Automatic Climate Controls

This is the panel you’ll use to set the climate controls. System functions will be displayed on the screen. To turn on the climate control system, press the ON-OFF button.

The AUTO mode may be used all year round. To turn it ON, press this button for automatic cooling or dehumidified heating. It will automatically regulate and maintain fan speed, air flow and temperature in the cabin. The AUTO mode can be turned OFF by pressing the DEFROSTER, MODE, A/C, AIR RECIRCULATION, TEMPERATURE CONTROL or FAN SPEED CONTROL buttons. To reactivate, press the AUTO button again.

These are the TEMPERATURE CONTROL buttons. Press the up arrow to increase the temperature, or the down arrow to decrease the temperature in the cabin.

Please note: Using the climate control system to heat the cabin when outside temperature is below 32° Fahrenheit uses more electricity and effects vehicle range more than when using the heater at a temperature that is above 32° Fahrenheit.

To manually control fan speed, press either end of this button. The PLUS icon will increase fan speed, while the MINUS icon will decrease fan speed.

Press the DEFROSTER button to select front and side window defrosting or defogging; an indicator will illuminate. The AC automatically turns ON when you select the defroster mode, to help dehumidify the cabin. Then press the TEMPERATURE CONTROL buttons to set the desired temperature to best meet weather conditions. For windshield deicing, the temperature should be set to maximum heat. Also, using the manual fan control, set the fan speed to high.

To defrost or defog the rear window and, if so equipped, the outside mirrors, press the REAR WINDOW DEFROSTER button. The indicator light will illuminate. After defrosting, press again to turn OFF. If not turned OFF manually, this feature will automatically turn OFF in 15 minutes.

If you want to change how the AUTO function has set airflow coming through the vents, press the MODE button. Your airflow choices will be displayed on the monitor. Press MODE repeatedly to select from these choices: air will flow from center and side vents, from center, side and foot vents, mainly from foot vents, or from the defroster and foot vents. Note: in hot or humid conditions, a visible mist may be seen coming from the vents. This does not indicate a malfunction.

To recirculate air inside your vehicle, press the AIR RECIRCULATION button and an indicator light will illuminate. This helps A/C efficiency and helps block outside odors from entering the cabin. Press the OUTSIDE AIR CIRCULATION button to turn OFF the recirculation feature and allow fresh air from outside the cabin to be drawn into your vehicle. Please be aware that if the defroster is ON, the OUTSIDE AIR option will automatically be selected. Allowing outside air into the cabin helps the defogging process.

While the Air Recirculation or Outside Air Circulation modes are activated, press the currently selected mode’s button for more than one and a half seconds to set the automatic air intake controls. Both indicator lights will flash twice and the air intake will be controlled automatically.

For manual control of air conditioning, press the A/C button to turn it ON or OFF.

Press the ZERO EMISSION button to access the “Climate Control Timer” screen. This screen allows you to set and adjust two individual timers for operating the climate control system. You can use this feature to set a timer for a one-time operation or a regularly scheduled time that will reoccur on selected days. Please refer to your Owner’s Manual for more information on setting and adjusting climate control timers.

Another heliostat tracking idea. This one uses gearing. This is another do-it-yourself or low cost cost/complex system, however, the system needs to be initialy aimed by the user if only basic electronic sensing is used.. With the light sensing method, the sensors will detect the brightest spot in the sky and “steer” the mirror to positon automatically without any controlled timing.

In the video diagram, R stands for the radius length of the corresponding circle/disk indicated.

If you increase the size of a gears (toothed, pulley, or friction contact) when a force is applied there is more torque available due to the more basic “lever arm” (mechanical advantage “gain”) effect. Lever arm is basically somewhat like a balancing beam concept. The beams or levers physical rotation point or axis is called the fulcrum. We know that when a balanced uniform lever gets unbalanced, such as from moving the fulcrum or rotation point away from one side, it will rotate due to the unbalance (of gravity forces, ie weight, etc., acting on each side of the beam). However, the beam could also rotate in any direction, and that depends on which side has the most force applied. Both sides of the lever (or “lever arms”) will rotate the same amount of degrees (angle) always on each side of the fulcrum no matter where it is located along the levers length, however the end of the longest lever will move a greater distance (and technically it’s not just a straight distance (such as a height distance) but a curved one or arc). Now by adjusting the fulcrum (ie rotation point), you can get an “amplification” of the forces applied to one end of the lever appearing at the other end of the lever, however, the distance that you apply the force to that side of the lever will be longer since that side of the lever is longer as mentioned. Basically if the lever arm doubles in length then the force applied will be doubled (ie. equally amplified or gain as the length is increased/gained) on the other end of the shorter (here, half-sized) lever. In theory, with an ideal system, you can balance a ton of stone with a grain of sand if the lever arm is long enough, and with another grain of sand added to the first grain, the stone will begin to move due to the unbalance. In the cases of lever arm systems (a mechanical energy transformer), the force (F) multiplied by the distance (D) the force is applied is equal on both sides of the lever:

F left X D left = F right X D right

Lets call F left as F output, and F right as F input, and solving for it mathematically, we get:

Foutput = ( F input x D input ) / D output

Which can be written as:

F output = F input ( D input / D output )

So we see the output Force is essentially equal to the input Force times the ratio of the distances. Note that the output Force is inversely related to the output distance. The shorter the output distance, the greater the output force and vice-versa.

So it’s not magic that lets you lift heavy weights with this lever method, it’s actually due to “conservation of energy” or “energy out = energy in”, basically a balance or equivalence. Much of the reasoning of lever action can be applied to gears and “pully” systems.

I believe the visible disk of the Sun is about 0.5 (half) a degree wide as we see it. Errors can happen, especially if the sensors are perhaps aimed at the edge of the sun someplace, hence this system is for less critical systems initially, such as for a single mirror heliostat with the light aimed at a solar collector.

This mechanical angle bisector (half the angle) can have other uses besides with heliostats. For example, there could be uses for cameras and lasers.

Gears are very much like transformers in the electric field of study. There, power from one side to the other is transferred via magnetic field. The power out is the same as the power in, except that either the voltage or current has changed usually, and those changes are inverse of each other. The change basically happens due to the sizes (ie. windings) of the two coils in the transformer. WIth gears, power is mechanically transferred via mechanical forces or frictions of the two gears. Again, power out is the same as power in, the difference now is that torque (a turning or twisting force) and speed (of rotation) can be altered by the size of the gears. You could say that gears are mechanical transformerrs of force energy.

Also, Gear 2 will rotate in the opposite direction than Gear 1. For example, if Gear 1 rotates clockwise, Gear 2 will rotate counter-clockwise. If you needed Gear 2 to rotate the same direction as Gear 1, you could use a “buffer” gear, of equal radius size as Gear 2, placed between Gear 1 and Gear 2 and this will effectively change the direction of rotation of Gear 2. When the gears are the same size, it’s more of a “transfer” of energy rather than a “transformer” of energy.