Patent ID: 8887711

Claim:
A solar tower system comprising: a solar receiver fixedly disposed over a support surface; an array including a plurality of heliostats disposed on the support surface adjacent to the solar receiver, each heliostat including: a rotatable carousel having a substantially D-shaped base including a peripheral edge structure surrounding a central region, the base being disposed on the support surface such that the peripheral edge structure is rotatatable around a central axis located in the central region, a mirror array including a plurality of elongated flat mirrors arranged in a low-profile, substantially horizontal plane and disposed in the central region, each elongated flat mirror being movably connected to and simply supported between corresponding portions of the peripheral edge structure such that said each elongated flat mirror is maintained in a corresponding tilt angle; and a mirror positioning system fixedly disposed on the support surface adjacent to the carousel, the mirror positioning system including: a solar elevation tracking controller including means for adjusting the tilt angle of each of the plurality of elongated flat mirrors in accordance with a determined sun elevation angle such that sunlight directed onto the mirror array from said determined sun elevation angle is reflected by all of the plurality of elongated flat mirrors onto the solar receiver, and a solar azimuth tracking controller including means operably connected to the peripheral wall for adjusting the rotational position of the carousel around the central axis in accordance with a determined sun azimuth angle such that sunlight directed onto the mirror array from said determined sun azimuth angle is reflected by all of the plurality of elongated flat mirrors onto the solar receiver.