The Helios model for the optical behavior of reflecting solar concentrators

Biggs, F.; Vittitoe, C.N.

doi:10.2172/6273705

Cited by 81 publications

(36 citation statements)

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“…The farther the distance between the heliostat and the receiver, the more serious the atmospheric attenuation will be. In this study, the formula proposed by Vittitoe and Biggs is used to estimate the atmospheric attenuation efficiency.…”

Section: Mathematical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rose pattern for heliostat field optimization with a dynamic speciation‐based mutation differential evolution

Deng

Guo

et al. 2019

Int J Energy Res

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Summary Concentrated solar power technology is one of the most promising technologies in energy field. Arguably, the heliostat field layout is a crucial component in solar power tower system. Numerous studies have been developed for heliostat field optimization. However, most of the existing layouts which utilize radial staggered patterns are based on only two or four variables, leading to relatively rigid modes due to strong configuration constraints. In this article, we propose a new method called rose layout, which divides the regular radial staggered pattern into six sectors and they are optimized separately. Therefore, the radial increments between consecutive rows are not restricted to zones or rows, only relevant to which sector they belong to. This arrangement is more flexible and also efficient. Furthermore, a new differential evolution algorithm with a dynamic speciation‐based mutation strategy (DSM‐DE) is developed to solve this high‐dimensional problem. In order to validate the proposed rose pattern and DSM‐DE, three sets of comparative experiments were carried out. The first set of tests were operated with the conventional four optimization variables, the second series optimized total 43 radial increments between consecutive rows, whereas the third series employed the rose layout. All sets of cases were optimized by four competitive variants of differential evolution algorithm, ie, JADE, SHADE, EB‐LSHADE, and DSM‐DE. Experimental results verified that the rose layout can obtain higher overall optical efficiency and less land coverage than previous methods and DSM‐DE is superior to other DE variants for this high‐dimensional problem. The heliostat field studied in this article is simulated in Qinghai, China. By integrating rose layout with DSM‐DE, the field unweighted efficiency progressed from 44.386% to 53.972%, and the annual weighted efficiency reached 59.091%, which was 0.318% higher than the 43‐variable optimization.

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Section: Mathematical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rose pattern for heliostat field optimization with a dynamic speciation‐based mutation differential evolution

Deng

Guo

et al. 2019

Int J Energy Res

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“…12 Reflecting points on the concentrator mirror surface are homogeneously distributed according to a partition in elements with nearly equal area. The energy contained in each ray is weighed with the effective mirror surface of the element, according to the incident angle from the Sun to the normal direction.…”

Section: A Ray Tracingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiative heat transfer analysis of a directly irradiated cavity-type solar thermochemical reactor by Monte-Carlo ray tracing

Villafán-Vidales

Abanades

Arancibia-Bulnes

et al. 2012

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy

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Radiative heat transfer in a 1 kW cavity-type solar reactor devoted to the thermal reduction of compressed ZnO and SnO 2 powders is analyzed by a Monte Carlo ray tracing simulation. The developed model takes into account the radiative properties of the reactant particles and of the ceramic cavity walls, as well as the angular intensity distribution of the incoming concentrated solar irradiation. The model also includes the conduction heat losses through the lateral walls and the energy consumed by the endothermic chemical reaction. It is used to predict the temperature and the absorbed flux density profiles on the inner cavity walls for different main features of the reactor, concerning the dimensions of the cavity and the type of reactant. Results show that the absorbed flux density profile and the theoretical thermochemical efficiency change with the cavity aspect ratio and with the oxide reactant. The cavity with an aspect ratio of 3 and a SnO 2 pellet undergoing dissociation presents the highest thermochemical efficiency. Additionally, a different configuration of the reactor design is considered, which consists in implementing a layer of reactive particles on the inner lateral cavity wall. The model highlights that this type of reactor operation with a reactant layer on the lateral cavity wall results in an improved thermochemical efficiency. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics.

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“…In CSP, the solar radiation is reflected by a multitude of heliostats and concentrated in the aperture of one or more receivers to be transformed into another form of energy in an associated thermodynamic process, which is subject to thermodynamic restrictions ( [16] [17]). As clearly summarized by Garcia et al [18], the solar power that is intercepted in the receiver aperture can be calculated sufficiently precise by a handful of well known tools [17], such as HFLCAL [19], HELIOS [20], MIRVAL [21], DELSOL [22], SOLTRACE [14], ENERTRACER [23], or RCELL [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of heliostat curvature on optical performance of Linear Fresnel solar concentrators

Benyakhlef¹,

Mers²,

Merroun³

et al. 2016

Renewable Energy

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a b s t r a c tThe present paper gives a numerical investigation of the effect of mirror curvature on optical performance of a Linear Fresnel Reflector solar field installed recently in Morocco. The objective is to highlight and discuss the effect of mirror curvature on the flux density distribution over the receiver and the system optical efficiency. For this purpose, a Monte Carlo-ray tracing simulation tool is developed and used to optimize the optical design taking into account the curvature degree of the heliostat field. In order to assess the accuracy of the numerical code developed and the validity of simulation results, a set of verification tests were developed and detailed within this article. Then, the optical performance of the system is evaluated as a function of mirror curvature and receiver height. The major challenge of this study is to find a trade-off between heliostat curvature and receiver height since lower and smaller receivers may reduce the system cost. It has been found that the flux distribution over the receiver and the optical efficiency of the system are relatively sensitive to the mirror curvature. We have demonstrated quantitatively how the use of curved mirrors can enhance the optical performance and reduce the required receiver size.

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The Helios model for the optical behavior of reflecting solar concentrators

Cited by 81 publications

References 0 publications

Rose pattern for heliostat field optimization with a dynamic speciation‐based mutation differential evolution

Rose pattern for heliostat field optimization with a dynamic speciation‐based mutation differential evolution

Radiative heat transfer analysis of a directly irradiated cavity-type solar thermochemical reactor by Monte-Carlo ray tracing

Impact of heliostat curvature on optical performance of Linear Fresnel solar concentrators

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