Determination of accuracy of measurements by NREL's Scanning Hartmann Optical Test instrument

Conference · Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5303548

Jorgensen, G; Wendelin, T; Carasso, M

NREL's Scanning Hartmann Optical Test (SHOT) instrument is routinely used to characterize the surface of candidate dish concentration elements for solar thermal applications. An approach was devised to quantify the accuracy of these measurements. Excellent reproducibility was exhibited and high confidence established. The SHOT instrument was designed to allow the surface figure of large optical test articles to be accurately specified. Such test articles are nominally parabolic with an f/D ratio (in which f=focal length and D=aperture diameter) in the range of 0.5--1.0. Recent modifications of SHOT have extended the characterization range out to about f/D=3.0. A series of experiments was designed to investigate and quantify the uncertainties associated with optical characterization performed by SHOT. This approach involved making a series of measurements with an arbitrary test article positioned at a number of locations transverse to the optical axis of SHOT. 3 refs.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 5303548
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-257-4190; CONF-910802-6; ON: DE92010571
• Resource Relation: Conference: World congress of the International Solar Energy Society, Denver, CO (United States), 19-23 Aug 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
PARABOLIC DISH COLLECTORS
SURFACE PROPERTIES
ACCURACY
ERRORS
MEASURING METHODS
OPTICAL SYSTEMS
SOLAR FLUX
SOLAR THERMAL CONVERSION
TESTING
CONCENTRATING COLLECTORS
CONVERSION
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
PARABOLIC COLLECTORS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
141000* - Solar Collectors & Concentrators
140700 - Solar Thermal Power Systems