Study on design of molten salt solar receivers for beam-down solar concentrator

Systems using molten salt as thermal media have been proposed for solar thermal power generation and for synthetic fuel production. We have been developing molten salt solar receivers, in which molten salt is heated by concentrated solar radiation, in the Solar Hybrid Fuel Project of Japan. A cavity shaped receiver, which is suitable for a beam-down type solar concentration system, was considered. In order to design molten salt solar receivers, a numerical simulation program for the prediction of characteristics of receivers was developed. The simulation program presents temperature distributions of a receiver and molten salt with the use of heat flux distribution of solar radiation and properties of composing materials as input data. Radiation to heat conversion efficiency is calculated from input solar power and heat transferred to molten salt. The thermal resistance of molten salt and the maximum discharge pressure of molten salt pumps were taken into account as restrictions for the design of receivers. These restrictions require control of maximum receiver temperature and pressure drop in the molten salt channel. Based on the incident heat flux distribution formed with a 100 MWth class beam-down type solar concentration system, we proposed a shape of solar receiver that satisfies the requirements. The radiation to heat conversion efficiency of the designed receiver was calculated to be about 90%.     

槽式太阳聚光器的研究

提出了一种低倍聚光的抛物面槽式聚光光伏发电方式.从聚光器的聚光比入手,推导抛物面槽式聚光的能流聚光比的公式,分析了能流聚光比和各个参数的关系.依据这些关系式制成的低倍聚光装置适宜于普及,可节约光伏装置成本,增加光伏发电量.     

Optimal geometries of a seasonally adjusted discrete-mirror solar concentrator employing a tubular absorber

The geometrical profile of a seasonally adjusted solar concentrator composed of plane mirror elements and employing a tubular absorber has been optimized. The procedure maximizes concentration for any specified number of mirror elements, and for acceptance angle, with the height of the concentrator or the reflector area as a constraint. The geometrical characteristics of the optimal concentrators have been analysed in detail. The results for a tubular absorber are compared with those for a flat horizontal absorber. Detailed results for a wide range of number of mirror elements, reflector heights, and reflector areas are provided as a design aid. Designs using a glazed tubular absorber are also considered.     

Potential of a parabolic trough solar concentrator for electric energy production

At present, parabolic trough technology is considered as the most low‐cost and powerful large‐scale technology to utilize solar energy for electricity generation and produce steam for different industrial usages. This article recommends the generation of electricity by using a parabolic trough solar concentrator in the central area of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) at Dawadmi city. Pressurized water is used as the heat‐transfer working fluid. A computer algorithm was built using the Matlab program to simulate the performance parameters of the Euro Trough collector (ETC). The input data included the properties of the working fluid (pressurized water) and the designing parameters of ETC. The output data were the outlet water temperature, the coefficient of heat transfer, the heat loss, and the thermal, solar, and global efficiencies. The obtained results indicated the ability of this type of parabolic trough in KSA to generate electric power due to the high‐performance parameters achieved. Also, the validity of using the simulation technique was measured and it showed good conformity.     

Experimental performance investigation of modified cavity receiver with fuzzy focal solar dish concentrator

In this paper, thermal performance analysis of 20 m² prototype fuzzy focal solar dish collector is presented. The focal image characteristics of the solar dish are determined to propose the suitable design of absorber/receiver. First, theoretical thermal performance analysis of the fuzzy focal solar parabolic dish concentrator with modified cavity receiver is carried out for different operating conditions. Based on the theoretical performance analysis, the total heat loss (conduction, convection and radiation heat losses) from the modified cavity receiver is estimated. It is observed that the maximum theoretical efficiencies of solar dish collector are found to be as 79.2% for no wind conditions and 78.2% and 77.8% for side-on and head-on winds speed of 5 m/s respectively. Latter, real time analysis of parabolic dish collector with modified cavity receiver is carried out in terms of stagnation test, time constant test and daily performance test. From stagnation test, the overall heat loss coefficient is found to be 356 W/m² K. The time constant test is carried out to determine the influence of sudden change in solar radiation at steady state conditions. The daily performance tests are conducted for different flow rates. It is found that the efficiency of the collector increases with the increase of volume flow rates. The average thermal efficiencies of the parabolic dish collector for the volume flow rate of 100 L/h and 250 L/h are found to be 69% and 74% for the average beam radiation (I_bn) of 532 W/m² and 641 W/m² respectively.     

