Unified array for collection and concentration of solar energy

Claim 2

In a system for collecting and concentrating solar energy for providing highly concentrated solar energy to an energy receiver, the improvement comprising: support means including a terraced support structure; a plurality of substantially reflective collector elements mounted on said support means in closely spaced apart generally non-interelement shading relationship as a unified array of operative elements; said collector elements having surfaces formed as confocal parabolas for effective direction off axis with respect to the energy receiver during most of the period for which sunlight is available; said plurality of collector elements being positioned for reflecting solar energy collected generally horizontally to the energy receiver; and means for driving said collector elements in tracking relationship with said sun while continuously reflecting solar energy toward said energy receiver.

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 wherein the collected energy is concentrated for direction to an energy receiver having a relatively narrow energy receiving aperture.

Claim 4

The system of claim 1 wherein the reflective collectors are nonfocusing generally planar reflectors.

Claim 5

The system of claim 1 wherein the reflective collectors are generally spherical reflectors.

Claim 6

The system of claim 1 wherein the reflective collectors are of generally Fresnel configuration.

Claim 7

The system of claim 1 wherein said reflective collector elements are heliostats.

Claim 8

The system of claim 1 wherein said support means supports a plurality of horizontally extending rows of said reflective collector elements.

Claim 9

The system of claim 1 wherein the interelement relationship establishes a high ratio of reflective surface to non-reflective surface on said terraced support means.

Claim 10

The system of claim 8 wherein the reflective surface of the array is in the range of about 50% to 90% of the surface of the terraced support means.

Claim 11

The system of claim 9 wherein the concentration of solar energy for delivery to an energy receiver is concentrated at a ratio in the order of up to about 10,000:1.

Claim 12

The system of claim 1 wherein the reflective collector elements are provided with equatorial mounting means.

Claim 13

The system of claim 1 wherein said support means comprises steps and risers having generally planar normal surfaces and said reflective collector elements are each carried by a pedestal support means.

Claim 14

The system of claim 12 wherein said pedestal includes an upper surface inclined at an angle approximately equal to the degree of latitude at which the array is to be operatively positioned.

Claim 15

The system of claim 12 wherein said support structure includes a horizontally extending chamfered surface at the juncture of said step and riser surfaces and said chamfered surface is inclined at an angle approximately equal to the degree of latitude at which the array is to be operatively positioned.

Claim 16

In a system for collecting and concentrating solar energy for providing highly concentrated solar energy to an energy receiver, the improvement comprising: support means including a terraced support structure; a plurality of substantially reflective collector elements mounted on said support means in closely spaced-apart generally non-interelement shading relationship as a unified array of operative elements; said collector elements having surfaces formed as confocal parabolas for effective direction off axis with respect to the energy receiver during most of the period for which sunlight is available; said plurality of collector elements being positioned for reflecting solar energy collected generally horizontally to the energy receiver; means for driving said collector elements in tracking relationship with said sun while continuously reflecting solar energy toward said receiver; and said support means for supporting said plurality of collector elements comprising a generally terraced generally east-west sun facing wall of a building.

Claim 17

In a system for collecting and concentrating solar energy for providing highly concentrated solar energy to an energy receiver, the improvement comprising: support means including a terraced support structure; a plurality of substantially reflective collector elements mounted on said support means in closely spaced-apart generally non-interelement shading relationship as a unified array of operative elements; said collector elements having surfaces formed as confocal parabolas for effective direction off axis with respect to the energy receiver during most of the period for which sunlight is available; said plurality of collector elements being positioned for reflecting solar energy collected generally horizontally to the energy receiver; means for driving said collector elements in tracking relationship with said sun while continuously reflecting solar energy toward said receiver; and said support means for supporting said plurality of collector elements comprising a generally terraced generally east-west sun facing wall of a building.

Claim 18

The system of claim 15 including a plurality of northerly-southerly disposed generally east-west extending buildings functioning as said support means having first generally terraced generally east-west sun facing walls and having second generally east-west nonsun facing substantially vertical walls wherein said plurality of buildings include at least one energy receiver means mounted in at least one vertical wall adapted to receive solar energy collected, concentrated and generally horizontally reflected from said next adjacent building

Claim 19

A solar energy system for collecting and concentrating solar energy, comprising; support means including an integral terraced support structure; a receiver located at or near gound level spaced from said support means and having a generally planar solar energy receiving aperture; a plurality of substantially reflective collector elements mounted on said support means in closely spaced apart generally non-interelement shading relationship as a unified substantially planar array at a slope with respect to a ground plane such that the solar energy received by said collector elements is generally reflected horizontally or downwardly to said receiver; said collector elements having reflective surfaces for effective off-axis tracking of the sun with respect to said receiver during the period for which sunlight is available and for reflecting solar energy to said energy receiving aperture; means for driving said collector elements in tracking relationship with the sun while continuously reflecting solar energy toward the receiver aperture.

Claim 20

A solar energy system for collecting and concentrating solar energy, comprising; support means including an integral terraced support structure; a receiver located at or near gound level spaced from said support means and having a generally planar solar energy receiving aperture; a plurality of substantially reflective collector elements mounted on said support means in closely spaced apart generally non-interelement shading relationship as a unified substantially planar array at a slope with respect to a ground plane such that the solar energy received by said collector elements is generally reflected horizontally or downwardly to said receiver; said collector elements having reflective surfaces for effective off-axis tracking of the sun with respect to said receiver during the period for which sunlight is available and for reflecting solar energy to said energy receiving aperture; means for driving said collector elements in tracking relationship with the sun while continuously reflecting solar energy toward the receiver aperture.

Claim 21

The solar energy system of claim 17 wherein said plurality of substantially reflective collector elements have substantially the same radius of curvature.

Claim 22

The solar energy system of claim 17 wherein said plurality of substantially reflective collector elements have two different radii of curvature in respect to a set or orthogonal axes in the reflective surface of an ellipsoidal solid.

Claim 23

The solar energy system of claim 17, wherein said driving means includes two-axis tracking means.

Claim 24

The solar energy system of claim 17 wherein said planar array and said generally planar solar energy receiving aperture are mutually at right angles to a north-south axis therethrough.

Claim 25

The solar energy system of claim 20, wherein said integral terraced support structure has surface portions set at an angle relative to the ground plane substantially equal to the local latitude such that a north-south line in the plane of said surface portions is substantially parallel to the earth's polar axis.

Claim 26

The solar energy system of claim 17 further comprising a first building in which said receiver is located and wherein said support means further includes a second building on which said terraced support structure is mounted.