Computer simulations to calculate energy flux and image size on a receiver for different reflector geometries using caustics

Increasing energy demands due to growing population, climate change, the depletion of fossil fuels and the toxic effects of combustion by products are all pushing towards the energy production via renewable energy sources. Most of the countries that lie on the ‘‘Sun Belt’’, where solar irradiation is sufficient, are working towards harvesting and exploiting solar energy. Given the fact that solar radiation has low density, efficient exploitation schemes depend on concentrating solar radiation to generate electricity within conventional power cycles. The most common device used for concentrating the sun is the Heliostat, which is sun-tracking system comprised of mirror segments used to reflect sunlight onto a predefined target. This project aims to connect solar energy flux and image size on the target to the ratio of aperture size and focal length of a model heliostat