California firm awarded patent for zero-fuel solar plastic molding technology

PISMO BEACH, USA: LightManufacturing LLC, a solar thermal technology company, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the firm US Patent 8,662,877 covering the use of concentrated solar thermal energy for molding plastic.

The proprietary technology allows low-cost manufacturing of large plastic objects like water tanks and boats without the use of fossil fuels. The patent describes the use of heliostats (sun-tracking mirrors) to concentrate heat in a plastic molding system.

Heat for melting the plastic comes from an array of the company's "H1" heliostats, and a photovoltaic array on the roof of the container provides energy to rotate the molds and operate other equipment. The company estimates that the now-patented processes can be deployed on over 49 percent of the Earth's land area.

While many solar technology firms work on methods for generating electricity, LightManufacturing differs by concentrating solely on applying solar heat to manufacturing processes. "Enormous opportunities exist to harness solar thermal energy for industrial applications," says Karl von Kries, LightManufacturing founder and CEO.

"Many processes that burn natural gas or other fossil fuels to generate heat is a candidate for conversion to solar thermal, and the plastic molding processes covered by this patent happen to be two of the best first applications of our technology."