Placement of Heliostats on an Uneven Landscape

AbstractWe present a new algorithm to compute the placement of heliostats in a solar field which is particularly applicable to uneven landscapes. The new method can be best described as using a potential field, generated by the central tower, to attract heliostats towards it. We initially present the model which is based on breaking down the problem into a computing forbidden regions of heliostat placement given any heliostat and then integrating this with a global parameter which we call the potential field. Three test cases are shown, a flat terrain, a small hill perturbation and finally a completely uneven landscape. It is found that the patterns that evolve are sunflower patterns when heliostats are limited by the physical constraint and a spiral pattern when constrained by the blocking constraint. Other constraints are not implemented in the current publication