Beamdown Solar Concentrator Completed at Miyazaki Univ., Japan

A beamdown solar concentrator was completed on August 6, 2012, at Kibana Campus of University of Miyazaki, in collaboration with Miyazaki Prefecture, Niigata University and Mitaka Kohki Co. Ltd. The beamdown solar concentrator is the first facility of its kind in Japan.

The concentrator was developed by Mitaka Kohki, a high precision optical technology company, and consists of 88 units of solar collectors called heliostats and a 16 meter-high tower. Each heliostat is made of 10 concave mirrors, each measuring 50 centimeters in diameter, that automatically track the sun and reflect the sunlight onto an elliptic mirror 4.3 meters in diameter installed on the upper part of the tower. The sunlight reflected downward from the elliptic mirror is then focused onto a receiver, expected to produce 70 kilowatts.

Related JFS article:
Two Japanese Companies to Launch Sales of Solar Heat Power Plants