The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 28, 2012
Filed:
Oct. 15, 2007
William Gross, Pasadena, CA (US);
Philip Lee, Glendale, CA (US);
Kevin Hickerson, Altadena, CA (US);
Dylan Owens, Cambridge, MA (US);
Peter Polidoro, Riner, VA (US);
William Gross, Pasadena, CA (US);
Philip Lee, Glendale, CA (US);
Kevin Hickerson, Altadena, CA (US);
Dylan Owens, Cambridge, MA (US);
Peter Polidoro, Riner, VA (US);
Energy Innovations, Inc., Poway, CA (US);
Abstract
The invention in the preferred embodiment features a solar concentrator that can align and/or track based on images from a video camera, for example. The concentrator preferably includes one or more optical elements for directing light to a receiver, a camera for capturing an image of the optical elements, and a controller configured to: detect the orientation of the one or more optical elements from the one or more images, determine an orientation error based on the detected orientation, and automatically orient the one or more optical elements to minimize the orientation error. The optical elements generally comprise a plurality of mirrors or lenses arranged in a one or two dimensional array.