Rather than wasting sunlight on the roofs of movie theaters, the sun can be used as the light source for theater projectors.
The roof of the theater is fitted with a heliostat inside a cylindrical skylight. A mirror in the center of the skylight is mounted on a motor’s shaft that is aligned with the Earth’s rotational axis (at the latitude of the theater*) which turns to track the sun.
The rotating mirror is tipped at an angle to reflect sunlight onto stationary mirrors on the axis of the projector, through the film and lens, and onto the screen. Conventional theaters use expensive, short-life 3-4 KW Xenon projection lamps. It would be a missed opportunity to not use the sunlight when available. During cloudy periods and at night, a conventional lamp can be moved into the light path.
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About the Entrant
- Name:Steve Hines
- Type of entry:individual
- Profession:
- Number of times previously entering contest:3
- Steve's favorite design and analysis tools:I like the moment the light bub goes on, when I have that spark of an idea. That's a thrill as an inventor. I also like the wide variety of inventions, and the respect of my piers, whether or not I'm able to license or productize an invention.
- For managing CAD data Steve's company uses:Strata Design 3D CX
- Steve's hobbies and activities:inventing, photography, taking apart cameras.
- Steve belongs to these online communities:CleanTecnica
- Steve is inspired by:I like solving problems. I like the "ah-ha moment" when I come up with an invention.
- Software used for this entry:MacDraft, Strata Design 3D, Photoshop
- Patent status:none