Design and Simulation of Small Heliostat Field at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Campus

Abstract

Solar Power Tower systems have attracted the worldwide interest since the early 1980s and heliostat fields have been an area for development due to their high cost and important function. This paper presents a mathematical model to design a small heliostat field with 3 dual-axis heliostat units located in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. The model mainly relies on the sun position and tower and heliostat geometrical relations, namely, tower height and the ground distance of the concerned heliostats. The heliostat field layout is configured according to radial staggered pattern then varying the tower height and heliostat ground distance to calculate the facing and target angle of each heliostat. TRNSYS software was used to simulate the power output for the proposed heliostat field. The modeled heliostat field could deliver 10 kW for 12.4 m2 reflective area for latitude 4.3̊ N. A solar power tower testing facility will be built according to the design specifications produced in this paper and TRNSYS simulation results are required to estimate the power input to the receiver system for sizing purpose in the future.