Solar concentrator advanced development program. Final report

Technical Report · Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:6723031

Knasel, D; Ehresman, D

The Solar Concentrator Advanced Development Project has successfully designed, fabricated, and tested a full scale prototypical solar dynamic concentrator for space station applications. A Truss Hexagonal Panel reflector was selected as a viable solar concentrator concept to be used for space station applications. This concentrator utilizes a modular design approach and is flexible in attainable flux profiles and assembly techniques. The detailed design of the concentrator, which included structural, thermal and optical analysis, identified the feasibility of the design and specific technologies that were required to fabricate it. The needed surface accuracy of the reflectors surface was found to be very tight, within 5 mrad RMS slope error, and results in very close tolerances for fabrication. To meet the design requirements, a modular structure composed of hexagonal panels was used. The panels, made up of graphite epoxy box beams provided the strength, stiffness and dimensional stability needed. All initial project requirements were met or exceeded by hardware demonstration. Initial testing of structural repeatability of a seven panel portion of the concentrator was followed by assembly and testing of the full nineteen panel structure. The testing, which consisted of theodolite and optical measurements over an assembly-disassembly-reassembly cycle, demonstrated that the concentrator maintained the as-built contour and optical characteristics. The facet development effort within the project, which included developing the vapor deposited reflective facet, produced a viable design with demonstrated optical characteristics that are within the project goals.

• Research Organization: Harris Corp., Melbourne, FL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6723031
• Report Number(s): N-90-22834; NASA-CR-185173; NAS-1.26:185173
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Original contains color illustrations
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
SOLAR CONCENTRATORS
DESIGN
FABRICATION
EPOXIDES
GRAPHITE
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PROGRESS REPORT
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR REFLECTORS
THERMAL ANALYSIS
CARBON
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTAL MINERALS
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
MINERALS
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
141000* - Solar Collectors & Concentrators