Search

The Solar-Institut Jülich (SIJ) and the companies Hilger GmbH and Heliokon GmbH from Germany have developed a small-scale cost-effective heliostat, called "micro heliostat". Micro heliostats can be deployed in small-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) plants to concentrate the sun's radiation for electricity generation, space or domestic water heating or industrial process heat. In contrast to conventional heliostats, the special feature of a micro heliostat is that it consists of dozens of parallel-moving, interconnected, rotatable mirror facets. The mirror facets array is fixed inside a box-shaped module and is protected from weathering and wind forces by a transparent glass cover. The choice of the building materials for the box, tracking mechanism and mirrors is largely dependent on the selected production process and the intended application of the micro heliostat. Special attention was paid to the material of the tracking mechanism as this has a direct influence on the accuracy of the micro heliostat. The choice of materials for the mirror support structure and the tracking mechanism is made in favor of plastic molded parts. A qualification assessment method has been developed by the SIJ in which a 3D laser scanner is used in combination with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). For the validation of this assessment method, a single mirror facet was scanned and the slope deviation was computed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of now the worldwide solar research community has a unique new tool: Synlight is a high-flux solar simulator of a new performance category. It bridges the gap between laboratory scale tests and demonstration, and offers large-scale testing opportunities for up to three independently operating test campaigns. Following the commissioning and opening in March, 2017, the facility has been validated recently. The gained results met or exceeded the expectations from simulation and prototype. In particular, solar radiation powers of up to 310kW with a simultaneous peak flux of 12.5MW/m² could be measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German Aerospace Center (DLR) is currently constructing a new high-flux solar simulator synlight which shall be commissioned in late 2016. The new facility will provide three separately operated experimental spaces with expected radiant powers of about 300kW / 240kW / 240kW respectively. synlight was presented to the public for the first time at SolarPACES 2015 [1]. Its engineering and erection is running according to plan. The current presentation reports about the engineering and the ongoing erection of the novel facility, and gives an outlook on its new level of possibilities for solar testing and qualification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-flux solar simulators, providing predictable and reproducible solar radiation, have emerged to indispensable tools for efficient development of CSP components or solar chemical processes. In the last decade, a number of such facilities have been erected, however significantly below the typical scale of pilot plants. DLR started the construction of a large solar simulator in Jülich near its solar power tower. The facilities' modular design is novel and characterized by 149 individually controllable 7kW Xenon short-arc lamps. Solar radiant powers of up to 280kW and 2 × 220kW are expected to be available in three separately useable radiation chambers. In 2017, the large artificial sun shall be available for the global CSP and solar chemical community within cooperative research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]