The construction of solar thermal power plants with several thousand of collector area requires quality control measures for components, subsystems, and the entire collector rows. While quality control has a significant potential to increase the solar field efficiency, the main objective is to assure high-quality standards for the whole solar field. Quality control, assembly documentation, and performance measurements are required by the investors. Based on previous R&D work in collector development and prototype qualification, measurement systems have been developed for use in solar field construction and operation supervision. In particular, close-range photogrammetry can be used to measure the geometry of collector steel structures. The measurement system consists of a digital camera, which moves around the structure automatically while shooting photos of the concentrator structure from various positions. The photos are evaluated with photogrammetry software to check the assembly quality. The whole measurement and evaluation procedure is computer controlled and is fast enough to be integrated in a solar collector production line. This paper deals with the required measurement accuracy and shows ways to reach, maintain, and control this accuracy in the rough environment of an on-site production line.
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e-mail: klaus.pottler@dlr.de
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February 2008
Research Papers
Automatic Noncontact Quality Inspection System for Industrial Parabolic Trough Assembly
Klaus Pottler,
Klaus Pottler
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
e-mail: klaus.pottler@dlr.de
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Solar Research
, Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), 04200 Tabernas, Spain
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Marc Röger,
Marc Röger
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Solar Research
, Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), 04200 Tabernas, Spain
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Eckhard Lüpfert,
Eckhard Lüpfert
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Solar Research
, 51170 Köln, Germany
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Wolfgang Schiel
Wolfgang Schiel
Schlaich Bergermann und Partner
, Hohenzollernstraße 1, 70178 Stuttgart, Germany
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Klaus Pottler
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Solar Research
, Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), 04200 Tabernas, Spaine-mail: klaus.pottler@dlr.de
Marc Röger
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Solar Research
, Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), 04200 Tabernas, Spain
Eckhard Lüpfert
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Solar Research
, 51170 Köln, Germany
Wolfgang Schiel
Schlaich Bergermann und Partner
, Hohenzollernstraße 1, 70178 Stuttgart, GermanyJ. Sol. Energy Eng. Feb 2008, 130(1): 011008 (5 pages)
Published Online: December 28, 2007
Article history
Received:
September 22, 2006
Revised:
April 24, 2007
Published:
December 28, 2007
Citation
Pottler, K., Röger, M., Lüpfert, E., and Schiel, W. (December 28, 2007). "Automatic Noncontact Quality Inspection System for Industrial Parabolic Trough Assembly." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. February 2008; 130(1): 011008. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2804628
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