This is part of an architectural project by Nadim, who’s studying architecture in Sweden, to design an ecological house. Here we have bit of an idea of what a Prometheus would look like on the roof.

This site serves as an open tool to develop solar concentrators that can replace conventional fires of wood and fossil fuel with solar fire on a global scale.
Batant |
Vesta |
Helios |
|
Up to 285°C and 800 watts
For training and mobility. |
Up to 400°C and 2000 watts
For boiling and frying. |
Up to 950°C and 3000 watts
For ovens of all kinds. |
This is part of an architectural project by Nadim, who’s studying architecture in Sweden, to design an ecological house. Here we have bit of an idea of what a Prometheus would look like on the roof.

Here are some useful photos to understand the mirror construction process of the Helios.
This is the "Spider" glued to the back of each mirror, on the ends of each spider leg is a tiny bolt which will bend the mirror (3mm can tolerate enough bending and still be strong enough not to break) into a concave shape.
In 2009 Shalin, using the Batant guide, did some training in Kenya. The craftsmen that worked on it adapted it more for Kenya, arranging things in a circle as well as developing some great ideas for the mirror assembly (simply bending some tin).
Currently we hear the concentrator is being used to dry fish. We will try to follow these great developments in the time to come.

This will document the construction of a Helios in Lytton Springs, Texas (just a bit less than 30 degrees N. Latitude). Since the first construction article for the Helios was written in French, I ran the article through a translation program, saved it, and printed it so I could convert the measurements for materials into American units of thicknesses, widths, and lengths that I could purchase at a local steel supply yard. (Discount Door and Metal L.L.C 2 at 1083 Highway 71 West, in Bastrop, Texas 78602) Then, I obtained a printed price list from them, and made a list of what I wanted, and hooked up my 12 foot long cattle trailer to my diesel truck and drove the 20 miles to the supply yard. Loading the 24 feet long 11 gauge (heavy duty) square tubing into the 12 foot trailer left me with a good bit angled up into the air over the bed of the truck. With luck, I managed to clear all the low hanging power and telephone lines on the way home. The first photo shows the material and prices I picked up on that trip. Then using the pictorial Helios construction plans put together by Marie Testud (GUIDE DE CONSTRUCTION FOUR HELIOS) I began using a hacksaw and a 14" metal chop saw to cut metal. To cut the 3" wide 1/8" thick material that the 12" mirror tiles are glued to, I used the chop saw to cut two at once. Put them on edge, measure carefully (These need to be square 3" by 3") and lower the grinding disk. Works great! Then clean up the edges on the bench grinder. The smaller pieces for the spider were cut in a bench vise using some old hacksaws, mostly to save on material, because the chop saw takes at least 1/8" of material for each cut. However, the chop saw does cut at pretty close to 90 degrees each time.
Click to download the Prometheus System Calculator v1.0.4
For maximum access, the program is written to work in Open Office Spread Sheet (Calc) (though many other spread sheet programs can read the format as well).