The realization of a simple solar tracking concentrator for university research applications

A tracking parabolic concentrator was built from easily available and affor dable components. Simplicity and ease of assembly were prime considerations . Considerable experience was gained in the design. assembly and testing. T he system performed reasonably well considering its simplicity and rapid as sembly. As an educational tool. demonstrating both energy conversion and co ntrol, or for simple high temperature experiments and applications. any uni versity could easily set up a similar working concentrator at a very low co st. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.