[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":413},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-41389176":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":5,"format":20,"keywords":21,"reception":26,"sentiment":27,"stance_mix":28,"scored_comments":33,"aspects":34,"strip":44,"post_text":45,"what":46,"said":84,"maker_in_thread":142,"shape":153,"grid":157,"attempts":374,"same_week":375,"maker_shows":38,"maker_hidden":405,"reader_version":406,"card":407},"41389176","solar concentrator","Homemade automated solar concentrator","title","Show HN: Homemade automated solar concentrator","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fremipch\u002Fsolar_concentrator","github.com","remipch",1724926440,2024,296,87,212,3515,7,"legend","hardware",[5,22,23,24,25],"solar cooker","sun tracking","closed-loop control","heliostat","curious",0.124,{"positive":29,"neutral":30,"mixed":31,"critical":32},8,18,2,5,33,{"design":35,"performance":37,"pricing":39,"idea":41,"execution":43},{"positive":31,"critical":36},0,{"positive":38,"critical":31},1,{"positive":36,"critical":40},3,{"positive":42,"critical":36},4,{"positive":36,"critical":36},[32,40,32,40,40,36,36,36,36,36,36,36,32,40,38,38,32,38,36,36,36,36,32,36,40,40,40,40,32,40,40,40,40,40,40,40,38,40,40,40],"Hi HN!\n\nI quit my job two years ago to have more time to work on my side projects.\n\nThe main one is an automated solar concentrator.\n\nI've just open-sourced it, it's not perfect nor finished, and I still have a lot of ideas for further development, but I'm interested in knowing what you think of it.\n\nThere are many applications where concentrated solar power could be a viable environmental and economic solution, I hope this technology will one day be more widely used.\n\nFeel free to give any feedback and ask questions.",{"problem":47,"audience":57,"pricing":57,"motivation":58,"time_to_build":57,"stack":64,"openness":81,"stage":82,"team_size":83},{"value":48,"source":49,"evidence":50},"Concentrating sunlight to produce high heat for cooking or other direct-heat uses.","maker",[51,54],{"id":52,"by":11,"text":53},"41390624","Yes, there are several industrial applications that use a solar concentrator to drive a turbine engine or a Stirling engine. I'm not sure it's a viable way to produce electricity…",{"id":55,"by":11,"text":56},"41389802","Thanks for your nice comment. Yes it's definitely fun to build one and use that free energy from the sun. I was particularly happy to eat my first solar gratin :-)",null,{"value":59,"source":49,"evidence":60},"Side project; wanted to explore concentrated solar and cook food with it.",[61,63],{"id":62},"post",{"id":55,"by":11,"text":56},[65,71,75],{"value":66,"source":49,"evidence":67},"Python",[68],{"id":69,"by":11,"text":70},"41390788","I have developed a simple simulator [0] to estimate the theoretical power received by the target for a given hardware configuration: - the global position on the planet - the…",{"value":72,"source":49,"evidence":73},"Panda3D",[74],{"id":69,"by":11,"text":70},{"value":76,"source":49,"evidence":77},"OpenSCAD",[78],{"id":79,"by":11,"text":80},"41392034","> I like your cable-drive concept by the way. Did you describe it in more details anywhere? I didn't take the time to describe the cable-bot concept in detail. I modeled almost…","open_source","prototype","solo",{"praise":85,"objections":101,"requests":109,"questions":116,"alternatives":127},[86,94],{"value":87,"source":88,"evidence":89},"Clever use of closed-loop control to offset mechanical imprecision.","commenter",[90],{"id":91,"by":92,"text":93},"41389562","hakonjdjohnsen","Cool work! I do research in nonimaging optics, the optics of achieving high concentration ratios (or wide tolerances to errors) in solar concentrators. I like that you are…",{"value":95,"source":88,"evidence":96},"Impressive power output from a small mirror area.",[97],{"id":98,"by":99,"text":100},"41389689","zo1","Awesome project OP! Especially the power comparison. Who would have thought that you can achieve 1kW of energy from 1m2. On a side note and in a similar direction. Would it be…",[102],{"value":103,"source":88,"evidence":104},"Photovoltaics are now so cheap that concentrated solar may be superseded.",[105],{"id":106,"by":107,"text":108},"41393268","mapt","Unfortunately in 2024 with extremely inexpensive solar cells, I don't see much future for this technology. Even fixed latitude tilt angles are coming into question given the…",[110],{"value":111,"source":88,"evidence":112},"Describe the cable-drive design in more detail.",[113],{"id":114,"by":92,"text":115},"41391455","Yeah exactly! I like your cable-drive concept by the way. Did you describe it in more details anywhere? Heliogen were also developing a cable-drive system for their commercial…",[117],{"value":118,"source":88,"evidence":119},"Can the mirror area be used to estimate the temperature reached?",[120,123],{"id":121,"by":11,"text":122},"41392312","Excellent! Do you know the mirror area used here?",{"id":124,"by":125,"text":126},"41391013","foobarian","Speaking of risks and fire, is there a known limit to the temperature achievable by concentration? I was wondering if I could melt a piece of tungsten with this method.",[128,135],{"value":129,"source":88,"evidence":130},"Photovoltaic panels with electric cooking.",[131,134],{"id":132,"by":107,"text":133},"41406328","Almost anything you can do with concentrated PV, I can do better with photovoltaic and a resistor immersed in the same thermal storage medium. It is wildly more versatile in the…",{"id":106,"by":107,"text":108},{"value":136,"source":88,"evidence":137},"Non-imaging (anidolic) solar collectors.",[138],{"id":139,"by":140,"text":141},"41390899","ryandvm","Very cool. Curious if you have looked into non-imaging (anidolic) solar collectors? My understanding is that they are actually more efficient than mirror or lens based collectors…",{"comments":143,"answered":144,"key":145},24,9,[146,149,150],{"id":147,"text":148},"41390135","Thank you very much for your kind and detailed reply! Indeed, the closed-loop control was the initial idea which convinced me that it would be possible to build the mechanical…",{"id":79,"text":80},{"id":151,"text":152},"41394151","FYI, this is the \"vacuum adjustable focus mirror\" I mentioned:…",{"commenters":154,"max_depth":29,"maker_replies":143,"first_comment_mins":155,"lifespan_hours":156},39,32,334,[158,162,164,166,168,169,171,173,177,180,181,183,186,188,190,192,194,196,198,201,203,206,208,211,214,217,220,223,225,228,229,231,235,238,242,245,249,252,255,258,261,264,266,268,271,273,276,279,280,283,286,288,291,294,297,299,301,303,305,308,311,313,317,318,320,321,323,326,328,330,332,334,337,339,342,346,348,350,353,354,356,360,364,366,368,370,372],[159,36,32,160,161,36],"41518706","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","julbaxter",[91,38,32,163,92,36],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign",[147,38,36,165,11,38],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[114,38,40,167,92,36],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[79,38,36,167,11,38],[170,38,32,163,92,36],"41392668",[151,38,36,172,11,38],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[174,38,40,175,176,36],"41396885","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign","bigiain",[178,38,36,179,11,38],"41398586","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fperformance",[124,38,40,179,125,36],[182,38,36,179,11,38],"41391336",[184,38,36,185,125,36],"41392328","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[187,38,36,185,92,36],"41391715",[189,38,36,185,125,36],"41392311",[191,38,36,185,92,36],"41392420",[193,38,36,185,125,36],"41392456",[195,38,36,185,92,36],"41392578",[197,38,36,160,11,38],"41393629",[199,38,36,185,200,36],"41393988","micw",[202,38,36,185,92,36],"41394497",[204,38,36,185,205,36],"41395468","p1mrx",[207,38,36,185,200,36],"41420036",[209,38,36,185,210,36],"41