Method and apparatus for lightning protection in densely packed heliostat fields

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processor having an addressable memory, a location of one or more ungrounded triangular heliostat structures in a solar field;

determining, by the processor, one or more circles of interference, wherein the one or more circles of interference are areas within a range of motion of one or more heliostats disposed on corners of the one or more triangular heliostat structures in the solar field;

determining, by the processor, one or more circles of non-interference, wherein the one or more circles of non-interference are open spaces between the circles of interference; and

determining, by the processor, a placement of one or more lightning rods in the one or more circles of non-interference, wherein the placement of the one or more lightning rods is based on a rolling sphere method.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heliostats structures are arranged in rows with alternating rows of heliostat structures and clearance rows.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more heliostat structures are arranged in a hexagonal packing along two or more rows.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the placement of the one or more lightning rods in the one or more circles of non-interference further comprises:

drawing, by the processor, a triangle, wherein each of the triangle vertices is a center of one of the one or more determined circles of non-interference;

determining, by the processor, a centroid of the drawn triangle;

determining, by the processor, a minimum height and a spacing of three lightning rods placed at the drawn triangle vertices via a rolling sphere method;

tiling, by the processor, the drawn triangle as a pattern over the solar field; and

determining, by the processor, a placement of a lightning rod at each vertex of the tiled triangle pattern.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more circles of interference is located in a center of one of the one or more triangular heliostat structures.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the processor, a base of non-interference, wherein the base of non-interference is a swept area on the ground from a center of the one or more circles of non-interference to a nearest edge of at least one of: the one or more heliostat structures and solar field equipment in the solar field.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined placement of the one or more lightning rods by the rolling sphere method is in a hexagonal pattern.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining, by the processor, the number of lightning rods in the solar field in the hexagonal pattern by a vertex counting method.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placement of the one or more lightning rods in the one or more circles of non-interference further comprises placing a base of the lightning rod in a first determined circle of non-interference and placing an air electrode of the lightning rod in a second determined circle of non-interference.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first determined circle of non-interference has a larger volume than the second determined circle of non-interference.

11. A system, comprising:

a solar field;

one or more ungrounded triangular heliostat structures located in the solar field;

one or more heliostats disposed on corners of the one or more triangular heliostat structures;

a processor having addressable memory, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine one or more circles of interference, wherein the one or more circles of interference are areas within a range of motion of the one or more heliostats;

determine one or more circles of non-interference, wherein the one or more circles of non-interference are open spaces between the circles of interference; and

determine a placement of one or more lightning rods in the determined one or more circles of non-interference, wherein the placement of the one or more lightning rods is based on a rolling sphere method.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more heliostats are arranged in a hexagonal heliostat packing.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the hexagonal heliostat packing has a heliostat packing density of 20% to 50%.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more lightning rods comprise an air electrode located above the ground surface and a ground electrode located in the ground.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the air electrode is detachably attached to the ground electrode.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the air electrode is attached to a support structure.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the ground electrode is located in a first determined circle of non-interference and the air electrode is located in a second determined circle of non-interference, wherein the first determined circle of non-interference has a larger volume than the second determined circle of non-interference.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the ground electrode comprises one or more stakes used to support the air electrode.

19. A device comprising a processor having an addressable memory, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine a location of one or more ungrounded triangular heliostat structures in a solar field;

determine one or more circles of interference, wherein the one or more circles of interference are areas within a range of motion of one or more heliostats disposed on corners of the one or more triangular heliostat structures in the solar field;

determine one or more circles of non-interference, wherein the one or more circles of non-interference are open spaces between the circles of interference; and

determine a placement of one or more lightning rods in the one or more circles of non-interference, wherein the placement of the one or more lightning rods is based on a rolling sphere method.