Heliostats use mirrors to reflect sunlight and track the sun’s movement, with basic models using clockwork and more advanced ones using software and sensors. They have been used for astronomical observations, electricity generation, architecture, and solar lighting. Heliostats are becoming more popular in architecture and are used in many astronomy laboratories.
Heliostats are scientific instruments that use a mirror to reflect sunlight in a specific direction. Because the sun’s position relative to the Earth changes throughout the day, most heliostats have some sort of built-in mechanism to track this movement. Simple ones use ordinary clockwork to track the sun, while more complex heliostats include trackers that sense the sun’s position in the sky or incorporate microprocessing software that compensates for the angle of the sun during the calendar year.
The word heliostat is a compound of the Greek word for “sun,” helios, and the word for “at rest” or “still,” stat, and appears to have been coined in the mid-18th century. As with many scientific inventions of that period, the device has been attributed to a number of inventors, making it unclear who is actually responsible for it. The most frequent use of heliostats in the 18th century was for astronomical observations and optical experiments. In the 20th century, mirror arrays were used in a number of mostly scientific applications, including electricity generation, astronomy, architecture, and solar lighting.
In some ways, the heliostat works like the sunflower, which tracks the sun’s movement across the sky to maximize exposure. Mechanical heliostats work in a similar way and usually with the same end goal of harnessing the sun’s energy. The most basic heliostat involves a revolving clockwork mechanism with a mirror placed upon it to track the sun’s progress across the sky and reflect its light back to a predetermined point. In a laboratory setting, where the device can be moved to compensate for changes in the angle of the sun, this type of device is adequate. More complex automated heliostats use software and sensors to orient themselves in relation to the sun. Companies that sell heliostats to provide architectural lighting accents or integral lighting solutions usually offer them with embedded microprocessors that can calculate solar positioning algorithms.
Huge arrays of heliostats that reflect light to specific locations and distribution systems can be found in high-rise buildings, solar-powered farms, as architectural effects on structures around the world, and in many astronomy laboratories. The use of heliostats in architecture is growing, as sunlight is an effective, free and pleasant ambient lighting. In laboratories, heliostats are used for solar observations, including measurements of solar radiation, as well as for power generation, heat generation, and other applications. Many labs also have siderostats, designed to track stars other than the sun.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
