Batant

The Batant solar concentrator cooks or fries by focusing the suns rays, about 80 times, reaching 200°C and 800 Watts! However, precisely the same compound parabolic technique can be used for much larger machines, such as the Vesta or Apollo.

The Batant is extremely useful for training, experimentation and especially demonstration. It is designed to come completely apart and fit in the average trunk of a car.

- See The Batant Construction Guide V1.1.
- What does it do? explains what is does.
- How does it work? details the operation of the machine.
- Ask a question of leave a comment here.

The machine is designed to be built almost anywhere with basic materials and tools.

Differences between the Batant and Vesta will present you with some alternative methods displayed in the Vesta guide, and of course never forget your own ideas may be even better.

Batant Guide Description

4 May 2010

This is a word description describing the construction steps of the Batant (SFT Training Model). When refined and complete (hopefully with help from your feedback, leave a comment or email eerik(at)solarfire.org directly) I will make a new pdf will be made containing the descriptions.

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What is it good for?

9 January 2009
The Batant is probably the best starting point to get familiar with the “many parabolas” sort of solar concentration, such as the Vesta or Helios. It is small and designed to be easily transportable. It can be taken completely apart and fit into the trunk of an automobile. Being smaller it can squeeze into tight places, and being transportable it’s ideal for demonstrations for whatever purposes. It’s also great for testing out concepts, before applying them to your fleet of Vestas and (...)
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How does it work?

9 January 2009
The Batant is operated by hand to concentrate the suns energy onto a smaller area (the focal point), such as the bottom of the pan. When the small parabolas are made they are mounted on the machine and oriented to reflect the light onto the focal point. The machine is turned to face the sun (by observing the shadow the machine casts) and each parabola is oriented and fixed with bolts. After this step only the machine has to turn and the rows turned (by the row handles), an operation that (...)
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Leave a Comment

15 January 2009
Ask a question or leave a comment.
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Construction Guide

This construction guide is meant to be clear, easy to follow, and without words. Download the pdf >> High Resolution (3 Mb) >> Medium Resolution (2 Mb) >> Low Resolution (1 Mb) HTML Version Below *Click on the images to see construction steps Phase 1: Mast Phase 2: Frame Phase 3: Mirrors To build a Vesta requires powerful tools and heavy materials: Protect your eyes, and hands; use these tools only under the instruction of a qualified individual. The technology represented in this guide is in the public domain. However, the images of the Batant Construction Guide v1 (...)