Technical Field

My new invention is a totally automated sun tracking umbrella that from its name it is obvious that it tracks automatically the sun during the day .It was always a problem trying to avoid the sun by sitting in the shadow of an umbrella. This problem is that the person sitting under the umbrella has to change the position of the umbrella every 10 minutes because as a result of the rotation of the earth around the sun the position of the sun relative to the earth is varying during the day.

So, lets imagine that a person can sit in a certain location under the umbrella and he do not have to change its position because while enjoying his comfortable seat the automated sun tracking umbrella will do the work and will guarantee him a pleasant shadow. Also, at the sun set it goes automatically back to its parking position and closes its upper part , which will be fully explained later .

Background Art

It is the traditional umbrella which is usually steady in only one position .So, the user have to frequently change either his position or the umbrella's position to stay away from the sun's heat and radiations. So, the problem in the traditional umbrella is that it protects the user from the sun in a very particular specific time of the day but in the majority of the day it is useless as it is steady in only one position and as a result of the rotation of the earth around the sun the position of the sun relative to the earth is varying during the day so, the user becomes unprotected from the sun in the majority of the day. Even if, some umbrellas' designs are made so that there is a possibility to adjust the umbrella's position, this will produce an exhausting physical operation as the user will have to leave his seat periodically to adjust the umbrella so that he can sit in its shadow which is inconvenient.

Disclosure of Invention

As I mentioned before , the automated sun tracking umbrella tracks the sun and this occurs using light ( optical ) sensors that by performing a mathematical equation , can determine precisely the exact location of the sun .In this operation I used 6 light sensors . .The automated sun tracking umbrella is power supplied by either a rechargeable battery or by solar panels placed on its top .The activation happens through two push buttons ( one is green colored and the other is red ) placed at the side of the lower part (as shown in Figure A. l . ) .As , I mentioned before , at the sun set , the automated sun tracking umbrella goes back to its parking position ( which is in the vertical plane ) and closes its upper part ( as the closing operation in the traditional umbrella ).At the sun rise of the following day , it opens its upper part and tracks the sun .

The automated sun tracking umbrella performs two different motions: the first is the rotation in the vertical plane, the other is the translation of the upper part in the horizontal plane. And , that occurs because the relative trajectory of the sun to the earth is oval not circular because the earth is rotating about both its axis and the sun .So , the automated sun tracking umbrella has to move in both planes so that it can track the sun perfectly. To perform that motion I used two electric motors one placed in the base and the other placed on the side of the structure (as shown in Figure A. L ) .

At the bottom, I designed a very special base consisting of a cylinder to be filled with sand so it gives the whole structure a perfect stability. This base has two locked rectangular openings (one at each side) that when the transportation of the umbrella is needed are unlocked so that the sand comes out.

Brief description of the drawing

1. Control Box containing the control board and four optical sensors on the top of each placed a dark tube with 15cm length by 1cm diameter. Those four tubes are used to make sure that the sensors sense the sun light only when the sun is exactly aligned on the top of the corresponding sensor.

2. The upper part of the automated sun tracking umbrella which closes automatically at the sun set.

3. The hinges system and the slot responsible of the translation motion of the

umbrella in the horizontal plane.

4. The box containing the rechargeable battery which supplies the umbrella Activation button A

Activation button B

Optical sensor and its reflector responsible to return the umbrella back to its parking position in the rotary vertical plane at the sun set.

Specially designed base containing two locked openings ( one on each side ) Electric motor responsible for the translation motion of the upper part of the umbrella in the horizontal plane.

Hidden electric motor responsible of the rotary motion in the vertical plane.