• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1177-1183
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• 2012

This study aims to develop a system that maximizes the radiative heat transfer from the heliostat to the receiver by using the configuration factor and a solar tracking device. As the heat transfer from the heliostat to the receiver is delivered by solar radiation, the configuration factor commonly utilized for radiation is applied to control the heliostat. Tracking the sun and calculating its position are possible by using an illuminance sensor (CdS) and Simulink. By applying optimized algorithms programmed using Simulink that maximize the configuration factors among the heliostat, receiver, and sun in real time, the solar absorption efficiency of the receiver can be maximized. Simulations were performed on how to change the angle required to control the elevation and azimuthal angle of the heliostat during the daytime with respect to various distances.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.21-29
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• 2014

Heliostat field control algorithm is the logics to operate the heliostat field of tower type solar thermal power plant and it could include various methodologies of how to control the heliostat field so as to optimize the energy collection efficiency as well as to reduce the system operating cost. This work, as the first part of the consecutive works, presents heliostat aiming mint allocation scheme which will be used in the heliostat field control algorithm for 200kW solar thermal power plant built in Daegu, Korea. We first discuss the structure of heliostat field control system required for the implementation of aiming scheme developed in this work. Then the methodologies to allocate the heliostat aiming points on the receiver are discussed. The simulated results show that the heliostat aiming point allocation scheme proposed in this work reduces the magnitude of peak heat flux on the receiver more than 40% from the case of which all the heliostats in the field aim at the center of receiver simultaneously. Also it shows that, when the proposed scheme is used, the degradation of heliostat field optical efficiency is relatively small from the maximal optical efficiency the heliostat field could have.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.33-41
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• 2014

Heliostat field in a tower type solar thermal power plant is the sun tracking mirror system which affects the overall efficiency of solar thermal power plant most significantly while consumes a large amount of energy to operate it. Thus optimal operation of it is very crucial for maximizing the energy collection and, at the same time, for minimizing the operating cost. Heliostat field operational algorithm is the logics to control the heliostat field efficiently so as to optimize the heliostat field optical efficiency and to protect the system from damage as well as to reduce the energy consumption required to operate the field. This work presents the heliostat field operational algorithm developed for the heliostat field of 200kW solar thermal power plant built in Daegu, Korea. We first review the structure of heliostat field control system proposed in the previous work to provide the conceptual framework of how the algorithm developed in this work could be implemented. Then the methodologies to operate the heliostat field properly and efficiently, by defining and explaining the various operation modes, are discussed. A simulation, showing the heat flux distribution collected by the heliostat field at the receiver, is used to show the usefulness of proposed heliostat field operational algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.22-31
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• 2009

Canting is the optical alignment of mirror facets of heliostat such that the heliostat could focus the energy as a unit concentrator. Canting could improve the optical performance of heliostat and thus improves the efficiency of heliostat and ultimately improves the efficiency of the solar thermal power plant. This study discusses the effect of mirror canting, especially off-axis canting, used to compensate the sun tracking error caused by the heliostat geometrical errors. We first show that the canting could compensate the sun tracking error caused by the heliostat geometrical errors. Then we show that the proper canting time could exist, depending on the heliostat location. Finally we show how much the sun tracking performance could be improved by canting, by providing RMS sun tracking error. The limitation and caution of using canting to improve the sun tracking performance are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.80-88
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• 2011

Heliostat in the tower type solar thermal power plant is a sun tracking mirror system to reflect the solar energy to the receiver and the optical performance of it affects to the efficiency of whole power plant most significantly. Thus a solid understanding of heliostat's energy concentration characteristics is the most important step in designing of the heliostat field and the whole power plant. The work presented here is the analysis of energy concentration characteristics of heliostat used in 200kW solar thermal power plant, where the receiver located at 43m high in tower has $2{\times}2$m rectangular shape. The heliostat reflective surface is formed by 4 of $1{\times}1$m flat plate mirror facet and the mirror facet is mounted on the spherical frame. The direct normal incident radiation models in vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice are first derived from the actually measured data. Then the intercept ratio, heat flux distribution and total energy collected at the receiver for the heliostats located in the various places of the heliostat field are investigated. Finally the effect of mirror facet installation error on the optical performance of the heliostat is analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2009

Heliostat, as a mirror system tracking the sun's movement, is the most important subsystem determining the efficiency of solar thermal power plant. Thus the accurate sun tracking performance under the various hazardous operating condition, is required. This study presents a methodology of development of the solar ray tracing technique and the application of it in the analysis of sun tracking error due to the heliostat geometrical errors. The geometrical errors considered here are the azimuth axis tilting error and the elevation axis tilting error. We first analyze the geometry of solar ray reflected from the heliostat. Then the point on the receiver, where the solar ray reflected from the heliostat is landed, is computed and compared with the original intended point, which represents the sun tracking error. The result obtained shows that the effect of geometrical error on the sun tracking performance is varying with time(season) and the heliostat location. It also shows that the heliostat located near the solar tower has larger sun tracking error than that of the heliostat located farther.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

