DLR-CSP-STJ-Helio

DLR – Solar Tower Heliostats

TA66DLR-CSP-STJ-Helio 

Location

Im Langenbroich 13

52428 Jülich,  Germany 

Description

The solar towers heliostat field has 2000 heliostats, each of which being about 8m² in size. The field is controlled by a cutting-edge control system (HeliOS) which was developed by DLR over the past 6 years and has been used for the operation of the infrastructure. Different test beds can be operated simultaneously by the heliostat field. The Solar Tower team can provide technical, engineering, scientific and programming support. This includes the planning of experiments, the design of heliostats and individual programming of the heliostat field control software. Simulations of the expected flux distribution as well as thermal simulations can also be performed. Furthermore, users can receive assistance with the erection and the disassembly of measurement systems and heliostats.

Testing Capabilities

The main service offered is the irradiation of test rigs and the solar tower power plant itself. Furthermore, the heliostat field infrastructure can be used independently from the other services. Therefore, tests of heliostats, heliostat control systems and measurement techniques can be realised and compared to state-of-the-art and sophisticated methods (e.g. deflectometry and heliostat calibration systems).

Technical Equipment

Equipment available range from 1 up to 2.000 heliostats. The HeliOS control system allows real-time, high-precision control of each heliostat, ensuring the accurate concentration and distribution of solar radiation. This system supports diverse configurations, from focusing sunlight on a small target area to distributing it across multiple test beds. Optical and infrared cameras are installed for experiment supervision.

Additional information

Technology Readiness Level: 7 or above

Special considerations: N/A 

Technology clusters: CSP/STE

Website: https://www.dlr.de/en/sf/research-and-transfer/research-infrastructure/julich-solar-towers

Availability: All year

Provision of tools to prepare data sets in a FAIR way:  Yes 

Gallery

Contact us


Scroll to Top