Flux Attenuation at NREL's High-Flux Solar Furnace

The High-Flux Solar Furnace (HFSF) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has a faceted primary concentrator and a long focal-length-to-diameter ratio (due to its off-axis design). Each primary facet can be aimed individually to produce different flux distributions at the target plane. Two different types of attenuators are used depending on the flux distribution. A sliding-plateattenuator is used primarily when the facets are aimed at the same target point. The alternate attenuator resembles a venetian blind. Both attenuators are located between the concentrator and the focal point. The venetian-blind attenuator is primarily used to control the levels of sunlight falling on a target when the primary concentrators are not focused to a single point. This paper willdemonstrate the problem of using the sliding-plate attenuator with a faceted concentrator when the facets are not aimed at the same target point. We will show that although the alternate attenuator necessarily blocks a certain amount of incoming sunlight, even when fully open, it provides a more even attenuation of the flux for alternate aiming strategies.