Development of concentrating collectors for solar thermal systems

The authors discuss the concentrating solar collectors that are required to generate the elevated temperatures that can be used to power industrial and electric conversion processes efficiently. The development and improvement of a number of cost-effective, highly innovative heliostats and parabolic dish collectors, and supporting design and materials research are reviewed. The authors describe the analytical modeling, evaluation, and testing at a subscale level that have been carried out to foster understanding of the coupled structural and optical response of the reflectors and support structures to anticipated weight and wind loads