Construction and Optical Testing of Inflatable Membrane Mirror Using Structured Light Technique

Construction and characterization of an inflatable mirror prototype made out of flexible polymeric membranes are being presented. Surfaces were curved by imposing a slight excess of air pressure. Lightweighted, lowcost, and commercially available materials were selected in order to produce solar con...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of photoenergy 2015-01, Vol.2015 (2015), p.1-8
Main Authors: De Los Santos-García, Fátima, Moreno-Oliva, Víctor Iván, Nahmad-Molinari, Yuri, Patiño-Jiménez, Felipe, Santiago-Alvarado, Agustin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Construction
Costs
Curvature
Curved
Efficiency
Electricity
Financing
Inflatable
Light
Manufacturing
Mathematical analysis
Membranes
Mirrors
Photovoltaic cells
Polyesters
Quality
Ratios
Solar energy
Telescopes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Construction and characterization of an inflatable mirror prototype made out of flexible polymeric membranes are being presented. Surfaces were curved by imposing a slight excess of air pressure. Lightweighted, lowcost, and commercially available materials were selected in order to produce solar concentration elements at competitive prices. In this sense, large-area, image-forming mirrors with low optical acuity were achieved by concentration purposes. Optical characterization of the mirror’s shape at a given pressure or curvature radius was done by means of a structuredlight technique with a resolution of 0.1 mm finding a conical shape acquired by the inflated mirror as the best approximation. Concentration ratio achieved for a focal length of 5068 mm was of 25.1 suns, making a promising approach for lowering initial investment costs in applications such as hot-water, parabolic dish with Stirling engines, or concentrated photovoltaic electricity generation.
ISSN:1110-662X
1687-529X
DOI:10.1155/2015/196186