Abstract
THE annexed illustration (Fig. 1) represents a perspective view of a sun motor constructed by the writer, and put in operation last summer. This mechanical device for utilising the sun's radiant heat is the result of experiments conducted during a series of twenty years; a succession of experimental machines of similar general design, but varying in detail, having been built during that period. The leading feature of the sun motor is that of concentrating the radiant heat by means of a rectangular trough having a curved bottom lined on the inside with polished plates so arranged that they reflect the sun's rays towards a cylindrical heater placed longitudinally above the trough. This heater, it is scarcely necessary to state, contains the acting medium, steam or air, employed to transfer the solar energy to the motor; the transfer being effected by means of cylinders provided with pistons and valves resembling those of motive engines of the ordinary type. Practical engineers as well as scientists have demonstrated that solar energy cannot be rendered available for producing motive power, in consequence of the feebleness of solar radiation. The great cost of large reflectors and the difficulty of producing accurate curvature on a large scale, besides the great amount of labour called for in the trough. On these staves the reflecting plates, consisting preventing the polished surface from becoming tarnished, are objections which have been supposed to render direct solar energy practically useless for producing mechanical power.
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ERICSSON, J. The Sun Motor and the Sun's Temperature . Nature 29, 217–219 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/029217a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/029217a0