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Title: SolarPILOT: A power tower solar field layout and characterization tool

Abstract

This paper develops and demonstrates a new SolarPower tower Integrated Layout and Optimization Tool (SolarPILOT). The tool uses the analytical flux image Hermite series approximation originally implemented in the DELSOL3 software developed by Sandia National Laboratory in the early 1980s. By applying the analytical model to individual heliostat images rather than large groups or zones of heliostats, SolarPILOT can characterize a wide variety of heliostat field layouts. The individual heliostat modeling approach increases computational expense in comparison with DELSOL3, so SolarPILOT implements a number of improvements to the analytical approximation method to improve model accuracy and computational efficiency. This paper discusses several of these methods, including dynamic heliostat grouping to reduce the expense of intercept factor evaluation, approximation of annual productivity with a subset of time steps throughout the year, polygon clipping to accurately calculate inter-heliostat shadowing and blocking, receiver and tower geometry optimization, and a trigonometric image transformation technique that ensures model accuracy for small heliostats. SolarPILOT also integrates a Monte-Carlo ray tracing engine (SolTrace), providing improved receiver optical modeling capability, a user-friendly front end for geometry definition, and side-by-side validation of the analytical algorithms.

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1461367
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1545389
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5500-66106
Journal ID: ISSN 0038-092X
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Solar Energy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 171; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0038-092X
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; SolarPILOT; power tower; heliostat layout; pptical characterization; simulation optimization

Citation Formats

Wagner, Michael J., and Wendelin, Tim. SolarPILOT: A power tower solar field layout and characterization tool. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2018.06.063.
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Wagner, Michael J., & Wendelin, Tim. SolarPILOT: A power tower solar field layout and characterization tool. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.06.063
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Wagner, Michael J., and Wendelin, Tim. Sun . "SolarPILOT: A power tower solar field layout and characterization tool". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.06.063. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1461367.
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@article{osti_1461367,
title = {SolarPILOT: A power tower solar field layout and characterization tool},
author = {Wagner, Michael J. and Wendelin, Tim},
abstractNote = {This paper develops and demonstrates a new SolarPower tower Integrated Layout and Optimization Tool (SolarPILOT). The tool uses the analytical flux image Hermite series approximation originally implemented in the DELSOL3 software developed by Sandia National Laboratory in the early 1980s. By applying the analytical model to individual heliostat images rather than large groups or zones of heliostats, SolarPILOT can characterize a wide variety of heliostat field layouts. The individual heliostat modeling approach increases computational expense in comparison with DELSOL3, so SolarPILOT implements a number of improvements to the analytical approximation method to improve model accuracy and computational efficiency. This paper discusses several of these methods, including dynamic heliostat grouping to reduce the expense of intercept factor evaluation, approximation of annual productivity with a subset of time steps throughout the year, polygon clipping to accurately calculate inter-heliostat shadowing and blocking, receiver and tower geometry optimization, and a trigonometric image transformation technique that ensures model accuracy for small heliostats. SolarPILOT also integrates a Monte-Carlo ray tracing engine (SolTrace), providing improved receiver optical modeling capability, a user-friendly front end for geometry definition, and side-by-side validation of the analytical algorithms.},
doi = {10.1016/j.solener.2018.06.063},
journal = {Solar Energy},
number = C,
volume = 171,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jun 24 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Sun Jun 24 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.06.063
Copyright Statement
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Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 85 works
Citation information provided by
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Summary of power tower modeling software capabilities, including generation of heliostat layouts, characterization of optical performance, prediction of annual plant electricity production, and maintenance status of the code.
All figures and tables (14 total)
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Works referenced in this record:

A New Fast Ray Tracing Tool for High-Precision Simulation of Heliostat Fields
journal, June 2009

  • Belhomme, B.; Pitz-Paal, R.; Schwarzbözl, P.
  • Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 131, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.3139139

An alternative methodology to treat solar radiation data for the optical efficiency estimate of different types of collectors
journal, December 2014

Codes for solar flux calculation dedicated to central receiver system applications: A comparative review
journal, March 2008

A cellwise method for the optimization of large central receiver systems
journal, January 1978

Comparison of Heliostat Field Layout Design Methodologies and Impact on Power Plant Efficiency
journal, May 2015

Heliostat field optimization: A new computationally efficient model and biomimetic layout
journal, February 2012

Novel sky discretization method for optical annual assessment of solar tower plants
journal, November 2016

A solar flux density calculation for a solar tower concentrator using a two-dimensional hermite function expansion
journal, January 1977

A new method for the design of the heliostat field layout for solar tower power plant
journal, September 2010

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Effect of Aspect Ratio of Heliostat on Cost of Energy from Solar Power Tower Plants
    journal, September 2019

    • Singhai, Rakesh; Sinhmar, Harender; Banker, N. D.
    • Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, Vol. 45, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.1007/s13369-019-04105-0

    Viability Assessment of a Concentrated Solar Power Tower With a Supercritical CO2 Brayton Cycle Power Plant
    journal, April 2019

    • Alsagri, Ali Sulaiman; Chiasson, Andrew; Gadalla, Mohamed
    • Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 141, Issue 5
    • DOI: 10.1115/1.4043515

    Verification of Optical Modelling of Sunshape and Surface Slope Error for Concentrating Solar Power Systems
    text, January 2019

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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Table 1 (p. 2)table
      Figure 1 (p. 4)figure
      Figure 2 (p. 5)figure
      Figure 3 (p. 5)figure
      Figure 4 (p. 6)figure
      Figure 5 (p. 7)figure
      Figure 6 (p. 7)figure
      Figure 7 (p. 8)figure
      Figure 8 (p. 9)figure
      Figure 9 (p. 10)figure
      Table 2 (p. 11)table
      Table 3 (p. 11)table
      Table 4 (p. 12)table
      Figure 10 (p. 13)figure
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