Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Lawson, B. D..
Solar concentrator tracking mechanism consisting of angular axle and two synchronized drive motors, follows seasonal as well as diurnal changes in earth's orientation with respect to incoming sunlight.
A collector dish is continuously oriented toward the sun in a system adapted to perform both diurnal and seasonal solar tracking. The mount is characterized by a rigid, angulated axle having a linear midportion supporting a collector dish, and oppositely extended end portions normally related to the midportion of the axle and received in spaced journals. The longitudinal axis of symmetry for the midportion of the axle is coincident with a seasonal axis while the axes of the journals are coincident with a diurnal axis paralleling the earth's polar axis. Drive means are provided for periodically displacing the axle about the diurnal axis at a substantially constant rate, while other drive means are provided for periodically indexing the dish through 1 deg about the seasonal axis whereby the position of the dish relative to the axle is varied for accommodating seasonal tracking as changes in the angle of inclination of the polar axis occurs.
Describing assembly for opening stabilizing and decelerating flaps of flight capsules used in space research
Assembly for opening flight capsule stabilizing and decelerating flaps with reference to capsule recovery