球形腔式太阳能吸热器性能的数值研究

利用蒙特卡洛光线追踪法分析了6种不同开口比(D/d)的球形腔式吸热器的光学性能,并以光学模拟所得壁面能流作为热分析的边界条件导入CFD软件中,运用CFD软件对6种不同开口比的球形腔式吸热器进行流固耦合传热计算,获得了球形腔式吸热器和内部流体的温度场分布。通过计算球形腔式吸热器的反射光损失、对流热损失和热辐射损失,得到聚光器/球形腔式吸热器系统的光热转化效率为81.9%～84.4%,球形腔式吸热器的最佳开口比1相似文献   

Improving the optical efficiency and concentration of a single-plate quantum dot solar concentrator using near infra-red emitting quantum dots

Low luminescent quantum yields and large overlap between quantum dot (QD) emission and absorption spectra of present commercially-available visible-emitting QDs have led to low optical efficiencies for single-plate quantum dot solar concentrators (QDSCs). It is shown that using near infra-red (NIR) emitting QDs, re-absorption of QD emitted photons can be reduced greatly, thereby diminishing escape cone losses thus improving optical efficiencies and concentration ratios. Using Monte-Carlo ray-trace modelling, escape cone losses are quantified for different types of QD. A minimum 25% escape cone loss would be expected for a plate with refractive index of 1.5 containing QDs with no spectral overlap. It is shown that escape cone losses account for ∼57% of incident photons absorbed in QDSCs containing commercially-available visible-emitting QDs.     

Exergetic analysis and economic evaluation of central tower receiver solar thermal power plant

This article presents the analytical evaluation of a central tower receiver solar thermal power plant with air‐cooled volumetric receiver using exergy analysis. The energetic and exergetic losses as well as the efficiencies of a typical central tower receiver‐based solar thermal power plant have been carried out under the specific operating conditions. The enhancement in efficiency of the plant from the variation in power input to constant power input achieved by thermal storage backup condition has been determined. It is found that the year round average energetic efficiency can be increased from 24.15% to 25.08% and year round average exergetic efficiency can be increased, from 26.10% to 27.10% for the selected location Jodhpur. The unit cost of electric energy generation (kWh_e) is found to be INR 10.09 considering 30‐year lifespan of the solar plant along with a 10% interest rate. The present study provides a base for the development of future solar thermal power plants in India. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improved model for natural convection heat loss from modified cavity receiver of solar dish concentrator

A 2-D model has been proposed to investigate the approximate estimation of the natural convection heat loss from modified cavity receiver of without insulation (WOI) and with insulation (WI) at the bottom of the aperture plane in our previous article. In this paper, a 3-D numerical model is presented to investigate the accurate estimation of natural convection heat loss from modified cavity receiver (WOI) of fuzzy focal solar dish concentrator. A comparison of 2-D and 3-D natural convection heat loss from a modified cavity receiver is carried out. A parametric study is carried out to develop separate Nusselt number correlations for 2-D and 3-D geometries of modified cavity receiver for estimation of convective heat loss from the receiver. The results show that the 2-D and 3-D are comparable only at higher angle of inclinations (60° ? β ? 90°) of the receiver. The present 3-D numerical model is compared with other well known cavity receiver models. The 3-D model can be used for accurate estimation of heat losses from solar dish collector, when compared with other well known models.     

