Research on the Architecture of Heliostat Field Control Systems for Solar Power Towers

Abstract

With the development of solar power tower technology towards large-scale and high-efficiency, the selection of the network architecture for the heliostat field control system has become a critical factor affecting the overall performance of power plants. This paper systematically analyzes the technical characteristics, performance, and application scenarios of three mainstream control architectures: centralized, distributed, and hybrid. Comparative studies show that the centralized architecture is suitable for small to medium-sized demonstration projects, the distributed architecture shows advantages in ultra-large-scale power plants, and the hybrid architecture has become the mainstream choice for current commercial power plants due to its balanced performance. This paper further proposes a four-dimensional selection framework based on power plant scale, terrain conditions, investment strategy, and technical capability. Combined with emerging technology trends, it points out that cloud-edge-device collaboration, intelligent algorithm integration, and standardized design will become the core features of the next-generation architecture.