Chuncheng Zang

Design and Analysis of Heliostat Support Structure

The design method of the heliostat support structure with the aim of reducing the cost maximally is described in this paper. In order to guarantee the strength, stiffness and stability of the structure, dynamic performance and static performance including internal stress and distortion are analyzed by means of VSAP (Visual Structural Analysis Program) finite element computational software. Then the support structure is optimized on the basis of the analysis.

A Study on Non-Metallic Structure of Heliostat

Heliostat constitutes a very important component in the solar power tower system. Its importance derives from three aspects: one is the large proportion in the total cost, accounting for about 50% of the whole, the other is its concentration efficiency and reflectivity heavily determining the power conversion from solar thermal energy to electrical energy, another is itself power consumption amount highly expressing failure or success of the power plant. Therefore, serious efforts and considerations from the structure, motion and control mode to material selection have to be given in the design and optimization of heliostat.