Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.

Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.

A gas receiver configured to heat a working fluid is disclosed. The receiver comprises an aperture, a light absorber, and a pre-heater interposed between the aperture and light absorber. The pre-heater is transparent to visible light and opaque to infrared. The pre-heater in the preferred embodiment comprises quartz in the form of a plurality of quartz plates or quartz tubes, for example, that are oriented substantially parallel to one another. The quartz plates are separated from one another by a gap to permit air to pass into the receiver cavity, while the quartz tubes are hollow to permit air to pass therethrough. The quartz plates or tubes are configured to transmit visible light from the aperture to the light absorber, and to absorb infrared radiation passing from the light absorber toward the aperture. Since the quartz structures absorb infrared, they serve to capture blackbody radiation emitted from the absorber and use that energy to pre-heat air before it passes into the absorber.

The invention concerns a truss structure including a plurality of longitudinal members extending parallel to one another in a main extension direction and crossmembers (9) distributed in the main extension direction to connect the longitudinal members mechanically two-by-two, forming a plurality of polygons (11) each contained in a plane perpendicular to the main extension direction.

According to the invention, each crossmember (9) connecting two longitudinal members includes a first half-crossmember (9a) with a first end connected to one of the two longitudinal members so as to be able to pivot about a first axis (X1-X′1) and a second half-crossmember (9b) a first end of which is connected to the other of the two longitudinal members so as to be able to pivot about a second axis (X2-X′2). The two half-crossmembers are connected to one another by an articulation hinge (13) allowing relative rotation of the two half-crossmembers (9a, 9b) about a third axis (X3-X′3). The first, second and third axes are parallel to one another and orthogonal to the main extension direction, allowing the truss structure and each crossmember (9) to pass from a deployed position to a folded position in which the first and the second half-crossmembers (9a, 9b) of each crossmember (9) extend substantially parallel one alongside the other in said main extension direction.

The invention concerns a truss structure including a plurality of longitudinal members extending parallel to one another in a main extension direction and crossmembers (9) distributed in the main extension direction to connect the longitudinal members mechanically two-by-two, forming a plurality of polygons (11) each contained in a plane perpendicular to the main extension direction.

According to the invention, each crossmember (9) connecting two longitudinal members includes a first half-crossmember (9a) with a first end connected to one of the two longitudinal members so as to be able to pivot about a first axis (X1-X′1) and a second half-crossmember (9b) a first end of which is connected to the other of the two longitudinal members so as to be able to pivot about a second axis (X2-X′2). The two half-crossmembers are connected to one another by an articulation hinge (13) allowing relative rotation of the two half-crossmembers (9a, 9b) about a third axis (X3-X′3). The first, second and third axes are parallel to one another and orthogonal to the main extension direction, allowing the truss structure and each crossmember (9) to pass from a deployed position to a folded position in which the first and the second half-crossmembers (9a, 9b) of each crossmember (9) extend substantially parallel one alongside the other in said main extension direction.

Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.

Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.

Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.

Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.

Solar trackers that may be advantageously employed on sloped and/or variable terrain to rotate solar panels to track motion of the sun across the sky include bearing assemblies and other mechanical features configured to address mechanical challenges posed by the sloped and/or variable terrain that might otherwise prevent or complicate use of solar trackers on such terrain.