Central Coast California solar technology firm LightManufacturing is exhibiting at the Solar Power International (SPI) expo in Anaheim this week (booth 1040), showing new applications for solar energy and a unique set of products at the conference.
“We’re not a PV company” explains founder Karl von Kries. “We don’t make electricity. Instead, we use concentrated solar heat to replace fossil fuels in industry. For example, we’ve learned how to mold water tanks and boats using solar thermal energy at a fraction of the cost.”
The company has molded thousands of commercial-grade plastic parts for private clients at its research facility. The firm’s Solar Rotational Molding or SRM process recently received U.S. Patent protection. The company is targeting several follow-on industrial processes for conversion to real-time solar heat.
In addition to patents and process know-how, the firm developed a unique line of sun-tracking heliostats. A two–year effort yielded a simple, industrial–grade heliostat that’s efficient to deploy in small arrays.
Just one of the many cool products you can find at SPI this year
According to the company, the H1 is the first heliostat that connects to the Internet for simple cloud-based configuration and aiming. No software is required to use the H1, just a web browser on a computer or smartphone.
For greater heat intensity, customers can order the Vacuum Mirror option, a patent-pending field-adjustable mirror which according to the firm can focus most of the reflected energy onto a circle LightManufacturing’s unique vision for industrial solar thermal industry won the firm a slot at the competitive “Start-Up Alley” section of the massive Solar Power International show, and landed the company a chance to present at the the even–more–selective Startup Challenge competition.
— Solar Builder magazine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.