ME & MY NEED
I am a complete novice in this area and so please go easy with me. I want to try to build some devices that require sensing and controlling. The hard objects I have a good handle on but as for automation and control, that is where I haven’t a clue. I have lots of projects in mind but I will start with something “simple”.
PROJECT CONCEPT
I would like to produce an array of lenses that focus sunlght through a tunnel to come out the bottom and spray the area below with sunlight. I have a pergola covered in vegetation and not much light gets through. I want the lens array to direct captured light through the pergola to select spots where I want plants to receive light and flourish. Green growing in the cool shade would be pretty “cool”. You may suggest the obvious of taking a pruner to let more direct light in and that would solve the problem. It’s not that simple because where I am trying to grow plants is in perpetual shade, not only from the pergola but my double storey home. I can’t change the physics of the path of ambient sunlight but with concentration and refraction, I should be able to direct some where I want it to go.
CAYENNE REQUIREMENT
What I need is the ability to …
- Identify the position of the sun
- Track the path of the sun as it moves throughout the day
- Drive an array of lenses that capture sunlight and concentrate it into light transmission tubes, and maybe
- Control the direction the tubes are pointing to target light onto specific areas of interest.
- The control I would love to me able to do natively on my Mac device(s).
QUESTION
Is this environment one that could conceivably achieve this?
If so, in a nutshell, how would I go about this?
Thanks in anticipation.