Mother's Solar Tracking System

(Page 4 of 4)

January/February 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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Then, mount the housing to the lower part of the mirror frame in an upright position, perpendicular both to the plane of the mirrors and to the frame bar that it's connected to. Naturally, you might have to "fine tune" the system before it will track perfectly, and this can be accomplished by bending the metal box slightly in the desired direction until everything functions smoothly.

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Furthermore, before the system can operate correctly, the frame must be "oriented" to the North Star ... which is done by simply lining up the lower and upper pivot points on the mirror frame directly with that heavenly body.

That's all there is to it ... for no more than $65 (and probably a whole lot less) you can have a sophisticated tracking system that'll work not only for Mr. Curnutt's solar furnace, but for just about any other type of solar collector that's constructed to track the sun. And—for those who've been waiting patiently for details on Charlie's unit—the following Issues of MOTHER will include more specs ... so we can all finish building our backyard solar rigs!

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S1, S2—subminiature SPST roller lover switch 5 amps @ 250 VAC S3-SPST toggle switch RFC1, RFC2—axial-lead RF choke, . 1 mH, 2 amps RI-1/2-watt, 5600-ohm resistor 01 — 3-amp 200 PIV epoxy rectifier RY1, RY2—10-amp DPDT relay, 12 VDC RY31—miniature SPDT relay, 12 VOID 01 -FPT-1 00 silicon phototransistor C1, C2—tubular capacitor, . 1 MFD @ 200 V SCR—silicon-controlled rectitier, 400 V, 6 amp

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Comments

  • abutouqa72 3/21/2007 4:43:58 AM

    i am a student of electrical engg. i need ur help to bild a solar
    tracking system. i think will help me to provide me all papers and
    mechanisom for doing the project. by sumon

  • sumon 3/13/2007 1:02:54 AM

    dear sir, i am a student of mechanical engg. i need ur help to bild
    a solar tracking system. i think will help me to provide me all
    papers and mechanisom for doing the project. by sumon

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