction of the light-admitting aperture, to operate the first motor as required to orient the array such that the respective longitudinal axes of rotation of the reflective elements are substantially perpendicular to an azimuth to a light source and to operate the second motor as required to rotate the reflective elements about their respective longitudinal axes of rotation to position each reflective element such that a vector orthogonal to a reflective surface of the reflective element substantially bisects an angle between a first vector from the reflective surface to the light source and a second vector from the reflective surface to a target to which light from the light source is to be directly reflected from a first side of the array through the housing and directly from the reflective surface to the target located on a second side of the array that is opposite to the light source, the target being remote from the array and external to the housing.