MIT mirrors solar

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=12153

NEW? patents? I don't understand what about that old myth about burning ships with groups holding mirrors to burn the sails?

What about the powerplant in the desert that uses mirrors?

What about wind and the coating on the mirrors being exposed?

What about telescopes like the keck with segmented mirrors

Years ago Edmund sold fresnel lens and had a project to melt and burn thing with it IIRC

That's a laugh. I remember all the solar stuff in Popular Electronics back in the 70s and 80s. I had a little paperback book of DIY solar projects, too. In fact, my 6th or 7th grade science fair project was a scaled down parabolic reflector like the one they show. That would have been, oh, 1976 or so and certainly wasn't brand new or unexplored field of "research."

Then of course there are the Solar Death Ray 3000 folks who have been at burning man and other outdoor festivals...



Original caption reads: "Do not look directly into beam with remaining eye."

I guess nothing "real" is invented outside of the hallowed halls of MIT.

One good thing is it reminded me about an art project idea I had. I saved a lot of AOL and other CDs that came in the mail and others gave me unwanted CDs. I was going to make a a solar cooker mounting a bunch of them at angles on a flat sheet of plywood to reflect on a cooking pot. Plus they act like a grating and should break up the light into colors.

A what to do with old AOL etc disks.

I could easily envision a way to use this to heat water using inconel tubing that gradually increases in size to allow the expanding steam to feed turbines. Get the diameters right and the expanding steam could create a suction and draw water into the device without the use of pumps.. a self-sustaining solar furnace..

I should build one..