Due to an ever growing shortage of conventional energy sources, there is
an increasingly intense interest in harnessing solar energy. This
invention deals with method and apparatus for the direct conversion of
solar energy to alternating current power by an active spinning
mini-optics system. A limiting factor in the utilization of solar energy
in the past has been the high cost of power conversion from dc to ac. By
directly producing alternating current power, this invention
substantially reduces the cost of generating photovoltaic electricity.
This system utilizes a dynamic spinning ensemble of mini-mirrors to both
concentrate and modulate rays from the sun onto a photovoltaic collector
array. The focusing with superimposed spinning action produces single
phase and multiphase alternating current (ac) with substantially higher
power output than the direct current (dc) power resulting from the direct
incidence of sunlight on the photovoltaic collector.