An artificial vision-based control system for automatic heliostat positioning offset correction in a central receiver solar power plant

Berenguel, Manuel; Rubio, Francisco; Valverde, Antonio; Lara, Patricia; Arahal, Manuel R.; Camacho, Eduardo F.; López, Marisol

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2003.12.006

Cited by 108 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The optical sensor, which is mounted on the mirror, measures the incident angle of the incoming sunlight to the normal (or axis) of the mirror. Central Intensity Feedback [8] No No Optical Grids on Heliostats [9] No No Step Counters/ Angle Encoders Yes ? Camera Based Tracking [10] ?…”

Section: The Measurement and Control Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing heliostat field costs by direct measurement and control of the mirror orientation

Donker

Rosinga²,

Voorthuysen³

2016

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. The first commercial CSP Central Receiver System has been in operation since 2007. The technology required for such a central receiver system is quite new. The determining factor of the price of electricity is the capital investment in the heliostat field. The cost level per square meter of the heliostat field is rather high. Sun2point is questioning the market development, which is trying to get the cost level down by aiming at large heliostats. Sun2Point aims at mass manufacturing small heliostats to achieve low prices. Mass manufacturing off-site and transport over long distances is possible for small heliostats only. Calibration on the spot is a labour-intensive activity. Autonomous, factory calibrated and wireless controlled heliostats are the solution to lower installation cost. A new measurement method that directly reports the orientation of the heliostat in relation to the earth and the sun can solve the calibration problem when the heliostats are installed. The application of small heliostats will be much cheaper as a result of this measurement method. In this paper several methods for such a measurement are described briefly. The new Sun2Point method has successfully been tested. In this paper Sun2Point challenges the CSP community to investigate this approach. A brief survey is presented of many aspects that lead to a low price.

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Section: The Measurement and Control Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing heliostat field costs by direct measurement and control of the mirror orientation

Donker

Rosinga²,

Voorthuysen³

2016

AIP Conference Proceedings

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“…The most common approach is an open loop strategy with a thorough calibration of each heliostat. A very common calibration method has been presented by Berenguel et al 2 and was enhanced by modeling the error sources and developing a drift model for each heliostat e.g. by Iriarte-Cornejo et al 3 .…”

Section: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel imaging closed loop control strategy for heliostats

Bern

Schöttl

Heimsath

et al. 2017

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. Central Receiver Systems use up to thousands of heliostats to concentrate solar radiation. The precise control of heliostat aiming points is crucial not only for efficiency but also for reliable plant operation. Besides the calibration of open loop control systems, closed loop tracking strategies are developed to address a precise and efficient aiming strategy. The need for cost reductions in the heliostat field intensifies the motivation for economic closed loop control systems. This work introduces an approach for a closed loop heliostat tracking strategy using image analysis and signal modulation. The approach aims at the extraction of heliostat focal spot position within the receiver domain by means of a centralized remote vision system decoupled from the rough conditions close to the focal area. Taking an image sequence of the receiver while modulating a signal on different heliostats, their aiming points are retrieved. The work describes the methodology and shows first results from simulations and practical tests performed in small scale, motivating further investigation and deployment.

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“…Because of the thermal power generation tower has special advantages, has attracted much attention, but because the control precision, heliostat operation stability, safety and reliability and the construction cost is limited. In order to reduce the cost of tower thermal power generation [2,8,9,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heliostat attitude angle detection method based on BP neural network

Liu

Zhongkun

2017

MATEC Web Conf.

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Traditional fossil fuels have dried up, global warming and sustained economic development have led to the rapid growth of clean energy resources. Tower thermal power generation has attracted much attention due to its ability to generate electricity during the night. The traditional tower thermal power generation adopts open-loop control which requires very high mechanical accuracy. In the operation of power station and there may be a settlement, wind load or other factors make the heliostat skew phenomenon. It will eventually lead to a decline in power generation efficiency. Thus, we propose a closed-loop feedback control method based on machine vision and optical reflection principle based on the method of using the correction of heliostat spot acquisition board. To identify the spot and the ellipse fitting method for spot feature extraction using image processing technology, we propose a heliostat to determine the characteristics of the corresponding spot mapping the attitude angle method based on BP neural network. Thus we can provide direct feedback control of heliostat errors. The new method can effectively increase the heliostat tower power generation efficiency and also can make the tower heliostat thermal power generation cost reduced with the popularization and application of significance.

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An artificial vision-based control system for automatic heliostat positioning offset correction in a central receiver solar power plant

Cited by 108 publications

References 4 publications

Reducing heliostat field costs by direct measurement and control of the mirror orientation

Reducing heliostat field costs by direct measurement and control of the mirror orientation

Novel imaging closed loop control strategy for heliostats

Heliostat attitude angle detection method based on BP neural network

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