How to cut sheet metal to form a parabolic reflector?
i'd like to build a parabolic reflector for cooking, by taking flat sheet metal and cutting it into wedge and soldering them together. if i have 8 slices, how do i calculate their shapes?
Answers:
You aren't going to procure a very good focus near flat segments, you would be better off checking military and electronic surplus shops for spun aluminum antennas and microphone reflectors. I used one for a solar cooker contained by the late 50's.
Making a pattern is going to be tough - respectively segment is a simple parabolic curve like you were going to sort a trough with a line focus down the center (like on a pipe) but to fit the sides together for soldering they are going to own to curve out. And the curving out is the key to the curve. It may be easier to make eight wood frames - respectively with the same curve on the inside and screw sheet metal triangles up the middle. Depending on the size you are making, you could engineer each triangle enough wider that overlap would go on and you could trim to a better fit, but the heat lost in the depart cracks will be a fairly low percentage.
You might be better off making a trough and a longer dogmatic cooking chamber.
Well, first of all, a true parabolic reflector isn't the best for cooking, since it focuses all the frothy onto a single spot. Imagine trying to cook something with a blowtorch? Solar cookers often do outstandingly well with a few flat panel reflecting light towards the center.
However, there is truly very little difference between a parabolic mirror, a spherical mirror, and a "curved" mirror if you're just trying to focus the muted in a general nouns near the center. Triangular pieces of metal (8 isoceles triangles, with a 45-degree cut) ought to do a fine assignment of concentrating sunlight towards the center.
<edit> The triangles won't perfectly join, but you're going to involve some overlap anyways, so if you solder them together along the outside, then bring the tips together and join them, and finish the rest of the seam you should get a decent result.
you have to cut each triangle into a kinda inverted parabolic shape, convex not concave
Experiment with aluminum foil to get the desired shape and later cut it up as a pattern. Allow some margin for the genuine pieces to overlap when you solder them together.
When you start sour with a parabola you need to have an idea that of a focal point first. Where would you like to have the focal point of your truss?
What kind of reflector? A bowl shaped one or a semi cylindrical?
Bowl shaped parabolas mean that you merely have on point of focal power while cylindrical reflectors have a straight queue of focal power however it is less powerful than the bowl.
http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/fair/parabo…
That website shows a great deal of worthy information.
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Answers:
You aren't going to procure a very good focus near flat segments, you would be better off checking military and electronic surplus shops for spun aluminum antennas and microphone reflectors. I used one for a solar cooker contained by the late 50's.
Making a pattern is going to be tough - respectively segment is a simple parabolic curve like you were going to sort a trough with a line focus down the center (like on a pipe) but to fit the sides together for soldering they are going to own to curve out. And the curving out is the key to the curve. It may be easier to make eight wood frames - respectively with the same curve on the inside and screw sheet metal triangles up the middle. Depending on the size you are making, you could engineer each triangle enough wider that overlap would go on and you could trim to a better fit, but the heat lost in the depart cracks will be a fairly low percentage.
You might be better off making a trough and a longer dogmatic cooking chamber.
Well, first of all, a true parabolic reflector isn't the best for cooking, since it focuses all the frothy onto a single spot. Imagine trying to cook something with a blowtorch? Solar cookers often do outstandingly well with a few flat panel reflecting light towards the center.
However, there is truly very little difference between a parabolic mirror, a spherical mirror, and a "curved" mirror if you're just trying to focus the muted in a general nouns near the center. Triangular pieces of metal (8 isoceles triangles, with a 45-degree cut) ought to do a fine assignment of concentrating sunlight towards the center.
<edit> The triangles won't perfectly join, but you're going to involve some overlap anyways, so if you solder them together along the outside, then bring the tips together and join them, and finish the rest of the seam you should get a decent result.
you have to cut each triangle into a kinda inverted parabolic shape, convex not concave
Experiment with aluminum foil to get the desired shape and later cut it up as a pattern. Allow some margin for the genuine pieces to overlap when you solder them together.
When you start sour with a parabola you need to have an idea that of a focal point first. Where would you like to have the focal point of your truss?
What kind of reflector? A bowl shaped one or a semi cylindrical?
Bowl shaped parabolas mean that you merely have on point of focal power while cylindrical reflectors have a straight queue of focal power however it is less powerful than the bowl.
http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/fair/parabo…
That website shows a great deal of worthy information.
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