Beam Characterization and Improvement with a Flux Mapping System for Dish Concentrators

Abstract

A flux mapping system able to measure the flux distribution of dish/Stirling systems in planes perpendicular to the optical axis was built and operated at the Plataforma Solar de Almerı´a (PSA). It uses the indirect measuring method with a water-cooled Lambertian target placed in the beam path and a CCD-camera mounted on the concentrator taking images of the brightness distribution of the focal spot. The calibration is made by calculating the total power coming from the dish and relating it to the integrated gray value over the whole measurement area. The system was successfully operated in a DISTAL II stretched membrane dish and in the new EURODISH in order to characterize their beams and improve the flux distribution on their receivers.