摘要 |
A steam boiler (14) is situated on a tower (16) at the center of concentric tracks (17), (18), and (19). Poles (21) and (23) have wheels (25) running on the tracks. The poles are kept upright on the tracks with guylines (35) and struts (31) and (33). The poles carry frameworks (24) with mirrors (12) attached to them. As the earth turns, the poles move along the tracks, keeping the mirrors on the opposite side of the boiler from the sun and keeping sunlight focused approximately on the boiler. As the poles move, the frameworks pivot to fine tune the focusing. Each framework pivots about a horizontal axle (26) of the framework and about the vertical axis of one of the poles (21). Hydraulic cylinders (66) and (70) in series circuits (82) and (78) respectively pivot the frameworks collectively. The frameworks are arranged so the power needed to pivot the frameworks is the same on windy days and calm days. At night and when storms approach, the poles move to closely-spaced tracks (20) where the frameworks form a protective shell (38), (40), (41) and (42) around the mirrors.
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