eSolar Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20160084530 | HELIOSTAT MECHANICAL STOP AND METHOD OF FINDING HELIOSTAT HOME POSITION - A drive assembly for a heliostat and a method of determining the drive's home position are described. The drive assembly comprises at least one mechanical hard stop for impeding the motion of an output gear of at least one gear transmission driven by a motor. Each hard stop may be built into the housing of a gear transmission or may be made integral with an output gear. The method for determining the drive assembly's home position comprises the steps of iteratively actuating an output gear towards, and then away from, a hard stop feature while monitoring the input torque of the driving motor. When the motor input torque is registered to be higher than a predetermined trip torque, the stepper motor is commanded to stop and the home position of the drive assembly is determined. | 03-24-2016 |
20150083112 | HELIOSTAT DRIVE-STRUCTURE MECHANICAL INTERFACE - A mechanical interface between the drive and support structure of a heliostat assembly for use in concentrated solar power applications. The heliostat drive is mounted to the support structure by inserting a drive post into a structure post, the structure post having grooves for interfacing with bolts or other fasteners attached to the drive post. The structure post has a plurality of grooves to allow for multiple heliostat orientation options. The heliostat assembly further includes a capsule containing a drive motor controller and cable-mounting features, wherein the capsule is inserted into the drive post and has a cable-positioning feature to provide egress of power and communication connectors from the drive through at least one groove. | 03-26-2015 |