Optics Challenge – Design a solar concentrator for a non-round sun

Show HN: Optics Challenge – Design a solar concentrator for a non-round sun

Operating in show hn launch, Optics Challenge – Design a solar concentrator for a non-round sun operates.

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Hi,I help run an academic conference on Nonimaging Optics (optics for optimal energy transfer in solar concentrators or illumination systems). This year, we are hosting a design challenge, and I thought it could be fun for some in the HN crowd to participate. Maybe some of you have ideas for completely different design approaches than what we typically see on the field.The challenge: Design an efficient "solar concentrator" for a sun shaped like the letters "XX" (instead of our regular round sun). The challenge is set up so that the ideal geometry would be 100% efficient*. However, we don't know how to design such an ideal geometry, and the simulated mirrors are only 95% reflective so that a

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Website: nonimaging-conference.org/competition-2025/upload