# Reflected Sunshine



## Highground (Jan 22, 2003)

Question for the scientific minds out there;
If I put several large mirrors on the hill behind the house and reflect the sunshine into our north facing living room windows, will I gain any heat in the room or will the mirrors and window glass absorb the heat? :shrug:


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

One things for sure---certain times of the day you will blind yourself.


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## Valmai (Sep 29, 2004)

Another sure thing---- certain times of the day you could start a forest fire.


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## justmyluk (Apr 28, 2005)

Or set your house on fire...


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

taking into account the comic reliefe presented above, I have thought about a similar idea. Using a large magnifying glass to heat a water tank, or a few reflectors like you are talking about . I think your idea might work, but you would need some automatic way to turn the mirrors to adjust for the earths rotation. I dont think fire would be a problem because you arent concentrating the suns rays very much. Build a small building, put a window in it, and give it a shot.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

The solar electric plant does just that.One is a trough reflecting light and heat to a pipe running lengthwise,another is a bunch of mirrors reflecting light at a boiler on a tower.So yes,you can gather light and reflect heat.

BooBoo


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

What you need to keep the mirrors aimed is a heliostat. Duane Johnson at Red Rock Energy has been working with them for awhile, and has had interesting displays at the Energy Fair in Wisconsin.
http://www.redrok.com/main.htm


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi,

If you make the total area of the mirrors the same as or not much larger than the north window area, then there is no concentration and no fire or overheating potential -- youve just moved the sun to the other side of the house at the same strength -- it would provide both heat and light.

I've thought about the same thing for my north east windows that get almost no winter sun. One problem is that the mirrors have to track the sun to keep the reflected light on the windows. The perpendicular to the mirror has to be pointed half way between the sun and the target window at all times -- this makes it a bit more complicated than just tracking the sun itself.

For my windows, which are up one story, I was thinking about keeping the mirror low in the yard, and putting the patch of reflected sun through the windows and onto the cathederal ceiling. I think this would make for both heat and nice lighting. 

This kind of tracking mirror is called a heliostat, and there is lots out there on them. I know there is at least one commercial outfit that makes these for just this purpose. As someone mentioned Duane at RedRok.com knows this stuff inside and out and would be a really good source of info.

Gary


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## Highground (Jan 22, 2003)

I thought the idea might work, just wasn't sure if the mirrors or window glass would absorb some of the heat.
I'm thinking of using my old satellite actuator arm rigged to a timer to keep the mirrors moving a little at a time during sunlight hours. Will have to play around with it to get the correct angles. Same idea with solar panels someday. Mount them on an old satellite dish with a timer and track the sun all day.

I'll check out that heliostat.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Just think! You could feed yourself at the same time by picking up all the dead birds that run into the mirrors.

I made a solar oven once and used a mirror for the reflector. After one use I changed to foil covered cardboard for that very reason.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

And here I had some mirrors to sell!


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