flexible mirror material needed

 I am looking for some flexible mirror material to make a trough
type solar heating device, I'll need to flex it into the parabolic fixture
so it should be flexible but not too much so.
If anyone has actually used something they can recommend it will be appreciated.
Thanks
Cat22

  On 1/13/2010 4:58 PM, Cat 22 wrote:

I've used rear-silvered polycarbonate sheeting for prototyping a
parabolic trough, and have a "show-and-tell" web page at

    http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Projects/Stirling/Heat.html

I haven't yet used (but am planning to try) stainless steel foil
available in widths up to 2m on a not-yet-decided-upon substrate:

 
http://sigmast.tradeindia.com/Exporters_Suppliers/Exporter19430.332762/Stainless-Steel-Foil.html

(mind the wrap)

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

 Morris Dovey wrote:

http://sigmast.tradeindia.com/Exporters_Suppliers/Exporter19430.332762/Stainless-Steel-Foil.html  

Thanks, I took a look at your website, this is exactly what i am contemplating
building.
My goal is to just dump heat into my attached,unheated, garage, where most of
the back
wall and all of one side wall are shared with the house. I'm in Pacfic NorthWet
so temps
are fairly mild. Temps in the garage typically run 50-56F and i was thinking  of
mounting
a thermostatically controlled fan on a car radiator in the garage near the
ceiling and let
convection circulate the water. the radiator would be about 6 feet above the top
of the
planned solar collector. I'd cover the collector in summer to turn it off. Also,
i plan
to use a water & antifreeze mix to prevent possible freezing. We do get some
cold snaps,
sometimes down to zero or so, but only rarely. At this moment its 48F outside
and the
garage is at 57F (I must be losing heat from the house eh?). In colder weather
that
drops some but not too bad. The outside wall of the garage is south facing.
Cat22

 On 1/13/2010 5:47 PM, Cat 22 wrote:


Hmm - for more efficient space heating I suggest building flat panel
collectors instead. I have another show-and-tell at

    http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/SC_Madison/

showing a pair of flat panels that heat a 30x40 building you might find
interesting. I don't offer plans for my panels, but you can find plans
for some for other designs on Gary Reysa's website at

    http://www.builditsolar.com

Hope this helps!

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

 

Have a look at

http://www.reflectechsolar.com/pricing.html

A bit pricey, but looks good.


Rick... (The other Rick)

Science and sound engineering will always prevail in the end
"for nature cannot be fooled" [Feynman]