A METHOD FOR HELIOSTAT FIELD MODELING AND EFFECTIVE ENERGY FLUX DENSITY CALCULATION

Liu Jinzi; Li Chentao; Guo Han

doi:10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2025-0572

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Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (8) : 252-259. DOI: 10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2025-0572

A METHOD FOR HELIOSTAT FIELD MODELING AND EFFECTIVE ENERGY FLUX DENSITY CALCULATION

Liu Jinzi, Li Chentao, Guo Han

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Abstract

To solve the problem of effective energy flux density calculation for heliostat fields, a calculation method based on the backward projection algorithm is proposed for effective energy flux density on heliostat facets. An irradiance function is used to replace cosine efficiency and truncation efficiency to judge judge whether there is shadow occlusion, calculate the output power of a single heliostat, and accumulate the total power of the heliostat field. By reordering the total power of the heliostat field and integrating the area above the heliostat, the distribution function of the surface energy flow density of the heat absorber can be obtained. With this distribution function, the heliostat contour with maximum power under fixed mirror area or other constraints can be optimized, and the optical efficiency of heliostat fields with various contours and layouts can be quickly assessed. Numerical simulation results indicate that compared with traditional rectangular and polygonal heliostats, the heliostat contours optimized by the proposed algorithm need smaller mirror area for equal power output and feature favorable stability.

Key words

solar tower power station / energy flux density / heliostat field / optical efficiency / heliostat / back-projection method / mathematical modeling

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Liu Jinzi, Li Chentao, Guo Han. A METHOD FOR HELIOSTAT FIELD MODELING AND EFFECTIVE ENERGY FLUX DENSITY CALCULATION[J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica. 2026, 47(8): 252-259 https://doi.org/10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2025-0572

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