Wave Front Sensor for Solar Concentrator Control (October 2007)

This article is the culmination of research directed into finding a system to control the position of the focal spot of paraboloid concentrators for use in terrestrial and space solar concentration applications. After a brief introduction into the area of study, the article describes how a normal Shack-Hartmann wave front sensor is modified for use in detecting and tracking the focal spot. The paper details the analysis and development of the algorithms used in locating the focal spot on a thruster absorber utilizing a correlation method and an area centroid method. The article concludes with a paragraph on suitable future work.