Synchronous Software Control over 62 Heliostats for Enhancing Function Capabilities of a Big Solar Furnace

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the performance accuracy of the tracking systems of process and energy heliostats was carried out based on the long-term experience of operating a two-mirror big solar furnace (BSF). It is shown that a new additional automatic control system (ACS) is being developed for the upgrade intended to expand the function capabilities of the BSF. The automated control system must maintain dynamics while simultaneously tracking the intersection of two axes of elliptical optical images of the Sun or other celestial objects in the focus of the concentrator from all 62 heliostats simultaneously. In addition, the software-based ACS in development should maintain the previously embedded functions of the automatic temperature control system (ATCS) with the departure of the center of elliptical optical images from all 62 heliostats within 25 angular minutes in order to expand the zone of uniform density. It is proven that the newly developed system of software-based management of heliostats must expand their function capabilities. The optical and geometric parameters (manufacturing accuracy, focal length, and aperture angle) of this installation allow using the solar installation as an astronomical telescope with a midsection size of 42 × 54 m2 for registering secondary Cherenkov radiation from gamma-ray sources in the night sky, creating a favorable zone for obtaining a powerful stream of laser beams, as well as efficiently synthesizing molecular hydrogen by thermolysis and electrolysis. It is shown that the automatic software control packages already created or in the process of being created must synchronously and regularly ensure the coincidence of centers of the Sun’s optical images, which have their own variable shapes and densities, depending on the value of the aperture angle with the focal point of the concentrator, for each of the 62 heliostats.