Solar Concentrator Technical Drawings
Concept
Note: this is the basic concept provided by Benjamin, but the picture does not show that the length is much greater than the width of the solar collector slats - which is necessary if no east-west tracking is used in the design.
Here is a better picture. Note that depending on heat loss from the collector tube, we may or may not want to extend the length of the collector tube over the edge of the array. Advantage: you can collect all of the solar radiation. Disadvantage: there is more heat loss from the collector tube. The answer seems to be that the heat lost will be lower than the heat gained - but this requires more careful analysis, also considering the added costs of collector tube (1/4 more length, or about 50 feet of collectors instead of 40 feet).
Further evolution from Benjamin:
Here is the draft - with 48 inch centers: mirrors touch each other (tongue and groove recommended for backing ply).
I changed the rafter spacing to 48 inches rather than 50 to match the mirror segments.
I angled the rafters so the metallic frame angle is not required.
The angular deviation is 1/2 of 23.5 degrees (plus, half of the speed of the mirror in degrees; I'll be working to calculate the critical alignment issues.
