Parabolic Solar Ray Gun A.k.a Solar Death Ray
Intro: Parabolic Solar Ray Gun A.k.a Solar Death Ray
I'm sure this project has been done many times in many forms, but I just wanted to add my project to the list. As I was throwing out my clutter, I found one panel of an old, fiberglass tv satellite that I hadn't thrown out yet and I was also throwing out a bunch of junk CD's. This is when the idea came to me to make solar ray gun. I didn't want to spend/waste alot of time, so I didn't cut the cd's into smaller circles -- I just hot glued the cd's directly to the surface of the satellite panel. Since the panel is curved (parabolic?) and the cd's are flat, but flexible, the cd's will somewhat conform to the curve of the curved panel and focus the solar beam into a smaller pattern. For this particular panel, I was able to get a piece of wood to start smoking, about 3 feet in front of the panel and the beam focused down to about a 3 inch diameter pattern.
39 Comments
Slim49 8 years ago
Ok folks,
my research indicates that Aluminum foil is a VERY poor reflector.
its dark grey/silver absorbs a lot of wavelength.
its NOT used in green houses or other businesss where light reflection is of importance.
Plus, no one mentions that foil has a dull side & a lighter shiny side.
though, any thing cheap & handy beats nothing.
Just saying,
Slim49
kdavis17 12 years ago
erob1 12 years ago
erob1 12 years ago
dhymers 13 years ago
aristide202 12 years ago
dhymers 12 years ago
nemitor 17 years ago
kishida 17 years ago
aristide202 12 years ago
Anyway that's a 1/10000s inch surface job
shawntherobot 15 years ago
aristide202 12 years ago
aristide202 12 years ago
I used tetrapack also for custom made inside car sunshields for a few summers in extremely windy Corsica island . Absolutely an amazing top class look and anyway the most functional ever.
Opcom 15 years ago
extrordinary1 14 years ago
On the other hand, I built a cooker that used a radiant heater aimed at the dish so I didn't need a tracking system for one, just powered it up with storage batteries and an inverter, all connected to a wind generator. Which later inspired me to build a furnace that sat in the basement, added a cold air return vent from upstairs to the base of a set of square pipes welded aluminum, I was heating up painted with high temp paint. Cook the paint outside due to the nasty fumes it creates curing out. You can get a much hotter surface this way, 24/7. I later built another unit to sit in a shed outside the house and used household ammonia like meat lockers use or RV refrigerators use for an ammonia absorbtion cooling system. In the winter I then had dual heat sources, as I could use the heat side of the ammonia system to help heat the house, rather than dump it outside.
One man showed me a compound solar heater he built to heat his home with on sunny days. That is what inspired me to design the other system so I wasn't restricted to sunny days only, or nothing at night time. This gave me heat 24/7 much cheaper than the power company, definitely cheaper than natural gas!
acaz93 17 years ago
kishida 17 years ago
Derin 15 years ago
testicle 16 years ago
testicle 16 years ago