Wave Front Sensor for Solar Concentrator Control (October 2007)

Author

Beasley, Joseph N. ; Holmes, Michael R. ; Yeh, Hen-geul

Author_Institution

Exp. Demonstration Branch, U.S. Air Force Res. Lab., Edwards AFB, CA, USA

Volume

45

Issue

4

fYear

2009

Firstpage

1307

Lastpage

1319

Abstract

This article is the culmination of research directed into finding a system to control the position of the focal spot of paraboloid concentrators for use in terrestrial and space solar concentration applications. After a brief introduction into the area of study, the article describes how a normal Shack-Hartmann wave front sensor is modified for use in detecting and tracking the focal spot. The paper details the analysis and development of the algorithms used in locating the focal spot on a thruster absorber utilizing a correlation method and an area centroid method. The article concludes with a paragraph on suitable future work.

Keywords

position control; solar energy concentrators; wavefront sensors; Shack-Hartmann wave front sensor; area centroid method; correlation method; focal spot; paraboloid concentrators; position control; solar concentrator control; space solar concentration; Charge coupled devices; Charge-coupled image sensors; Chemicals; Hydrogen; Lighting; Propulsion; Sensor systems; Solar heating; Solar power generation; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9251

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TAES.2009.5310300

Filename

5310300