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Step 4Simplification! Why I went for the combined trough design.
I have made parabolic and compound parabolic dishes in the past.
It is not exactly easy!
But I thought that when I showed my compound parabolic dish design to the world,(with figures for boiling speeds and amounts by the way) others would make it, check it out and compare it to others. NOPE
Perhaps it is just too hard for amateurs to make something like that!
Also,
Alu foil and mylar comes on rolls and chopping it up to cover a dish is a real pain and you will always get lots of wrinkles, especially with kitchen foil. And EVERY wrinkle acts as a flaw in your "mirror".
Perhaps we can learn from the cookit design.
Lets make the "dish" by combining pieces of flat material just curved in one plane.
Use one curve to concentrate in one direction and use the other to concentrate in the other direction.
Result, a simple reflector with great concentration!
AND if you spread your alu foil on a flat surface and just curve it in one direction (like a trough) the wrinkle situation is far far better. And you can just lay down a whole strip at a time. Same with mylar and its competitors. Actually, you might just need to stretch mylar over a frame because it is just plastic covered in alu film!
We have a choice of parabolic, compound parabolic, winston w curves cusps and more!
It might end up that we use one curve type for the long reflector and a different one for the secondary ones.
Results in the field will show which is the best approach. It is quite likely that different curves will suit different situations.
It is not exactly easy!
But I thought that when I showed my compound parabolic dish design to the world,(with figures for boiling speeds and amounts by the way) others would make it, check it out and compare it to others. NOPE
Perhaps it is just too hard for amateurs to make something like that!
Also,
Alu foil and mylar comes on rolls and chopping it up to cover a dish is a real pain and you will always get lots of wrinkles, especially with kitchen foil. And EVERY wrinkle acts as a flaw in your "mirror".
Perhaps we can learn from the cookit design.
Lets make the "dish" by combining pieces of flat material just curved in one plane.
Use one curve to concentrate in one direction and use the other to concentrate in the other direction.
Result, a simple reflector with great concentration!
AND if you spread your alu foil on a flat surface and just curve it in one direction (like a trough) the wrinkle situation is far far better. And you can just lay down a whole strip at a time. Same with mylar and its competitors. Actually, you might just need to stretch mylar over a frame because it is just plastic covered in alu film!
We have a choice of parabolic, compound parabolic, winston w curves cusps and more!
It might end up that we use one curve type for the long reflector and a different one for the secondary ones.
Results in the field will show which is the best approach. It is quite likely that different curves will suit different situations.
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