A Grinding Apparatus For Making A Middle-Size Parabolic Mirror Using The Link Mechanism Method

Abstract

A large solar furnace that has a parabolic mirror with a diameter of 10m, a focal length of 3.2m and a heliostat mirror with an area of 15x15m was made by the authors at T6hoku University in 1962, and subsequently a small solar furnace having a parabolic mirror with a diameter of 1.5m, a focal -length of 0.5m and a heliostat mirror with an area of 2x2m was constructed at T6hoku Gakuin University in 1986. The large solar furnace could melt tungsten with a melting point of 3400°C, and the small solar furnace drove a stirling engine made in West Germany that had a rated power of 400W. The parabolic mirror of the segment type at TohokU University was made by a grinding apparatus that used a cam mechanism, and the parabolic mirror at T6hoku Gakuin University was made by an apparatus (hand-made by students)which employed a link mechanism to draw the parabolic curve. In this paper, the grinding apparatus used for making the segmental parabolic mirror with a diameter of 2-3m and a focal length of 0.5-1.0 m is reported. This mirror was used in a middle-size solar heat engine. The heat engine in this system was a Stirling engine with a rated power of 1-3KW, and the grinding apparatus (the precision parts moved in a linear track ) employed a compact link mechanism.