Solar concentrator with camera alignment and tracking
First Claim
1. A solar concentrator comprising:
- a solar receiver for converting solar energy to heat or electricity;
a plurality of optical elements for directing light to the receiver, wherein the orientation of each of the optical elements is individually adjustable;
at least one camera for capturing one or more images of the plurality of optical elements;
wherein the camera is adjacent to the receiver and outside the line of sight between the receiver and each of the plurality of optical elements, and wherein the camera receives light directly from the plurality of optical elements; and
a controller configured to;
a) detect the orientation of each of the plurality of optical elements from the one or more images using edge detection;
b) determine an orientation error for each of the plurality of optical elements based on the detected orientations; and
c) automatically orient one or more of the plurality of optical elements to reduce the orientation error of each of the plurality of optical elements below a predetermined threshold.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention in the preferred embodiment features a solar concentrator that can align and/or track based on images from a video camera, for example. The concentrator preferably includes one or more optical elements for directing light to a receiver, a camera for capturing an image of the optical elements, and a controller configured to: detect the orientation of the one or more optical elements from the one or more images, determine an orientation error based on the detected orientation, and automatically orient the one or more optical elements to minimize the orientation error. The optical elements generally comprise a plurality of mirrors or lenses arranged in a one or two dimensional array.
38 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A solar concentrator comprising:
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a solar receiver for converting solar energy to heat or electricity; a plurality of optical elements for directing light to the receiver, wherein the orientation of each of the optical elements is individually adjustable; at least one camera for capturing one or more images of the plurality of optical elements;
wherein the camera is adjacent to the receiver and outside the line of sight between the receiver and each of the plurality of optical elements, and wherein the camera receives light directly from the plurality of optical elements; anda controller configured to; a) detect the orientation of each of the plurality of optical elements from the one or more images using edge detection; b) determine an orientation error for each of the plurality of optical elements based on the detected orientations; and c) automatically orient one or more of the plurality of optical elements to reduce the orientation error of each of the plurality of optical elements below a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of aligning a plurality of mirrors of a solar concentrator comprising one or more cameras, the method comprising:
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capturing at least one image of the plurality of mirrors with the one or more cameras; detecting edges from the at least one image; determining the orientation of each of the plurality of mirrors from the detected edges; determining an orientation error for each of the plurality of mirrors based on the determined orientations of the plurality of mirrors; orienting each of the plurality of mirrors for which the orientation error exceeds a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification