Heliostat Control System for Solar Thermal Power
Developed over 15 months for a client based in the USA and installed in Germany, the heliostat control system represents the current state-of-the-art in low-cost mirror controls for a solar-thermal power plant.
Key Points
- 2250 RS485 nodes communicating in real-time
- Automatic, camera based continuous calibration system
- Closed loop motor controllers
- Reliable Ethernet backbone
- Custom SCADA
- Electronic procurement and manufacturing
The scope of supply included design and development of the mirror control boards, design of the communications scheme and design and devlopment of the custom SCADA.
As installed the system contains 2250 controllers communicating in real-time via RS485 and Ethernet to a central server. The architecture is inherently scalable to meet the customer’s future requirements for larger scale plants.
The control boards and associated circuitry were designed and manufactured in Australia.
The SCADA is written to provide deterministic, real-time control of the 2250 mirrors in the field.
Heliostat Mirror Control Board
The control board has the following responsibilities:
- Closed loop control of motors
- Manage communications
- Allow for automatic safety functions
The firmware for all units can be updated simultaneously form the SCADA. Less than 15 minutes is required to re-program all 2250 units.
Communication System
Reliable, ubiquitous RS485 is used for the local communication segments. Running a proprietary protocol, the communications system is designed for reliable outdoors operation.
SCADA
The proprietary SCADA communicates with all the control boards in real-time using a custom Gigabit Ethernet scheduling system.
Calibration System
A fully automatic, continuous calibration system is provided.
The calibration process runs while the plant is operating and requires no operator intervention.