A photovoltaic intensification system includes a solar array stand, further including a mounting base; a mounting column; a solar array frame, a solar array, solar array lenses or reflectors, a light sensor, an elevation actuator, and a horizontal actuator; and a solar system cart, further including: a cart enclosure, a radiant solar cooker chamber, cart reflectors, and cart wheels. Further included are a vertical tilt ring, a strong-arm rod, a mass pivot rod, an elevation actuating ring, a horizontal tilt ring, and mounting brackets. A power and control system for photovoltaic intensification further includes a battery charger, a battery, an A/C inverter, a solar control unit, a remote control, a thermo electric freezer component, and a heat exchanger. A solar control unit includes a light sensor control circuit and a temperature control circuit, or a processor, a non-transitory memory, an input/output, an actuator controller, and a temperature controller.

A solar oven designed for year-round use is readily-accessible and easy to use by simply removing a protective oven cover. The solar oven replicates the mainstream cook's current pattern with standard stoves, requiring little set-up or storage. Access to the solar oven is from the front and solar heat is stored in an upper oven chamber. By changing the solar oven chamber above the door, heat remains in the trapezoidal-pyramid cover during transfers and condensation is reduced to a minimum. By raising and lowering the floor, the solar oven allows the gasketed oven chamber to perform food cooking while being protected to prevent loss of heat. The solar oven remains available in all weather, does not fade in color and is attractive to most mainstream cooks.

A solar panel that attains very low cost/Watt objectives is achieved by applying an optical concentrator with planar symmetry in combination with a simple 1-axis tracking system. The concentrator uses a Cassegrain optical system to provide moderate concentration factors that can be adjusted by varying the ratio of the focal lengths of the concave and convex reflecting surfaces. Concentrator dimensions can be scaled to any convenient size. They can be arrayed in parallel to form a solar panel that has the same form factor as a 1-sun solar panel. One-axis tracking is achieved by simply rotating the collector elements in synchronism so the sun is maintained in the plane of symmetry for each of the collector elements that comprise the panel.

Positioning a radiation collection device such as a solar oven using a positioning system attached to an outside of a building structure. The positioning system allowing the collection device to be positioned in a plurality of locations where at least one of the plurality of locations is away from the building structure to allow the radiation collection device to collect solar radiation.

Disclosed are systems and methods to concentrate sunlight with inflatable enclosures to heat substances, including fluids and for cooking, and to provide concentrated sunlight for other uses. The system includes an inflatable sunlight concentrator (upper balloon), an inflatable cooking housing (bottom balloon), and a cooking container. When inflated, the upper balloon has a substantially cone-shape and concentrates sunlight towards the bottom balloon. The bottom balloon may be of various shapes and may concentrate sunlight towards the cooking space. Each balloon is less than two ounces and can be folded into a small pocket-sized package when it is deflated. The cooking space may be a thermal bag, a box, or an insulated space.

A solar cooking appliance comprises a solar heat collector for collecting and storing solar heat. A first solid heat storage and conducting material for storing and conducting solar heat, the solid heat storage and conducting material is placed within the solar heat collector, the solar heat collector heats the solid heat storage and conducting material to a temperature higher than the water boiling temperature. A heat insulated solar cooking utensil is positioned outside of the solar heat collector, having a cooking utensil and a heat insulation. A second heat-transferring and conducting material connected thermally to the first solid heat storage and conducting material to the heat insulated solar cooking utensil for transferring solar heat.

The invention relates to a method for producing artificial crushed sand by means of a thermal treatment using sand in the form of fine sand (FS/FSa) and/or round sand as the starting material (1). The starting material (1) in variant A is heated to a melting temperature by bundling sun rays (13), and/or the starting material in variant B is heated to a melting temperature by using a conventional melting device which achieves its energy supply using converted or stored solar power, whereby each of a plurality of sand grains are melted together into a three-dimensional intermediate product (2). The intermediate product (2) produced in this manner is cooled and finally comminuted to a particle size of less than 2 mm in a comminuting process. An end product (3) is produced which differs from the starting material (1) with respect to the shape and surface roughness. The method offers a long-term solution for meeting the demand for crushed sand and provides sand for the construction industry.

The present invention discloses a portable solar cooker, belonging to the field of solar heat utilization. The solar cooker comprises an upper functional assembly, a lower control assembly and a rotary apparatus which are sequentially connected, wherein the upper functional assembly is configured to reflect sunlight, collect heat in a focusing manner and further heat water or foods, the upper functional assembly is closed to form a box body when being in a non-operative state, and the upper functional assembly is opened when being in an operative state; the lower control assembly is connected with the upper functional assembly, and makes the upper functional assembly be subjected to pitch adjustment; the lower control assembly is connected with the rotary apparatus, and the lower control assembly and the upper functional assembly are driven by the rotary apparatus to rotate so that tracking the sun is realized. The portable solar cooker disclosed by the present invention not only has functions of boiling water and cooking foods, but also has the advantages of facilitating carrying and tracking the sun, and can achieve full utilization of solar energy anytime and anywhere, thereby making the application of the solar energy be fully developed.

Apparatus for a concentrating solar collector is disclosed, comprising: A nested main frame and reflector carriage with vertically folding one-piece preformed reflector support panels, to which individually replaceable pieces of mirror-like material of various kinds may be mounted to make a Fresnel-type array. A hand-winch operated cable system provides for a full range of reflector altitude adjustment. An alignment guide allows assessment of solar tracking alignment without gazing toward the focal area. A griddle-like flattop receiver is used for frying foods, and an adjustable rack facilitates suspension of cooking pots in the focal area to receive unobstructed, concentrated solar energy. Also described is a method for making the reflector support panels. One embodiment of the apparatus has a lower frame portion substantially forming a rolling chassis. An additional embodiment describes lower frame structure for a fixed location installation.

A positioning system is attached to radiation collection device such as a solar oven. The positioning system is attached to an outside of a building structure, allowing the collection device to be positioned in a plurality of locations. At least one of the plurality of locations is away from the building structure to allow the radiation collection device to collect solar radiation.