Heliostat sun tracking accuracy could be the most important requirement in solar thermal power plant, since it determines the overall efficiency of power plant. This study presents the effect of geometrical errors on the heliostat sun tracking performance. The geometrical errors considered here are the mirror canting error, encoder reference error, heliostat position error. pivot offset and tilt error, gear backlash and mass unbalanced effect error. We first investigate the effect of each individual geometrical error on the sun tracking accuracy. Then, the sun tracking error caused by the combination of individual geometrical error is computed and analyzed. The results obtained using the solar ray tracing technique shows that the sun tracking error due to the geometrical error is varying almost randomly. It also shows that the mirror canting error is the most significant error source, while the encoder reference error and gear backlash are second and the third dominant source of errors.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2011

Heliostat in the tower type solar thermal power plant is a sun tracking mirror system to reflect the solar energy to the receiver and the optical performance of it affects to the efficiency of whole power plant most significantly. Thus a proper design of structure of the heliostat reflective surface could be the most important step in the construction of such power plant. The work presented here is a design of structure of optical surface of heliostat, which will be used in 200kW solar thermal power plant. The receiver located at 43(m) high from ground in tower has $2{\times}2$(m) rectangular shape. We first developed the software tool to simulate the energy concentration characteristics of heliostat using the ray tracing technique. Then, the shape of heliostat reflective surface is designed with the consideration of heliostat's energy concentration characteristics, production cost and productivity. The designed heliostat's reflective surface has a structure formed by canting four of $1{\times}1$(m) rectangular flat plate mirror facet and the center of each mirror facet is located on the spherical surface, where the spherical surface is formulated by the mirror facet mounting frame.

• The Science & Technology
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• v.11 no.1 s.104
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• pp.41-43
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• 1978

태양에너지 이용이 크게 역설된지도 벌써 상당한 년월이 흘렀으나 대규모 이용은 아직 실용화되지 못하고 있다. 다수의 반사경을 사용하여 태양 광선을 탑 위에 올려놓은 보일러에 집중시켜 여기에서 발생하는 수증기를 이용하여 터어빈을 회전, 발전하는 태양열발전 방식의 10MW의 파이롯드 플랜트가 금년중에 미국에 건설될 예정으로 있다. 이것은 앞으로 100MW의 발전소를 현실시키기 위한 것으로 기술적으로는 큰 어려움이 없고 대량생산이 되면 경제적으로도 원자력발전보다 오히려 유리하다고 한다. 기상조건과 지리적조건이 다른우리나라에서는 실현이 어렵겠지만 이러한 류의 구상은 우리나라에서도 가능할 것이다. 이 헬리오스타트(시계장치로 회전하는 반사경에 의하여 태양의 반사광선을 일정한 방향으로 보내는 장치)를 사용하는 발전에 대하여 휴우스톤대학의 물리학 교수이며 태양 에너지 연구소장인 힐데프란드박사와 같은 물리학교수이며 동연구소의 부소장인 밴드할박사가 상세한 논문을 발표하고 있다. 다음에 그 논문의 요약을 소개한다.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.41-51
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• 2012

Heliostat field is the most important subsystem in the tower type solar thermal power plant since its optical performance affects the total system efficiency most significantly while the construction cost of it is the major part of total construction cost in such a power plant. Thus a well designed heliostat field to maximize the optical efficiency as well as to minimize the land usage is very important. This work presents methodology, procedures and result of heliostat filed design for 200kW solar thermal power plant built recently in Daegu, Korea. A $2{\times}2(m)$ rectangular shaped receiver located at 43(m) high and tilted $28^{\circ}$ toward heliostat field, 450 of heliostats of which the reflective surface is formed by 4 of $1{\times}1(m)$ flat plate mirror facet, and the land area having about $140{\times}120(m)$ size are used to form the heliostat field. A procedure to deploy 450 heliostats in radial staggered nonblocking formation is developed. Also the procedures to compute the cosine effect, intercept ratio, blocking and shading ratio in the field are developed. Finally the heliostat filed is designed by finding the optimal radial distance and azimuthal spacing in radial staggered nonblocking formation such that the designed heliostat field optical efficiency could be maximized. The designed heliostat field has 77% of annual average optical efficiency, which is obtained by annually averaging the optical efficiencies computed between the time of where sun elevation angle becomes $10^{\circ}$ after sunrise and the time of where sun elevation angle becomes $10^{\circ}$ before sunset in each day.