A solar flux density calculation for a solar tower concentrator using a two-dimensional Hermite function expansion

Abstract The calculation of flux density on the central receiver due to a large number of flat polygonal reflectors having various orientations is a basic part of the system simulation problem for the tower concept of solar energy collection. A two-dimensional Hermite function expansion is adapted to the simulation problem, and numerical results are contrasted with an analytic integration of the solar flux density at specific nodes on an image plane. Various measures of error in the flux density calculation are monitored vs distance to the image plane and orientation of the reflector. The flux densities predicted by the statistical method compare favorably with those of the analytic model and require approximately one-tenth the computer time.