Value chain · CLM-1185
In plain terms
The top-power version uses two pairs of curved mirrors, one pair at each end. Each pair doubles the sunlight and turns it sideways into the stack, so the stack gets four times normal sunlight in total. The patent gives the best mirror tilt for each pair's own concentration. It works this out for a pair that concentrates in two directions: about 16.5 degrees for a doubling, and about 11 degrees for a single pair that quadruples the light. The four-times system itself is built from a simpler kind of pair that concentrates in one direction only, and for that kind the patent gives mirrors tilted at 22.5 degrees.
The claim as recorded
The concentrator patent gets 4x insolation as two assemblies of 2x each. Each assembly is a concave mirror and a convex mirror that turn collimated sunlight through about 90 degrees, with the mirror angles set to minimise mirror area. For its Fig. 10 embodiment: "Each solar concentrator assembly 602 provides x2 concentration, for a total of x4 insolation on the solar collector 604." The emission direction "may be orientated at approximately 90[deg] from the source. This may be at 90[deg] to the Sun-line and/or normal to the ecliptic plane". Minimising total mirror area gives "C = 2; [alpha] = -16.5[deg] C = 3; [alpha] = -13.25[deg] C = 4; [alpha] = -11.2[deg] C = 5; [alpha] = -9.7[deg]". Here C is one mirror pair's concentration (PDF 20, for the Figure 3 pair). The x4 system (Figure 10, PDF 26) is two x2 assemblies of the one-axis type of Figures 7 to 9 (PDF 24), whose mirrors are each inclined at 22.5 degrees (PDF 23); the patent gives no alpha for it. The C = 4 row is a single x4 pair, not the x4 system. In a simplified embodiment curved about one axis only, each mirror is "inclined at 22.5[deg]" and the compression is "by a factor of approximately two".
Evidence behind this: A patent application by the concept's inventor; the angles come from its own area-minimising relation, not from a built mirror.
Scope and limits
THE ANGLES ARE THE PATENT'S OWN OPTIMISATION, from an area relation it states without derivation. No mirror size, mass or measured optics is given. PDF 20 calls the second mirror "the concave mirror 110 must be at an angle [beta] = [alpha] + 45[deg]", but 110 is the convex mirror in the patent's own numbering, a slip on the page. "x4 insolation" is at the collector, not the cell: local HCPV "in the region of up to x625" can be added (PDF 26). The C = 2 to 5 list is an example range, not a claim that 5 is reached. C IN THE PDF 20 RELATION IS PER MIRROR PAIR, AND THE RELATION IS FOR THE FIGURE 3 PAIR. -11.2 deg (C = 4) must not be paired with the x4 system. The x4 system (Figure 10) uses one-axis pairs (PDF 24) and the patent states no alpha for them; -16.5 deg is the relation's C = 2 optimum, not a stated angle of the x4 system. PDF 25 also calls mirror 610 "concave", a second numbering slip.
What it assumes
That alpha is the concave mirror's angle to the incident radiation, as PDF 20 defines it; the printed symbols (alpha, beta and the proportional sign) were checked on a render (3d-02, 2026-09-25).
Where it comes from
PDF 26 [15], raw: "The solar collector assembly 600 shown in Figure 10 includes two solar concentrator assemblies 602, one on each side of the solar collector 604. Each solar concentrator assembly 602 provides x2 concentration, for a total of x4 insolation on the solar collector 604." PDF 14 [3], raw, transliterated: "The emission direction may be orientated at approximately 90[deg] from the source. This may be at 90[deg] to the Sun-line and/or normal to the ecliptic plane." and "The assembly may comprise two sets of convex and concave mirrors, arranged rotationally-symmetric and 180[deg] about a direction of the source, for example about the Sun-line." PDF 20 [9], raw, transliterated (the text layer prints alpha as "a"): "Minimising area A gives the example values as follows: C = 2; [alpha] = -16.5[deg] C = 3; [alpha] = -13.25[deg] C = 4; [alpha] = -11.2[deg] C = 5; [alpha] = -9.7[deg]"; the relation on the same page is "A [proportional to] C/cos [alpha] + 1/cos [beta]; where [beta] = [alpha] + 45[deg]". PDF 23 [12], raw: "the concave mirror 508 and convex mirror 510 are each inclined at 22.5[deg] with respect to the incoming and outgoing light rays 514a, 514b". PDF 24 [13], raw: "the compression is by a factor of approximately two". PDF 20 [9], raw: "The solar concentration factor C is identical to the size difference of the mirrors 108, 110 required" and "the centre of the concave mirror 108 of Figure 3 is at an angle [alpha] to the incident radiation". PDF 24 [13], raw: "A slight refinement of the solar concentrator assembly 502 of Figures 7 to 9 is depicted in Figure 10 as a solar concentrator assembly 602" and "the convex mirror 610 and concave mirror 608 remain configured to concentrate in only a single set of parallel planes".
Basis: concentration factor; mirror tilt angles in degrees; output direction relative to the Sun-line
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1185
CLM-1185, Energy Aperture, as of 2019.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-592
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