keeping track of the Sun


As mentioned previously, I’ve built my tracking mirrors on top of stripped down moving head lights. These mirrors follow the sun across the sky, reflecting the suns light onto a static mirror (what I am calling a target mirror) located in ACCA’s foyer. When installed at ACCA they hang off the side of the building like little creatures.

photo by Bianca Hester
photo by Bianca Hester

The reflected light enters the foyer through one of three windows. The mirror above is set up to enter through the front door,

target mirror
photo by Bianca Hester

and hits this target mirror.

The target mirrors have 4 ‘snoots’ located around the edge of the mirror (great word isn’t it – snoot!). The snoots have light sensors inside and a micro controller uses these sensors to tell when the sunlight is off course. I’m having some trouble with this target mirror because late afternoon sun floods in and disrupts the readings from the sensors.