Solar tracking systems for solar concentrator field of heliostats - Innovation, performance and adaptation to small-scale applications

In this work, we have developed a solar tracking system with two axes. This system is operated in a small-scale solar tower containing a field of heliostats with an area of 120 m² containing 101 mirrors. Each mirror has a dimension of 40×40 cm² and a height of 36 cm. This system allows concentrating solar energy at a fixed target with a height of 2 m. The system realized consists of two main parts: the soft part and the hard part. The first part, developed with Java language, is used to calculate and generate the sun´s position as well as angular heliostats according to their geographic location (GPS coordinates). The hard part, made up of two elements, the mechanical system and a command card. This card is used to control and rectify the position of the tracker while optimizing the movement and consumption of motors guiding the tracker. Several small scale applications are provided as direct utilizations of our concept; we can cite as an example: Steam bath, needs domestic hot water health in an entire building or covering several families, process of extracting essential oils by steam distillation of water, solar cooling ... etc.