Positioning control for solar collector - uses photo-control rotated to locate position of sun and subsequently switching setting drive

摘要

The collector has a cylindrical parabolic mirror (1) rotated about a longitudinal axis by a driven wiper arm (3). This supports a transverse axis (14) around which a photocontrol device (15) is rotated, so as to locate the position of the sun. The photocontrol device (15) supplies a pulse for disconnection of the wiper arm drive (8) upon locating the sun and energises a drive (18) for rotating the mirror (1) about the longitudinal axis. The latter drive (18) is subsequently disconnected on reaching the same position as the wiper arm (3) by a switch (24,25) with contacts carried by the mirror (1) and the wiper arm (3). The positioning system uses a single photo device to determine the sun's position instead of requiring an array of photodetectors.