Support Device for Solar Concentrator with Flat Mirrors

Abstract

The invention relates to a hexagonal parabolic solar concentrator consisting of the union of different radial layers of support cells formed by two types of pre-assembled modules, wherein said pre-assembled modules are made up of bars and connecting elements. Using these pre-assembled modules significantly reduces the time for manufacture of the components and for parabolic concentrator assembling and the adjustment time for the flat mirrors supporting cells in order to generate the curve of parabola.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A supporting device for a solar concentrator of flat mirrors conformed by one or more radial layers of supporting cells, characterized because said supporting cells consisting of modules of the first type with a trapezoidal shape, where each module is conformed by a bottom horizontal bar, one top horizontal bar, two vertical bars connecting the ends of the bottom and upper horizontal bars, and a diagonal bar connecting one end of the bottom horizontal bar with the opposite end of the top horizontal bar; and modules of the second type consisting of a vertical bar with a top node and a bottom node, where each node consists of a plate with six fixed connecting elements. 
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , characterized because the bottom horizontal bar ( 31 ) has a length bigger than the top horizontal bar ( 27 ) to form a trapezoidal geometry, where the difference between both lengths depends on the curvature of the concentrator. 
     
     
         3 . The support device of  claim 1 , characterized because the top horizontal bars have an adjustment element set up perpendicularly in the central part of their top face. 
     
     
         4 . The support device of  claim 1 , characterized because the connecting elements of the second-type modules are fixed perpendicularly to the top surface of the nodes. 
     
     
         5 . The support device of  claim 3 , characterized because said connecting elements are distributed radially in the outer area of the nodes. 
     
     
         6 . The support device of  claim 1 , characterized because the required number of modules of the first type is equal to [3c(3c+1)], where “c” represents the number of cell layers of the concentrator. 
     
     
         7 . The support device of  claim 1 , characterized because the number of modules of the second type is equal to [1+3c(c+1)], where “c” represents the number of cell layers of the concentrator.