Ultra-modular 500m2 heliostat field for high flux/high temperature solar-driven processes

A solar tower fuel plant for the thermochemical production of kerosene from H2O and CO2

“…The solar concentrating facility consists of a solar tower with a south-facing heliostat field: an array of 169 sun-tracking spherical reflectors, each with an area of 3 m 2 , delivering a P solar of about 50 kW into the 16-cm diameter aperture of the solar reactor, which corresponds to an average solar concentration ratio of approximately 2,500 suns, with a peak above 4,000 suns (1 sun is equivalent to a solar radiative flux of 1 kW/m 2 ). 28 The solar reactor is mounted on top of the solar tower at an optical height of 15 m, tilted 40 downward relative to the horizontal plane, and aimed at the power-weighted center of the heliostat field. On the ground next to the solar tower, the GtL unit is fully assembled inside a modular container.…”

High-Temperature Monitoring in Central Receiver Concentrating Solar Power Plants with Femtosecond-Laser Inscribed FBG

“…The central receiver prototype was installed in the Very High Concentration Solar Tower (VHCST) facility at IMDEA Energy, Móstoles, Spain. This facility has a solar field composed by 169 mono-facet heliostats of 3 m 2 each (1.6 m × 1.9 m) and an 18 m height tower with 2 testing platforms [ 34 , 35 ]. The central receiver prototype was placed in the testing platform located at 12.1 m. In order to guarantee the durability of the equipment and to avoid possible accidents due to its exposure to high solar fluxes, a thermal shielding mainly composed of high-temperature ceramic fiber boards was mounted at the front of the testing platform.…”

A Method for Determination of the Transmission Efficiency of a Silica Optical Fiber Cable Using a Solar Power Tower

“…The optical fiber bundle/cable was installed at the Very High Concentration Solar Tower (VHCST) facility, at IMDEA Energy (Móstoles, Madrid, Spain). The VHCST has a customized heliostat field composed of 169 single-facet tilt-roll heliostats of 3 m 2 (1.6 m × 1.9 m) with focal lengths of 20 and 30 m. Further details about this testing facility can be found in works by Romero et al [39,40] and Martínez-Hernández et al [41]. Due to the Due to the way the inlet terminal was designed and protected, the concentrated solar energy was expected to be delivered to the individual fiber cores without significant losses to the cladding matrix forming the cable, so the temperature should not have been raised due to the passage of light (radiation heat losses in the fibers should be negligible).…”

“…The optical fiber bundle/cable was installed at the Very High Concentration Solar Tower (VHCST) facility, at IMDEA Energy (Móstoles, Madrid, Spain). The VHCST has a customized heliostat field composed of 169 single-facet tilt-roll heliostats of 3 m 2 (1.6 m × 1.9 m) with focal lengths of 20 and 30 m. Further details about this testing facility can be found in works by Romero et al [39,40] and Martínez-Hernández et al [41]. Due to the low acceptance angle of the optical fiber cable, only some selected heliostats of the VHCST facility were used in this analysis (see Figure 4 and Section 3.4).…”