California Institute of Technology

Thomas A Cwik

Nacer Chahat

Daniel J Hoppe

Manan Arya

Jonathan Sauder

Cavour Yeh

Paul E Dimotakis

Ellen Thiel

A deployable reflectarray antenna stowable in a 6U CubeSat volume is deployed through tape deployers and quartz cables. The telescoping waveguide is attached to the horn with a threaded insert. The reflectarray antenna has, at 37.75 GHz, a directivity of 48.5 dBi, a gain of 47.8 dBi, and an aperture efficiency of 42%. Hinges with a ball-end screw enable precise control of deployment angle of adjacent panels in the reflectarray antenna.

Deployable reflectarray antenna

The present invention relates to concentrating solar-power systems and, more particularly, beam-forming concentrating solar thermal array power systems. A solar thermal array power system is provided, including a plurality of solar concentrators arranged in pods. Each solar concentrator includes a solar collector, one or more beam-forming elements, and one or more beam-steering elements. The solar collector is dimensioned to collect and divert incoming rays of sunlight. The beam-forming elements intercept the diverted rays of sunlight, and are shaped to concentrate the rays of sunlight into a beam. The steering elements are shaped, dimensioned, positioned, and/or oriented to deflect the beam toward a beam output path. The beams from the concentrators are converted to heat at a receiver, and the heat may be temporarily stored or directly used to generate electricity.

Beam-forming concentrating solar thermal array power systems

Devices and techniques for using a prism to couple IR radiation to a quantum-well sensor with a polarization substantially perpendicular to the quantum-well layers.

Efficient radiation coupling to quantum-well radiation-sensing array via evanescent waves

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Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Thomas A Cwik