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In this video, I take on my biggest and most ambitious DIY challenge yet: reinventing how we harness the power of the sun. Using a unique sun-tracking system and a design inspired by cutting-edge technology, I attempt to push the boundaries of what’s possible with solar energy.
This isn’t just another solar project—it’s a bold experiment filled with unexpected challenges, creative solutions, and results that surprised even me. Whether it’s the engineering behind the build or the science driving its efficiency, I’ll walk you through everything I’ve learned along the way.
Can one DIY creator truly make a difference in solar innovation? Let’s find out together.
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I have to say, it looks amazing 🙂 I'm curious how effective it would be, but it seems like a great project and would want one for myself, so I think I'm going to steal your design when you're done 😀 Also, being a neighbor from the south, I feel your pain trying to test solar panels in the rain. much love from Belgium! you have my subscription
Technically you only measured reflectivity for that wavelength of laser light
I don't really understand the spherical/parabola difference in your application: why are you so concerned to focus the light into one point (parabola) instead of leaving it a bit spread out (spherical) if you use a gigantic solar collector (aluminium plate)? By the size of the collector the hexagonal patterns could even remain flat.
Another thought: you should have just bought a satellite dish second hand and coat that one. Easy, no?
Don't know if it would work with spray paints, but back when I built and painted scale models and ttrpg figurines, you could buff and burnish metallic paints with fine cloth to get the surface a lot more reflective and looking like actual sheet metal.
It would be much better to use First-Surface mirrors (reflective coating is on TOP, rather than behind the glass), rather than Mirror Film… or even standard rear coated mirrors. Reflective mirror film, tends to be far less reflective than actual Mirrors. And rear coated mirrors, also experiences some losses, due to the glass distorting the light as it goes in and out.
From what others have said.. you likely dont have to make curved mirrors… so it would be more Optimal, to cut First Surface mirrors for the project.
I believe there is a fairly easy and cheap way to turn a standard mirror, into a first surface mirror… by stripping the paint coating off of the rear of the mirror… and then using the rear.. as the new front.
Photovoltaic sensors on solar panels usually have a stacked layer of smaller shapes so that it can absorb as much energy as possible, even under low light conditions like overcast and rainy days, they need to stack into smaller pieces like layering a cake to maximize the amount of energy it can absorb and concentrates that to generate electricity.
Am I missing something. Why so much focus on heat output when electricity is generated from light. Not heat??
9:58 so many simple mistakes made. Why not apply the film after shaping the panels?
nice
Fun project
If you intend this to only be used in a fixed location then you dont need 2 degrees of freedom on your mount, build instead an astronomical sidereal mount and set it for the appropriate latitude.
You should use oil not water as the fluid, because if the water gets too hot you will get steam and blow the system up! Probably a motor oil is best but not sure.
Have you looked at first surface reflectors the likes of which “the action lab” built for a video?
I was thinking heat pipes, or evacuated solar collectors somewhere in the mix. Your set up is pretty awesome though and I love the reference to Webb.
Regarding gold being a good IR reflector could you use polished brass? Oxidation could be avoided by spraying with transparent lacquer.
I would change a lot, but that would be complete rework
Like investigating aluminum as mirror surface
Using inflatable design pretty much balloon within balloon and could also use lift gas and attach everything with rope system
But also had a lot of weight constraints, could get bigger for better lift of anything that's will get focused sun at
The sun at my Kalahari residence in South Africa will destroy the plastics within one summer! I'm thinking more in the lone of stainless steel mirrors and the rectangular parabolic mirrors.
Paint the centre disk black. It will increase effeciency a lot
The gold vs silver color test is completely pointless. Gold PAINT and silver PAINT have no correspondens AT ALL with actual elemental gold and elemental silver. they only look slightly similar in the visual spectrum of light.
I'm certainly not an engineer. I'm a 3D artist in game development. But recently, at work, I needed to get acquainted with the design of large parabolic antennas for radio telescopes. I noticed that your mirror experiences a lot of shaking and jerky movements when lifting. It seems to me that this is due to the fact that its center of mass is located far from the axis of rotation of the lifting mechanism and lies somewhere in the center of the mirror. Because of this, the entire structure experiences uneven loads, which can affect the durability of the mirror adjustment mechanisms, as well as the motor and drive shaft of the lifting mechanism. Perhaps if you make a counterweight that would shift the center of mass of the mirror to the axis of rotation of the lifting mechanism, it will last longer and work more smoothly.
You do know Gold paint does not have the same reflective properties as actual Gold right? Get some Gold leaf and use that you will get the correct result.
nice project, i have been considering making something like this myself, nice video and im looking forward to seeing the next
Why couldn't you shape the plexiglass first then apply the window tint? Also I imagine the light show in the microwave was impressive. Some quality reflective window tints have a super thin layer of metal in them.
10:40 i think the copper would be better because it can withstand higher temperstures
I hope it doesn't get windy where you are testing because the structure seems a little fragile, good enough for testing but I don't see it surviving some wind.