The PoC will be smaller than the real thing, but will serve as a critical test platform for much of the innovation we want to do. So we're starting with the basics. We decided to start with the solar collector, whose basics include a circular paraboloid (parabolic dish) and reflective sheeting. After some thinking, we decided our best bet was to get a used C-Band Big Ugly Dish (one of those satellite TV receivers from the '90s).
For that reason, I went dish-hunting on Craigslist. There was some stupidity involved, including one poor lady near Boston that was going to sell us a dish on the cheap, but it fell and apparently was destroyed when the roofers screwed up. My second foray to pick one up involved driving to rural New Hampshire in a truck. This fared better, though getting the thing back was, to say the least, precarious.
It's currently stored in a less-than-optimal place, but we're hoping to change that soon enough.
Above, you can see the structural support ring. The ring itself is screwed into the dish, and it leads down to the arm that, itself, gets stuck into a 3.5" pipe (typically in the ground).
Above is the dish itself. It stands 10 feet in diameter. It needs a good washing, but the next time we post, it will probably be covered with silver alloy sheeting.
It's trying, poorly, to hide among the bicycles, but we'll be moving it out to somewhere more permanent soon enough.
And, finally, me, standing proudly with it at my back. The perspective does not do a great job of showing just how tall this thing is, but I (at 6'2") cannot reach the top of it on my toes. So: very exciting. I look forward to tooling on it.
