Heliostat ->> Hands down the cheapest way to gather the suns energy

Abstract

    I have designed a low cost heliostat, which will make gathering the suns energy more cost effective. This will make the Solar Power Tower Power Plants (Power Tower), more cost effective and open up other unforeseen uses. A heliostat (from helios, the Greek word for sun, and stat, as in stationary) is a device that, typically utilizes a mirror, which is oriented throughout the day to redirect sunlight to a stationary target or receiver. In a Power Tower a field of heliostats focuses the sun's energy onto a single collector to heat a medium such as water or molten salt. The medium travels through a heat exchanger to heat water, produce steam, and then generate electricity through a steam turbine.The Heliostats costs represent ~50% of the initial capital investment for the Power Tower. Reducing heliostat cost will reduce Power Tower cost. The primary cost savings is do to the way in which this heliostat aligns to the target. By using an alignment device (RASP)the exact position of the mirror is never needed which allows for less rigid construction which greatly reduces the cost. Draw backs of this design is the alignment device must be aligned to the target. This can be over come with a Self Aligning RASP, utilizing the targets light signature which will be strong do to all the heliostat focused on it. At night a light can replace the targets light signature. Other draw back of this design is the heliostat needs to stop aligning to target when the sun goes behind clouds. Also the only electronics needed are two stepping motors and one controller board,