PROJECT PYROLENS

MASSIVE DIAMETER ULTRA LIGHT WEIGHT HYBRID PHOTON CONCENTRATORS

FOR SOLAR-ELECTRO ENERGY CONVERSION.

RAYNER

AN ENERGY ASSETS AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT JOINT VENTURE .

RA NER

COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE

TRANSPARENT PLASTIC RING WITH INTEGRALMICRON CONCENTRIC PRISMATIC SURFACE ETCHING

ARCUATE TRANSPARENT PLASTIC SEGMENTS WITHMICRON CONCENTRIC PRISMATIC SURFACE ETCHING

TRANSPARENT HOLLOW PLASTIC LENTICULAR PROFILED CONVEX LENS FILLED AND SEALED WITH WATER OR PARAFFIN OIL.

TRANSPARENT HOLLOW PLASTIC LENTICULAR PROFILED CONVEX LENSFILLED AND SEALED WITH WATER OR PARAFFIN OIL OPTIONALLY

ADAPTED TO THE CENTRE VOID OF THE TRANSPARENT PLASTIC RING HAVING INTEGRAL CONCENTRIC PRISMATIC SURFACE ETCHINGS

PYROLENS PHOTONCONCENTRATOR RING

PYROLENS PHOTONCONCENTRATOR RING

PYROLENS FLUIDFILLED CONVEX LENS

PHOTON CONCENTRATION

SOLAR LIGHT SOURCE

PYROLENS HYBRID LENS ASSEMBLY

PYROLENS SOLAR BOILER FOR STEAM-ELECTRIC GENERATION.

PYROLENS SOLAR CONCENTRATOR FOR PHOTO - ELECTRIC GENERATION AND OPTIONAL HOT WATER SERVICE .

CERAMIC HEATABSORPTION

ELEMENT

HEAVY WALL COPPERPIPEDIC SECTION

HEAT SINK

PYROLENSASSEMBLY

1.5 m diameter

STEAMOUTLET

TO AEROLON TURBINE

WATER INLET

PYROLENSASSEMBLY

ARTICULATEDMOUNT

CHROMIUM PLATEDHEMISPHERICAL METAL

SPUN SPHEROID PROFILEWELDED HEAVY WALL

COPPER BOILER

BOILERASSEMBLY

ARTICULATEDMOUNT

STEPPER MOTORFOR SOLAR AZIMUTH

TRACKING

STEPPER MOTORFOR SOLAR ZENITH

TRACKING

GEARED ROTATABLEPLATFORM

FOR SOLAR AZIMUTHTRACKING

GEARED ROTATABLEPLATFORM

FOR SOLAR AZIMUTHTRACKING

HEAVY WALL COPPERPIPEDIC SECTION

HEAT TRANSFER CORE

GIMBALMOUNT

24 V– 48 VLEAD ACIDBATTERYARRAY

RECTILINEAR HOT WATER TANK AND IMMERSED

PV ARRAY HEAT SINK

ARTICULATED PV CELL AND TANK MOUNT

PHOTO VOLTAICARRAY ENCAPSULATED

WITHIN OPTIONALWATER TANK

SOLAR AZIMUTH TRACKING STEPPER

MOTOR

SOLAR ZENITH TRACKING STEPPER MOTOR

PYROLENS ASSEMBLY

ROTATABLE BASE

PYROLENS 100 LITER SOLAR BOILER FOR HOT WATER GENERATION.

DIAMETER 1.2m PYROLENS PHOTON

CONCENTRATOR RING

COPPER HEAT SINK

COLD WATER INLET

HOT WATER OUTLET

Light weight Hybrid Lenses construct for useas Concentrators for Solar Power conversion.

PYROLENSPyrolens Hybrid lenses are optical concentrators for solar power systems. The lenses comprising the Pyrolens light weight photon concentrator designs, are of two types namely hollow aqueous filled lenticular lenses and fresnel principal plate lenses, both types are either coupled together or used singularly pending energy requirements and applications. Pyrolens photon concentrators are typically intended for supplying terrestrial based solar-power for domestic and or military usage. Pyrolens lenses can also be adaptable to power marinecraft and or utilised for remote location power applications. The main structural elements comprising the Pyrolens hollow lenticular aqueous filled convex lens concentrator is a construct of two lenticular hemispherical halves of hot pressed or vacuum moulded transparent Polymethyl Methacrylate acrylic or Plexiglas having a wall thickness of 5mm. and both half shells are bonded together by adhesive and or mechanically fastened together ensuring a water tight seal. The transparent lenticular container is filled with either distilled water or paraffin oil or almond oil for light weightedness, and filled whereto effect refraction of incident radiation by the phenomenon whereby a ray of light or heat is deflected or diverted from it's previous trajectory in passing obliquely out of one medium into another of different density. The amount of deflection is determined by the characteristics of the two materials namely the transparent lenticular shell and the fluid contained therein that defined as the refractive index which is the ratio of the sines of the angles of incident radiation passing from one medium (typically air) into another medium (typically glass).

