Tracking solar accumulator, solar design t-square, clam shaped solar cookers
Brian White
The tracking accumulator is a low tech device for concentrating sunlight to do
useful work. It could cook food, heat water or air, power a fridge directly,
or be used as a mount for solar panels for maximum summer performance.
The accumulator differs from most other solar concentrators in that the target
does not move (so stirling engines or a host of other applications can easily
be mounted and it works on a timer system. (Like that which is used on
telescopes because it is equatorial mount). It is also unusual in that there
are 2 half dishes mounted on the frame and 2 focuses. I designed the
mechanical mathematician, dripper trackers, clock based trackers and the
liquid piston tracker for the tracking solar accumulator project.
The solar design t-square is used to design clam shaped solar cookers for
ideal unattended cook times.
This is a humanitarian project. The goal is the provide the maximum sized
solar cooker to use all the sunlight for a defined time. So the cook can leave
the food and avoid being cooked herself!
Also, the design process must be simple and cheap.
About Brian White:
Brian White is a stonemason in Victoria and a trained as a lab technician
(applied biology) in Ireland, works as a stone mason and invented the
pulser pump in the late 1980s which is now being researched in Queens
University.
My mum imparted her frugal beliefs and my father gave me much more time
to learn and play with my projects than any overworked father should have.
Laziness is a great motivator. I wanted an automatic watering system for my
garden. How do I get the water out of the stream and around the plants without
using energy and without having to haul it myself? A tiny ram pump that I made
failed after half an hour due to dirt in the clack valve.
Ducks kicking up dirt!
The quest for a “no moving part “duckproof” pump” led from coffee jar suction
pump to the “what the hell is this?” which I later renamed pulser pump. 20
years later, it has been replicated in England and a tiny research project in
Queens University, Ontario validated the concept. But nobody yet knows their
full capabilities.
My solar projects are progressing slowly. Interest comes from Stirling engine
enthusiasts, aid workers etc. If I had more technical wherewithal, they would
be done now.
Thanks to my family and friends, and ducks and those who encourage and argue
for getting me this far.
I am a citizen scientist too!
My “pulser pump” went on Wikipedia last year, and my video about it is the
most watched “airlift pump” related video on the internet. According to
youtube, it is seen in more than 150 countries every month.
I am also involved in the linen project. (Growing flax for food and fibre),
making habitat for solitary bees, and I made a “2 storey compost bin” that is
in an e-book from instructables. I have also made several solar cooker
innovations.
I have never succeeded in getting funding for the projects, (which slows
things down a lot).
On the plus side, I have never been curbed by the strings attached to funding,
which can stop things altogether!
More details about the tracking solar accumulator
and the clam shaped solar cookers can be found on the
solarcooking.org wiki.
