Why are concave mirrors used in solar devices?

Why are concave mirrors used in solar devices?

We can all agree that life has become a lot easier ever since the onset of technology habituated the use of solar devices with the human consciousness.

One can only stare back to decades ago and marvel at how far humanity has crawled up the ladder of progression, from recognizing the growth of steam engines to perpetuating pure and unique fluorescent energy to seeing the potentials in natural resources and further fore-longing the stride for ease by thrusting the entire human race to a boundless present lorded by automated engines and Ai algorithms.

Virtually the journey to the future has never been this discrete and defined but yet so far from the human reach or so, miles away from the contextual grab of the average mind.

It is congenial that everything in our present society has a process to its bodywork, from the abstract particles subsisting in realms where acute eyesight and potent mind games can’t take you to the concrete aspect of life where articles the likes of the human lungs are easily defined upon sight.

But perhaps critical evaluation can pierce through both the abstract and the concrete; so far there is a scientific basis to it, a reason for its existence and a proper approach to vetting its conceivable essence.

Take, for example, the scientific basis for the presence of S.O.P.H.I.A, the most advanced AI humanoid in the world, which was to methodically augment a representation of Queen Nefertiti, Audrey Hepburn, and Amanda Hanson as a nursing companion, and syndicate all their appalling qualities into a thin barrel backed by a cognitive bandwidth that has no bound. Hence, saw its beginning on the 14th of February 2016.

The mannerism of how it operates heavily borders on Alphabet INC for its speech recognition technology. It generally converts text to speech, and its affiliation with Google has served as an enabler for cognitive growth and development.  Such has been easily assessed as similarities with every other creation pulled out of gross impossibility to a finite stance in probability.

For every existent phenomenon; defined by nature or physics, there is a background reason, and just as it functions to achieve its purpose of existence, so does its minute wiring, which is model in similitude understanding how the outside environment of a solar device functions would be easily absorbed once the purpose of its composure is defined.

Today solar devices are spiralling at uncontrollable rates, and everyone wants one. You do, I do, everyone within a distance of a local convenience store does, but from learning about it works to nurturing a bleeding desire to understand the possibility of its existence, one can only vie to ask why certain elements are intertwined with the solar cooker, or the solar furnace or thermal collector or the solar-powered watch. Addressing this would only take us to the beginning of the solar invention; what makes a solar device a solar device?

What are solar devices?

Solar devices are devices powered by solar energy; such devices possess a complex series of mechanisms serving as a channel that converts pure energy as a source to various types of power depending on how its device schematics read.

For example, some devices transfer heat to electrical power, some heat to mechanical energy, or the very conventional ways that see the conversion of solar power to energy through the use of passive methods, the likes of windmills and other auxiliary attachments such as the Trombe wall.

What is a concave mirror?

In general, there are 3 types of mirrors; the plane mirror, the concave mirror, and a convex mirror. A plane mirror is a standard polished or smooth surface that projects the image of whatever object is placed in front of it.

A concave mirror is a curved mirror just like a convex mirror; it is curved inwardly and represents images with inverted projection when they are far and magnified projection when they are up close.

A convex mirror elicits its projection by diminishing the size of the image in front of it through its graphical projection. An example of a convex mirror is the outer part of a metal cooking spoon.

Why are concave mirrors used in solar devices?

For a solar device to be fully functional, there must be a presence of a concave mirror; the principle of a concave mirror is hinged on its oddly perceived feature. A curved mirror retains a reflective surface channelling light to one singular focal point.

Its use in a solar device is for the reflection of light to one focal point; this light gradually turns to a constellation, further birthing its thermal resolve; from there, the conversion of energy takes place, and what it has become can now be exhausted on whatever purpose the device it’s attached to was created for.

Why use a concave mirror? Why not a convex mirror or a plane mirror?

The converging essence of a concave mirror (where it gets its name from) possesses a surface with an inward bend. This inward bulge creates a standing bowl that aids the retention of light (rays) travelling from infinity and further directs it into a focal point.

While it is broad to a degree, the concave mirror collects light from every conceivable direction owing to its unconventional structure, allowing it to entrap light like every other mirror and channel it all to the focal point.

This usually makes a concave mirror the best candidate for placing a targeted beam of light to the processing mechanism of a solar device since the entire bodywork depends on how much light/ray is channelled into it.

A convex mirror, on the other hand, cannot retain many degrees of the ray coming from infinity because, as opposed to the concave mirror, a convex mirror is a diverging tool that has its focal point directly against the positioning of the ray, so instead of retaining light and subsequently converting it to thermal, heat and/or electrical energy, it repels the light ray entirely.

While this kind of mirror is effective in backlights of vehicles, they do not function optimally when infused in a solar device.

A plane mirror is only a flat surface; though it retains and traps light, it doesn’t have a focal point, so directing the light to a solar conduit would be nearly impossible.

Has this article been helpful? Are there any other identifiable reasons that haven’t been pointed out attached to this? If so, feel free to share.