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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8104893 | Calibration and tracking control of heliostats in a central tower receiver solar power plant A suntracking system for a central receiver solar power plant includes a heliostat field for reflecting sunlight to a receiver, cameras directed toward at least a subset of the heliostats, and a controller. The cameras are configured to produce images of sunlight re... | 01/31/2012 |
| 7357132 | Positioning system and method of orienting an object using same A system (22) for orienting an object (28) relative to a base (24) to which the object (28) is rotatably coupled includes a braking surface (46) in fixed relation with the base (24). A brake (48) is engaged with the b... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7339714 | Variable blazed grating based signal processing A light processing system includes an array of optical signal processing devices. The array of processing devices are operable to receive at least some of a first signal part and to modulate the first signal part based at least in part on a control signal received f... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7300168 | System for creating spectral displays A highly adaptable system for creating colorful spectral displays or for achieving a prismatic effect using visible light. The invention includes a fixed-angle or monolithic prismatic element fabricated from plate glass mirror material. A compound version of this mo... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7207327 | Feedback control method for a heliostat An instrument for a solar energy system including a receiver and a heliostat to reflect solar energy on to the receiver. The instrument includes a first element adapted to form an image of the sun, a second element adapted to form an image of the receiver, and a det... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7000608 | Solar energy system A solar plant with at least two solar units (10xx) where each of the solar units (10xx) comprises a securing device (12) and a swivel-located supporting structure (14) mounted on it, on which solar modules and/or solar collectors (16 | 02/21/2006 |
| 6984050 | Heliostat for sunlight concentration system and method of controlling the same A heliostat 5 for use in a sunlight concentration system for utilizing sunlight as energy according to this invention has a plurality of small concave mirror elements 8 and reflects and focuses sunlight reflected off the individual concave mirror eleme... | 01/10/2006 |
| 6971747 | Image display device having a compensating prism group A color management system for use with projection displays includes, for example, a separating polarizing beamsplitter, a compensating prism group, an image assimilator, and a combining polarizing beam splitter. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the separa... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6953038 | Concentrating solar energy system A concentrating solar energy system with a reflector having a specularly reflecting inner side and realized as a parabolic mirror with two axis steering which is carried by a base frame arranged in a support plane and which is provided with a receiver arranged in op... | 10/11/2005 |
| 6827445 | Sun-tracking daylighting apparatus A solar lighting apparatus of the sun tracking type for guiding sunlight into a building by using light reflecting means (30), the apparatus comprising the light reflecting means (30) for reflecting sunlight, drive means (60) for driving the lig... | 12/07/2004 |
| 6493145 | Solar lighting apparatus A solar lighting apparatus includes a transparent dome. The transparent dome is provided, at its ceiling center, with a control box accommodating a stepping motor, a controller for controlling the motor and a secondary battery. The stepping motor has a mo... | 12/10/2002 |
| 6433932 | Solar lighting apparatus A solar lighting apparatus includes a transparent dome. The transparent dome is provided, at its ceiling center, with a control box accommodating a stepping motor, a controller for controlling the motor and a secondary battery. The stepping motor has a mo... | 08/13/2002 |
| 5934271 | Large aperture solar collectors with improved stability A solar collection antenna has a large aperture reflective dish which is mounted on a dish support fame. When the dish is pointed at the sun, it reflects received solar radiation into a zone of concentration, at which either a solar energy receiver or a s... | 08/10/1999 |
| 5758938 | Solar concentrator elevational drive mechanism A mechanism for elevationally driving a solar concentrator pivotally mounted on a pedestal between a zenith facing position, a horizon facing position, a downward facing position, and any intermediate position, using a single linear actuator. A lower bar ... | 06/02/1998 |
| 5707458 | Light converging solar module In order to generate sufficient electricity in a small light converging solar module, a power generation solar cell is provided with four movement solar cells, situated around it. Below the respective movement solar cells, electromagnets are situated, con... | 01/13/1998 |
| 5632823 | Solar tracking system The solar tracking system maintains a solar collector with its responsive surface normal to the sun rays. It includes a shaft supported for rotation about an axis parallel to the north-south axis of the earth, a stepper motor for intermittent rotation of ... | 05/27/1997 |
| 5467257 | Solar panel unit and solar lamp including same A solar panel unit includes a solar panel (10) supported for rotation about a frame (13) and driven around the frame (13) by an electric motor (14). Radiation sensors (22) and (23) have their planar axes equally and oppositely off-set from the planar axis... | 11/14/1995 |
| 5253637 | Hyperfocal tracking solar thermal collector A solar thermal collector incorporates an extended reflector surface constructed to concentrate radiation from a radiation source along a focal line. The reflector surface is oriented in a generally upward facing direction relative to the earth with the f... | 10/19/1993 |
| 4995377 | Dual axis solar collector assembly A solar collector involves an elongate main boom having a longitudinal axis and a solar collector frame. Brackets are provided for pivotally mounting the solar collector frame to the main boom for pivotal motion about a first pivotal axis substantially pa... | 02/26/1991 |
