I-Corps: Commercialization Feasibility Study of Mesocale Planar Heliostats

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This project plans to further develop an organic agriculture technology that has the potential to treat soil and water using a service-based model for farmers. Exploration of scaling of heliostats indicates that reducing the size of mirrors can lead to reduced weight and high speed control for fast maneuvering of focus spot. The scaling of mirrors and off- the-shelve actuators to move mirrors indicates that mesoscale heliostats that are planar is possible. These planar heliostats are capable of being attached to vertical surfaces, can be remotely actuated, and have low mass for easy installation on mobile platforms at a low cost. The mobility of the heliostat technology enables one to transport concentrated solar capability to anywhere, and hence enable a service based model for solar-thermal applications. An objective of the project is to determine the degree to which concentrated solar thermal systems can be useful. This will be done by studying the maximum power flux that can be achieved in the face of motion, under varying solar illumination, and in a safe way. The use of both UV and IR components presents a way to not only use purely thermal mechanism to treat agricultural material like soil, but also to use photo-chemical approaches. The understanding of these approaches would enable a paradigm for sustainable agriculture.The potential to use solar concentrated sunlight to clean soils, can not only reduce the energy use, but also reduce the health and environmental harmful effects of pesticides. This work will aim at eliminating pesticides, leading to reduced contamination of soil with cancer-causing chemicals, making food safer both for farm-workers and consumers. The project aims to eliminate the use of gaseous pesticides such as methyl-bromide, which is a strong green- house gas, and reduce the rate of ozone depletion. By reducing the use of liquid pesticides, and the associated fossil-fuel used to make them, this technology will reduce the released CO2, decreasing the effect of farming on global warming. By enabling soil-sterilization using the sun, even in areas where sun is not bright enough, food yield can be increased while reducing cost of production. The team estimates that the cost of fruit production would drop by 15-20% percent to enable lower cost fruit availability.