Patent ID: 6899096
Filing Date: 2005-05-31
Classification: F24S,Y02E

Abstract:
1. An autonomous heliostat comprising: a mirror component having at least one mirror, the mirror component being mounted to a heliostat body in a tiltable manner; a target sensor immovably fixed to an area other than the mirror component, the target sensor having a photodetector for detecting a displacement in a first direction of sunlight reflected by part of the mirror component and a displacement in a second direction intersecting the first direction of the reflected sunlight; a search sensor for detecting a displacement of the sunlight in a direction related to diurnal motion; and a controller for controlling the orientation of the mirror component based on the detection of the search sensor so that sunlight reflected by part of the mirror component is detectable by the target sensor, and for controlling the orientation of the mirror component so that the reflected sunlight detected by the target sensor maintains a predetermined displacement.