| 4930493 | Multi-lever rim-drive heliostat Disclosed is a heliostat assembly having a circular, ring mounted reflector which is driven and supported by an arrangement of elongated levers. A pair of levers are spaced apart and pivotally mounted at their lower ends, and have upper ends which are lin... | 06/05/1990 |
| 4887589 | Solar energy tracking structure incorporating wind spoilers A solar energy transfer spoiler assembly, comprises of a base for supporting the remaining elements of the assembly, an azimuth and elevation drive mechanism, a moving structure frame, a plurality of energy collecting elements, a first spoiler and a secon... | 12/19/1989 |
| 4870949 | Wind resistant two axis tracker for energy or radiation concertrators A wind resistant, two axis tracker is used to direct a solar reflector, heliostat, or dish antenna. An elevation drive ring is supported in a vertical orientation by dolly wheels rotatably attached to a base. The reflector is attached at two points along ... | 10/03/1989 |
| 4836672 | Covert optical system for probing and inhibiting remote targets An optical system makes use of solar illumination as a light source to achieve covert operation.... | 06/06/1989 |
| 4832002 | Unified heliostat array A unified heliostat array for reflecting the rays of the sun upon a central collector. The heliostats are driven by a single pair of drive motors that are coupled to a sun tracker and to the individual heliostats by a common pair of drive cables. The comm... | 05/23/1989 |
| 4799763 | Paraxial stereoscopic projection system Disclosed is a stereoscopic projection system for viewing from an eye station a stereoscopic image composed of a 1 x magnification of an image source pair. Said system comprises a pair of image sources each having an image center which are spaced apart fr... | 01/24/1989 |
| 4794909 | Solar tracking control system A solar tracking control system for generally controlling the position of a pivotable solar panel connected to a motor by selectively energizing and de-energizing the motor. A signal programmer generates a plurality of time dependent signals wherefrom per... | 01/03/1989 |
| 4791533 | Natural lighting apparatus A natural lighting apparatus includes a mirror for reflecting light, and a supporting mechanism for supporting the mirror for rotation about both a first axis and a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. A first sensing mechanism is provided for sen... | 12/13/1988 |
| 4742813 | Sunshield device A signal generator equipped with a shading device and two light sensors is arranged on the upper side of a slat equipped with retro-reflective prisms and rotatable about a longitudinal axis. Depending upon the sun's position relative to the slat, the ligh... | 05/10/1988 |
| 4712876 | Driving ferroelectric liquid crystal printers via short circuiting In a driving method of an optical switch element for controlling a quantity of transmission light between opposed electrodes by interposing a transparent, high dielectric material between the opposed electrodes and applying a positive or negative voltage ... | 12/15/1987 |
| 4658805 | Thermo-hydraulic power supply A radiant energy utilization device including an aiming detector sensing the relative angle of radiation received and outputting signals in accordance therewith to control aiming of the device or portions thereof or for other purposes.... | 04/21/1987 |
| 4628142 | Solar tracking mechanisms A solar self-tracking mechanism for continuously tracking the movement of the sun with time comprises a solar radiant energy receiver secured to a base set on the ground and rotatable about a rotating shaft which extends horizontally in an east-west direc... | 12/09/1986 |
| 4625709 | Tracking solar collector installation A plate provided with solar collectors is carried by a mast, which rests on a top member which defines the top of a liquid-filled chamber, which has a variable volume. When an outlet nozzle of the chamber is opened, the weight of the mast compresses a bel... | 12/02/1986 |
| 4594470 | Solar generator mounting structure A solar generator support structure mounting standard photovoltaic panels thereon is disclosed. The solar panels are housed in flat planes (bays and courses) which include a plurality of parallel, symmetrically faceted and stepped areas that are a maximum... | 06/10/1986 |
| 4585318 | Tracking device This invention concerns a tracking device which enables the positioning of an apparatus to trace a curved path. For example, they are suitable for solar devices such as photovoltaic generators, solar cookers and heliostates. Normally the tracking apparatu... | 04/29/1986 |
| 4583520 | Balanced solar concentrator system This solar concentrator system is configured such that the base pedestal attachment point is located on the beam connecting the curved solar reflector and the heat energy receiver power conversion unit, herein envisioned as a Stirling engine. This attachm... | 04/22/1986 |
| 4564275 | Automatic heliostat track alignment method A method of automatically aligning heliostats by comparing the actual sunbeam centroid position on a target to a command reference position to determine the error in the sunbeam centroid location. The sunbeam centroid position error is then analyzed to correla... | 01/14/1986 |
| 4519381 | Solar heating apparatus and method A solar heating apparatus is disclosed along with a method of making a solar heating apparatus. The apparatus has a frame with a solar collector movably mounted thereto. A solar tracking mechanism moves the solar collector on the frame during daylight hou... | 05/28/1985 |
| 4484565 | Device for sensing moving light source A device for chasing a moving light source includes a plurality of photosensors arranged in elaborated positions for accurate operation. A top plate is formed with a calibrated cruciform opening to minimize indirect light tending to enter the device. Some... | 11/27/1984 |
| 4466423 | Rim-drive cable-aligned heliostat collector system Disclosed is a heliostat collector apparatus comprising at least one heliostat suspended from a plurality of longitudinally extending linkage means. An enclosure structure is disposed adjacent the heliostat and provides a means for allowing the heliostat ... | 08/21/1984 |
| 4459972 | Heliostat assembly An improved heliostat comprises a focusing reflector having a toroidal configuration. Mounting means for the reflector comprises means defining a first axis parallel to the earth's polar axis, and means defining a declination axis perpendicular to the fir... | 07/17/1984 |
