Second generation heliostat

ABSTRACT:
This report provides the results of a heliostat development program performed by the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company for Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California, under Contract 830024A.
This program involved design, fabrication, and test of prototype heliostats which,

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when produced in high volume, support the Department of Energy goals for solar central receiver power plant economics. Volume factory design and output costs were provided under a subcontract by the General Motors Energy Systems Group and the F. Jos Lamb Company. MDAC incorporated these costs into price analysis including factory and field installation costs, a return of investment, and profit. The price followed previous program projections and substantiated the potential for attaining DOE goals. The heliostat design was based substantially on previous MDAC development effort. The prototype heliostat, in conjunction with MDAC developed controls hardware and software, exceeded all performance requirements. The next requirement is a market demand, which will determine sales . volume and in turn dictate production processes and costs. MDAC and its suppliers are ready to supply this market at any volume level. The design developed under this contract is the property of the US Department of Energy for any Government applications. MDAC reserves the commercial rights to the subsystem and components through proprietary developments by MDAC and its suppliers of controls system hardware and software, drive components, and mirror module fabrication technology. This report consists of two volumes. Volume I summarizes the subsystem design, test substantiation, and operations and provides the MDAC price analysis and detail subsystem cost analysis. Volume II provides the volume factory design, manufacturing process design, and factory costs as developed by General Motors Energy Systems and the F. Jos Lamb Company.

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