Further method and scope of this invention is by selective altering of the refractive index of the Pyrolens hollow lenticular aqueous filled convex lens concentrator containing therein, a given transparent fluid, having miscible within the given fluid such as water or alcohol, a Flourochromic dye such as proprietary Fluorescein, R-Phycoerythrin, Allophycocyanin , Propidium Iodide or Quantum Dots whereto effect fluorescence of the aqueous solution.

The fluorescent molecules suspended within the given fluid contained therein the hollow lenticular construct absorb solar light at certain wavelengths and in turn emit their fluorescence energy at a higher wavelength. Whereby each cited fluorochromic dye of differing pigment has a distinct emission spectrum in accordance to the colour of the dye which can be taken advantage of to enhance the performance of Photo Voltaic cells subjected to the concentrated light emissions of the sun via the Pyrolens assembly.

Typical low grade silicon photo voltaic cells are not sensitive to the Sol spectrum in the ultraviolet and infrared region whereby it is the purpose of this invention to better match the spectral response region of low grade solar cells to the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum of radiation by changing incident ultraviolet and infrared radiation into photons having suitable wavelength for optimum photo electric conversion by solar irradiation absorption by the luminescent particles and re-emitted by internal reflection within the aqueous filled lenticular profiled acrylic shell and refracted towards the photo voltaic solar cell.

In another form of embodiment, one half shell thereof the body comprising the hot pressed or vacuum moulded transparent acrylic or Plexiglas lens may include integrally moulded catadioptric prisms, dioptric prisms and what is known in the art as a bulls eye wheretoo further deflect and focus the rays to form a highly concentrated beam of high intensity light, the catadioptric prisms refract and reflect; the dioptric prisms and centre bull's eye lenticular lens refract the incident solar radiation.

Thin film laminar or plate type Pyrolens Photon Concentrator lenses maintain high diffraction efficiency and excellent optical quality and diffractive equivalents of a refractive lens.

The concentric radial undulations etched or stamped upon the major surface of the acrylic ring have a quadratic phase profile quantified as a one-wave deep kinoform profile. The high focusing efficiency of the ringular lens is due to this phase profile beam shaping element that enables the focal plane intensity profile.

Pyrolens Photon Concentrator Ring lenses offer advantages of being able to be economically fabricated from thin lightweight substrates with minimal mass and surface area and provide for a large focal distance in comparison to a same diameter solid lenticular lens or provide for an equivalent focal distance in comparison to a standard sheet form Fresnel lens having 80 percent greater surface area and mass, such large sized standard fresnel sheets suffer from a limitation in maximum concentration, material deformation and degradation and cost issues, other forms of lenses suffer from weight or cost barriers for any practical application for large scale solar photon concentration for energy conversion.

Pyrolens Photon Concentrator Ring lenses can be formed of arcuate segments having concentric micron pitch radial etchings, where upon joining the aforesaid optical arcuate segments of specific radius and arc can give rise to light weight large dimension ringular lens construction of diameters up to 10 meters, having focal length of 7 meters and the photon ring lens weighing approximately 90 kilograms, whereto such large diameter rings can effect many hundred kilowatts of solar thermal power to be focused in a small area for purpose of steam - electric generation, thermo-electric generation or photo electric generation.

The inherent advantages Pyrolens Photon Concentrator Ring and the Pyrolens Aqueous Fluorochromic filled Hollow Lenticular Lens is, very large diameter lenses can be formed economically and speedily from very cheap materials and due to the light weight of the lenses construction, fabrication of heavy support structures are eliminated.

The element comprising of the Pyrolens Photon Concentrator Ring is a transparent rigid planar ring constructed typically from 1 mm to 6mm thick acrylic plastic or plexi-glass material.

The optical properties of the transparent acrylic ring are obtained by concentric prisms having micron depth and pitch. The micro prisms are laser etched or hot press formed there upon one major surface of the acrylic ring or alternatively the micro prisms are laser etched or hot press formed there upon a thin plastic film and the said plastic film adhered or mechanically fastened to the acrylic ring .

The highest quality acrylic ring lenses are made with PMMA (Polymethyl Methacrylate). This material allows for high light transmission, and is very hard and scratch resistant