Heliostat field aiming strategy optimization with post-installation calibration

Abstract

Heliostat field aiming strategy significantly affects the safety and operational efficiency of the Solar Power Tower (SPT) system. Heliostats installed in fields are likely to show deviations of optical properties from design specification to some extent. Such deviations generally reflect in the surface curvatures and normal directions of heliostat facets. These differences can give rise to the inevitable degradation of optical performance, impacting the execution effect of the pre-designed aiming strategy. Focusing spot distortion with an inappropriate aiming strategy possibly leads to overheated local areas or component damages. To cope with this error and to improve the light concentration performance, an aiming strategy optimization approach with post-installation calibration was proposed in this paper. An equivalent parameter model was developed based on heliostat parameters, producing a more accurate description of optical performance. The adopted heliostat parameters were obtained by the parameter identification method. The parameter identification was formulated by photographed solar flux images and simulated flux distributions. The aiming strategy optimization model of heliostat field was built with obtained identification parameters, and the optimization goal considers utilized solar power absorbed by the heat transfer fluid and flux distribution uniformity. The simulation results showed substantial improvement from the proposed aiming strategy. • A novel approach to heliostat field aiming strategy optimization is developed. • Effective heliostat optical parameters are obtained by parameter identification. • Identified parameters calibrate heliostat deviations in aiming strategy optimization. • Flux distribution uniformity and heat loss are considered in the optimization goal.