No-blocking Heliostat Field Layout in Tamanrasset

Abstract

The present paper represents a case study of Tamanrasset city in terms of direct normal irradiance and wind speed, as well as an arrangement of 23 heliostats in a symmetrical field oriented to the North. A mathematical model of a graphical method for no-blocking heliostat field layout was followed to create an algorithm executed on MATLAB software in order to obtain the optimal positions of heliostats. The optical performance of the field was obtained by exploiting the heliostats' positions and the meteorological data of the chosen region based on Solar Pilot. The results show that the overall optical efficiency of the field is about 79% with a power output of 2066.5 (kW), as well as there is no blockage of heliostats.