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Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter
Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2022
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| _version_ | 1867614101434269696 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Lombard, Schalk Jacobus |
| author2 | Smit, WJ |
| author_browse | Lombard, Schalk Jacobus Smit, WJ |
| author_facet | Smit, WJ Lombard, Schalk Jacobus |
| author_sort | Lombard, Schalk Jacobus |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/124643 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:41.344Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/124643 Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter Lombard, Schalk Jacobus Smit, WJ Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. Concentrated solar power Drones Heliostat -- Calibration Energy generation UCTD Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022. ENGLISH SUMMARY: Heliostat calibration is time-consuming. It takes several months to calibrate the heliostat-field for a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. Since a particular heliostat cannot be calibrated often, it has to keep its calibration accuracy for several months. Therefore, heliostats are manufactured to be very sturdy and robust, which makes the installation a lengthy process and the actual heliostat expensive. It may be possible to reduce the calibration time of a heliostat by using a different calibration technique. The beam characterization system, or BCS, is currently used to calibrate a heliostat. This system moves the sun’s reflection of a heliostat from the receiver to a calibration target below the receiver. The proposed calibration technique, researched in this project, will use multi-copters to calibrate the heliostats. The camera on a multi-copter will, effectively, replace the sun in the calibration setup. In theory, a multi-copter can calibrate more than one heliostat at a time and have more calibration time per day than the current conventional method of calibration. This will result in a significantly faster calibration process. This project will use a heliostat at the Helio100 field. The orientation of the heliostat will be determined with the BCS and then with the proposed multi-copter method. The orientation of the heliostat determined by the two methods will be compared. This study investigates the practical challenges encountered when determining the orientation of heliostat, a step critical during the calibration process. Some of the main results of this study is that the orientation of the heliostat determined using the multi-copter are promising. The accuracy of the GPS on the multi-copter plays a vital role in this process. The issue of the duration it takes to calibrate a heliostat is not addressed entirely, as only the orientation of the heliostat is determined in this study. AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Heliostaat kalibrasie is tydrowend. Dit neem ’n paar maande om die heliostaat-veld te kalibreer vir ’n gekonsentreerde sonkrag-aanleg (GSK). Aangesien ’n bepaalde heliostaat nie dikwels gekalibreer kan word nie, moet sy kalibrasie-akkuraatheid vir ’n paar maande hou. Daarom, word heliostate vervaardig om baie stewig en robuuste wees, dit maak die installasie ’n lang proses en die werklike heliostaat duur. Dit is moontlik om die kalibrasie tyd van ’n heliostaat te verminder deur die gebruik van ’n ander kalibrasie tegniek. Die straal karakterisering stelsel, of BCS, word tans gebruik om ’n heliostaat te kalibreer. Hierdie stelsel beweeg die son se weerspie¨eling vanaf die heliostaat op die ontvanger na ’n kalibrasie teiken onder die ontvanger. Die voorgestelde kalibrasietegniek, wat in hierdie projek nagevors is, sal multi-kopters gebruik om die heliostaat te kalibreer. Die kamera op die multikopter sal effektief die son in die kalibrasie-opstelling vervang. In teorie kan ’n multi-kopter meer as een heliostaat op ’n slag kalibreer en het meer kalibrasie tyd per dag as die huidige konvensionele metode. Dit sal lei tot ’n aansienlik vinniger kalibrasie proses. Hierdie projek sal ’n heliostaat op die Helio100-veld gebruik. Die ori¨entasie van die heliostaat sal bepaal word met die BCS en dan met die voorgestelde multikopter metode. Die ori¨entasie van die heliostaat sal dan vergelyk word tussen hierdie metodes. Hierdie studie ondersoek die praktiese uitdagings wat te¨egekom word wanneer die ori¨entasie van heliostate bepaal word, ’n stap van kritieke belang tydens die kalibrasieproses. Sommige van die belangrikste resultate van hierdie studie is dat die ori¨entasie van die heliostaat bepaal met behulp van die multi-koper belowend is. Die akkuraatheid van die GPS op die multi-copter speel ’n belangrike rol in hierdie proses. Die kwessie van die duur wat dit neem om ’n heliostaat te kalibreer, word nie heeltemal aangespreek nie, aangesien slegs die ori¨entasie van die heliostaat in hierdie studie bepaal word. Masters 2022-03-01T13:52:41Z 2022-04-29T09:24:01Z 2022-03-01T13:52:41Z 2022-04-29T09:24:01Z 2022-04 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/124643 en_ZA Stellenbosch University xi, 83 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Concentrated solar power Drones Heliostat -- Calibration Energy generation UCTD Lombard, Schalk Jacobus Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter |
| title | Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter |
| title_full | Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter |
| title_fullStr | Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter |
| title_full_unstemmed | Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter |
| title_short | Practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi-copter |
| title_sort | practical challenges to calibrate a heliostat with a multi copter |
| topic | Concentrated solar power Drones Heliostat -- Calibration Energy generation UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/124643 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lombardschalkjacobus practicalchallengestocalibrateaheliostatwithamulticopter |