393732","IncreasePosts",[212,38,36,185,213,36],"41395395","aidenn0",[215,38,36,185,216,36],"41392822","dekhn",[218,38,36,185,219,36],"41394088","adrianN",[221,38,36,185,222,36],"41394812","algo_trader",[98,31,32,224,99,36],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fperformance",[226,31,40,179,227,36],"41390382","argiopetech",[69,31,36,179,11,38],[52,31,36,230,11,38],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[232,31,38,233,234,36],"41390736","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fpricing","pjc50",[236,31,36,237,11,38],"41391129","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[239,31,38,240,241,36],"41391540","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fperformance","newprint",[243,31,36,244,11,38],"41392202","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[246,31,32,247,248,36],"41393153","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea","monkmartinez",[250,31,38,233,251,36],"41392136","lm28469",[253,31,36,185,254,36],"41398874","rightbyte",[256,31,36,185,257,36],"41402872","abdullahkhalids",[259,40,36,185,260,36],"41391619","SoftTalker",[262,40,36,185,263,36],"41391653","regularfry",[265,40,36,185,11,38],"41391720",[267,40,36,185,263,36],"41391904",[269,40,36,185,270,36],"41392770","photonthug",[272,40,36,185,260,36],"41397335",[274,40,36,275,270,36],"41407300","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[277,40,36,185,278,36],"41392023","bufferoverflow",[121,40,36,179,11,38],[281,40,32,247,282,36],"41393650","LikeBeans",[284,40,36,185,285,36],"41393136","Log_out_",[287,40,36,185,216,36],"41394312",[289,42,36,185,290,36],"41391048","wycx",[292,42,36,293,11,38],"41391285","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[295,32,40,230,296,36],"41389760","cheschire",[298,32,36,230,11,38],"41390194",[300,32,40,230,296,36],"41390500",[302,32,40,175,176,36],"41397015",[304,32,36,179,11,38],"41398542",[306,32,40,230,307,36],"41393716","phkahler",[309,32,36,185,310,36],"41397426","swader999",[312,32,36,185,11,38],"41398605",[314,315,32,247,316,36],"41389454",6,"conkeisterdoor",[55,315,36,160,11,38],[319,315,36,185,176,36],"41397028",[139,18,40,230,140,36],[322,18,36,230,11,38],"41391672",[324,29,40,175,325,36],"41389393","londons_explore",[327,29,36,175,11,38],"41389417",[329,29,40,175,296,36],"41389709",[331,29,40,175,263,36],"41391811",[333,29,40,230,307,36],"41393758",[335,29,40,336,92,36],"41395704","project\u002Fmixed\u002Fdesign",[338,29,36,275,11,38],"41398494",[340,144,36,185,341,36],"41447493","steeeeeve",[343,344,40,172,345,36],"41390444",10,"fuzzy_biscuit",[347,344,40,172,234,36],"41390704",[106,349,38,233,107,36],11,[351,349,32,247,352,36],"41393738","datadrivenangel",[132,349,38,240,107,36],[355,349,36,275,11,38],"41425132",[357,358,40,237,359,36],"41434917",12,"imvetri",[361,362,40,336,363,36],"41396340",13,"contingencies",[365,362,36,172,11,38],"41398790",[367,362,40,244,363,36],"41405450",[369,362,36,244,11,38],"41424896",[371,362,40,244,363,36],"41442673",[373,362,36,165,11,38],"41424905",[],[376,381,386,390,395,400],{"id":377,"name":378,"points":379,"category":380},"41416714","Linkpreview",362,"dev_tools",{"id":382,"name":383,"points":384,"category":385},"41444855","tetris-sql",338,"games",{"id":387,"name":388,"points":389,"category":385},"41424371","Defrag the Game",326,{"id":391,"name":392,"points":393,"category":394},"41448439","AlphaFold3",314,"ai",{"id":396,"name":397,"points":398,"category":399},"41424954","Broadcast Box",283,"infrastructure",{"id":401,"name":402,"points":403,"category":404},"41436338","Repaint",236,"web_saas",false,"v2",{"id":408,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":405,"cat":20,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rec":26,"s":409,"top":18,"kw":410,"maker":11,"domain":10,"tier":19,"attempts":36,"strip":411,"url":9,"mix":412,"praise":87,"objection":103,"sub":5},41389176,0.12,[5,22,23,24,25],"5353300000005311510000503333533333331333",[29,30,31,32],1793991099007]