Heliogen Holdings, Inc.

Heliogen, Inc.

Other

Alexander Sonn

William Tod Gross

Adam Azarchs

Tori Gupta Cook

A system and method for registering images captured by a camera of heliostats in a heliostat field for use in tracking control of the heliostats is disclosed. The method includes calculating a geographical location of a reflection of the sun on a reflective dome surface of fiducial markers positioned relative to the heliostat field that are in a field of view of the camera, the geographical location calculated based on a location of the sun at a time corresponding to a time-stamp of the captured image, a geographical location and a radius of the reflective dome of the fiducial markers, and a geographical location of the viewing camera. A correct mapping of the fiducial markers in the captured image is identified. Optionally, an affine transform is applied to the captured image via rotation and translation so that pixels in the transformed image for the fiducial markers map to geographical coordinates of the fiducial markers.

System and method for registration of heliostat images using reflective dome fiducials

A system and method for tracking the sun with a heliostat mirror is disclosed. The solar tracking system comprises: a camera configured to capture high dynamic range images of the sky, a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of the heliostat mirror, and a tracking controller. The images of the heliostat mirror include reflections of the sky. The tracking controller is configured to generate a circumsolar radiance map characterizing the brightness of at least a portion of the sky with the high dynamic range images. During tracking operations, the tracking controller is configured to estimate an orientation of the heliostat mirror; calculate coordinates of the portions of sky in the reflections in the heliostat mirror; estimate brightness levels of portions of sky in the reflections of the heliostat mirror based on the calculated coordinates and the radiance model; determine brightness levels of portions of sky in the reflections of the heliostat mirror based on the images from the plurality of cameras; generate an error measurement characterizing a difference between the brightness level estimated from the radiance model and the brightness level determined from the images of the heliostat mirror; search for an orientation angle of the at least one mirror that minimizes the error measurement; and re-orient the at least one mirror based on the orientation angle that minimizes the error measurement.

Heliostat tracking based on circumsolar radiance maps

A system and method for localization and calibration of a heliostat is disclosed. The system comprises a controller and a camera configured to acquire images of a plurality of heliostats. The controller and camera are configured to acquire a first image of the plurality of heliostats, move one of the plurality of heliostats, acquire a second image of the plurality of heliostats, generate a difference image by subtracting the second image from the first image, identify the heliostat that was moved based on the difference image, and calibrate the position or orientation of the heliostat based on the difference image. The difference image is generated by pixel-wise subtraction of the second image from the first image. The pixel-wise subtraction exposes the heliostat and enables the calibration of the position and/or orientation of known heliostat positions.

Heliostat localization in camera field-of-view with induced motion

Methods, systems, and devices for determining an unsafe region and a safe target in a central receiver solar power plant by projecting the geometry of the central receiver onto a plane image using a perspective transform as seen from the perspective of a heliostat, dilating the geometry of the central receiver in the plane image by a safety margin, and selecting a set of safe target points for the heliostat.

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Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Alexander Sonn