Technology has played an imperative in making our lives easy. Every other day, we come across several inventions, some of which are significant enough to change the course of our lives. This one we are talking about may not be that significant but is innovative enough to draw attention. Now, the supreme source of energy ‘Sun’ will roast coffee for us. Yes, its true as artist Dave Hartkop has invented a five and a half ton solar array for roasting coffee. He along with his brother, who has an undying passion for coffee, decided to start an online coffee business. Both of them designed a huge solar powered roasting system named Helios 4.
Helios 4, is made up of 600 mirrors with a 35-foot-by-35-foot footprint owing to which it effectively captures the energy from Sun, a renewable source of energy. However, the major obstacle they faced was the wind gusts, which clocked up to 90mph. In order to overcome this problem, they got a truss fabricated from two I-beams to support Helios 4 against the wind. The weight of the truss was about 11,000 pounds. This entire arrangement is mounted on two concentric circular tracks. These tracks are powered using battery cells to keep them pointed towards the Sun. The array headings are adjusted by an operator every two to three minutes.
Helios 4 is capable of generating a temperature up to 900 degree Fahrenheit, thus, ideal for the roasting process. It also includes a solar cell powered fan to duct air into the roaster chambers so that the roasting is proper. Both brothers are happy and optimistic with the developments and are now working on developing a lighter and better version of Helios 4. Surely, future seems to get better and better.
