EXPERIMENTS WITH HELIOSTATS FOR CENTRAL RECEIVER POWER-PLANTS

Two new applications of standard techniques are providing more accurate measurements of heliostat performance over longer ranges. Four experimental heliostats have been fabricated and installed in the Solar Test Facility at Martin Marietta, Denver. Performance testing of these heliostats has been completed, and the resulting data are being used to support the design of commercial central receiver solar power plants. Both the design of the experimental heliostats and the results of the performance testing are described.