Efficiency Analysis and Structural Optimization of a Heliostat Mirror Field in a Tower-Type Photovoltaic Power Plant

With the growing global demand for sustainable energy, tower-type photovoltaic power plants have received a lot of attention as an efficient way to utilize solar energy. In this thesis, a more perfect model of the heliostat mirror field was established from multiple angles and using various methods. Using Cooper's solar declination formula, the precise solar position was obtained; with the help of the HFLCAL model, the collector truncation efficiency was obtained, and the heliostat field optical efficiency model was obtained, combining it with the genetic algorithm, the arrangement of heliostat mirrors was optimized, and the heliostat field model was simplified, which greatly improves the computational efficiency. Finally, the optimal annual average thermal power output per unit mirror surface area is obtained as follows: the location coordinates of the absorption tower are: (0, -101.5211), the number of heliostat mirrors is: 3653, the interval of heliostat mirror width is [3.5224, 4.7914], the interval of heliostat mirror height is [3.5008, 4.5000], and the interval of heliostat mirror height are [2.2511, 5.9986].