What is the correct angle for a curve reflective panel to reflect the sunlight to this particular thing?

Question

My friends and I are doing our final year project on this distillation of rainwater to pure drinking water. Then we need to for out the actual angle for reflecting the sunlight to a specific point of our tube.

Answer 1

The curve you need is a parabola with your tube at the focus, and the axis pointed toward the Sun.
The equation of the curve is
(y - k) = (1/(4p))(x - h)^2
where (h,k) is the vertex of the parabola, and p is the distance from the vertex to the focal point.

Answer 2

Of course, curved mirrors look spiffy, but you will need to orient it correctly in order for it ti work right. If you want to collect solar energy from an area, and do it cheaply, you might be better off having a large square painted pitch black. That will guarantee that light coming form almost any direction will be absorbed. Further, the device can be as simple as a flat tank with black bottom, covered by a slanted transparent cover, on which water will condensate and, because of the slant, drain to one side, where you would install a small "gutter" with a spout on one side. That same slanting roof can be used to actually collect the rainwater in the first place, except that collection would happen on its outer surface.

Answer 3

A parabola is OK but you could consider a hyperbola instead. A hyperbola is easier to construct. Do you really need it to focus exactly on a point? This is quite hard. If you only need it to focus at approximately one point, it would be better to use a circle shape because a circle is very simple to construct. Instead of using a tube, use a wide container such as a tin so that it catches as many rays as possible.