Instead of an electricity generating solar panel, a motorised sun-bouncing mirror known as a heliostat is another approach to solar-powered lighting. And for just $US400 the SunFlower will redirect up to 50,000 lumens of sunlight directly into your home.
Heliostats are already popular in industrial applications but typically come with industrial-sized price tags. So the SunFlower was designed to be both affordable and consumer-friendly. Meaning you don’t need a degree in engineering to get it running.
You quite literally just mount it to a pole, position it so the sun is bounced where you need it, and walk away. It’s completely solar-powered, and will automatically adjust the position and angle of the three-foot wide mirror array to keep the sun always shining where you specified.
Besides boosting the amount of sunlight hitting a particular room in your home, the SunFlower can also be pointed at a garden, into a swimming pool, or onto a solar panel to boost its output. And, if you’re currently fussin’ and a-feudin’ with your neighbours, into their bedroom window at the crack of dawn. [Wikoda via Gizmag]