Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
ENEA Atlas for development cooperation
Technologies
High-precision solar compass
For achieving the objectives:
Goals: 9. Industry, innovation & infrastructure
Description
ENEA makes its know-how available to realize a compact and high-accuracy compass at a cost lower than any other orientation instrument having the same characteristics. It exploits solar radiation (rather than the earth’s magnetic field) to identify the real north direction with an accuracy of 0,01°. It works in whatever place in the world, at any latitude, and allows the perfect orientation of any solar panel or detection instrument (e.g., theodolites, or laser scanners, or total stations), with no error due to nearby ferromagnetic materials.
Benefits and Advantages:
- Low-cost.
- High accuracy as it is not influenced by any magnetic field
- It can be used as a standard to calibrate other compasses
- It is smartphone compatible and can be also used in the absence of phone signal or internet connection
ENEA Service:
- Technical support for system installation
- Training on the correct use of the instrument
ENEA Activities:
Patent n° 1416021 filed 27-12-2012.
Cooperation Research Project between ENEA and D.D. Costruzioni Meccaniche LTD of Mereto di Tomba (UD), Italy (started in 2014)
ENEA solar compass: High-accuracy theodolite version (0.01°), installed on a commercial theodolite (a); modest accuracy (0.1°) but low-cost version, realized with a Smartphone placed on a plate (on a tripod) with optical pointer (b). In both versions, the compass recognized the sun’s direction thanks to the image scanning of a solar light line penetrating through a thin slit.