The proper alignment of facets on a dish engine system is critical to the performance of the system. Improper alignment can lead to poor performance and shortened life, through excessively high flux on the receiver surfaces, imbalanced power on multicylinder engines, and intercept losses at the aperture. Alignment approaches used in the past are time consuming field operations, typically taking 4–6 hours per dish with 40–80 facets on the dish. Production systems will need rapid, accurate alignment implemented in a fraction of an hour. In this paper, we present an AIMFAST characterization of a Stirling Energy Systems dish, before and after implementing an alignment using the AIMFAST software. The results of the alignment are correlated with fluxmapper measurements of the dish, and the improvement in the flux pattern projected to an engine receiver is calculated using Sandia’s CIRCE 2 dish optical modeling tool. The alignment substantially reduced the peak fluxes on the flat fluxmapper targets as well as the projection onto the receiver. The fluxmap images correlate well with the CIRCE projections of measured facet normals. In addition, we implemented automated actuation of the facet during alignment, improving the response and accuracy of the system, resulting in total dish alignments with under 0.1 mrad RMS alignment error. We also implemented an adaptive alignment strategy that varied the alignment based on the AIMFAST-measured facet shape.

Sandia Optical Fringe Analysis Slope Tool (SOFAST) is a mirror facet characterization system based on fringe reflection technology that has been applied to dish and heliostat mirror facet development at Sandia National Laboratories and development partner sites. The tool provides a detailed map of mirror facet surface normals as compared to design and fitted surfaces. In addition, the surface fitting process provides insights into systematic facet slope characterization, such as focal lengths, tilts, and twist of the facet. In this paper, an analysis of the sensitivities of the facet characterization outputs to variations of SOFAST input parameters is presented. The results of the sensitivity analysis provided the basis for a linear uncertainty analysis, which is also included here. Input parameters included hardware parameters and SOFAST setup variables. Output parameters included the fitted shape parameters (focal lengths and twist) and the residuals (typically called slope error). The study utilized empirical propagation of input parameter errors through facet characterization calculations to the output parameters, based on the measurement of an Advanced Dish Development System (ADDS) structural gore point-focus facet. Thus, this study is limited to the characterization of sensitivities of the SOFAST embodiment intended for dish facet characterization, using an LCD screen as a target panel. With reasonably careful setup, SOFAST is demonstrated to provide facet focal length characterization within 0.5% of actual. Facet twist is accurate within ±0.03 mrad/m. The local slope deviation measurement is accurate within ±0.05 mrad, while the global slope residual is accurate within ±0.005 mrad. All uncertainties are quoted with 95% confidence.

Sandia Optical Fringe Analysis Slope Tool (SOFAST) is a mirror facet characterization system based on fringe reflection technology that has been applied to dish and heliostat mirror facet development at Sandia National Laboratories and development partner sites. The tool provides a detailed map of mirror facet surface normals as compared to design and fitted surfaces. In addition, the surface fitting process provides insights into systematic facet slope characterization, such as focal lengths, tilts, and twist of the facet. In this paper, a preliminary analysis of the sensitivities of the facet characterization outputs to variations of SOFAST input parameters is presented. The results of the sensitivity analysis provided the basis for a linear uncertainty analysis which is also included here. Input parameters included hardware parameters and SOFAST setup variables. Output parameters included the fitted shape parameters (focal lengths and twist) and the residuals (typically called slope error). The study utilized empirical propagation of input parameter errors through facet characterization calculations to the output parameters, based on the measurement of an Advanced Dish Development System (ADDS) structural gore point-focus facet. Thus, this study is limited to the characterization of sensitivities of the SOFAST embodiment intended for dish facet characterization. With reasonably careful setup, SOFAST is demonstrated to provide facet focal length characterization within 0.5% of actual. Facet twist is accurate within ± 0.03 mrad/m. The local slope deviation measurement is accurate within ± 0.05 mrad, while the global slope residual is accurate within ± 0.005 mrad. All uncertainties are quoted with 95% confidence.