太阳能热发电系统中腔式吸热器的光学性能

建立了球形、圆柱形、圆锥形和平顶圆锥形4种典型腔式吸热器与抛物面聚光器的三维模型,利用蒙特卡洛光线追踪法预测了4种典型腔式吸热器内部辐射能流的分布,其中球形吸热器内部的辐射能流分布均匀性最好,且辐射峰值最小,具有较好的光学性能。通过统计逸出腔口的反射光计算出这4种腔式吸热器的反射光损,其中球形吸热器的反射光损最小。在聚光器反射率为0.9,腔体内壁吸收率为0.9时,球形吸热器反射光损仅为0.66%,聚光器/球形吸热器的光学效率为88.9%。     

A new design of nontracking seasonally adjusted plane mirror linear trough solar concentrator with a flat horizontal absorber

This paper presents an optical design based on a single-reflection criterion, and performance characteristics of an east-west aligned nontracking seasonally adjusted linear trough solar concentrator with a flat horizontal absorber, using plane mirror elements. The design procedure allows the use of any desired number of mirror elements to reflect solar energy onto the base absorber in one reflection. The angle of inclination of each mirror element with respect to the absorber surface, and the width of the mirror element, are determined so that a ray incident on the extreme upper edge of the mirror element at a specified angle to the normal to the concentrator aperture (acceptance half-angle), after reflection, strikes the extreme edge of the absorber on the opposite side of the mirror element. Other rays making angles less than the design acceptance half-angle are also reflected onto the base absorber in one reflection. Concentrator designs resulting from this approach appear to have the important characteristic of relatively smaller heights, and hence appear highly cost-effective in terms of the amount of material required for fabrication. Some numerical calculations have been carried out to illustrate the performance of concentrators for different acceptance half-angles. Results obtained are presented in graphic and tabular forms, and are discussed.     

Hybrid solar concentrator with zero self-absorption loss

The use of a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) with a high geometric gain is one of the methods to achieve low cost of photovoltaic power. However, the self-absorption loss of the LSC is a restraining factor working against the gain. Differed from organic dyes, the hybrid dyes (rare earth complexes), composed of organic antenna and inorganic emitting ions, have very low self-absorption losses. A hybrid solar concentrator (HSC) has been fabricated by doping a rare earth complex, Eu(TTA)₃Phen, into a polymer optical fiber (POF). Experiments on the HSC show that there is no self-absorption loss, and the emission photons increase linearly with geometric gain (increasing from around 50 to approximately 200).     

Thermal performance of linear Fresnel reflecting solar concentrator with trapezoidal cavity absorbers

Thermal performance of the four identical trapezoidal cavity absorbers for linear Fresnel reflecting solar device were studied and compared. The absorbers were designed for operating in conjunction with a prototype Fresnel solar reflector. Rectangular and round pipe sections were used as absorber by placing in the trapezoidal cavity. The absorber pipes were coated with ordinary dull black board paint and black nickel selective surface. The bottom of the cavity was provided with plane glass to allow the solar radiation to be reflected from the Fresnel reflector. The other three sides of the cavity absorber were insulated to reduce heat loss. Thermal performance of the Fresnel reflecting concentrator with each trapezoidal cavity absorber was studied experimentally at different concentration ratio of the reflector. The study revealed that the thermal efficiency was influenced by the concentration ratio and selective surface coating on the absorber. The thermal efficiency decreased with the increase in the concentration ratio of the Fresnel reflecting collector. The selective surface coated absorber had a significant advantage in terms of superior thermal performance as compared to ordinary black painted absorber. The round pipe (multi-tube) receiver had higher surface area to absorb solar energy as compared to rectangular pipe receiver. Thermal efficiency of the solar device with round pipe absorber was found higher (up to 8%) as compared to rectangular pipe absorber.     

Efficiency improvement of a solar direct volumetric receiver utilizing aqueous suspensions of CuO

In this paper, an experimental study was performed to investigate the photothermal conversion properties of CuO‐H₂O nanofluid‐based volumetric receiver mainly considering the effects of nanoparticle (NP) concentration, irradiation time, and receiver depth. First, stable aqueous suspensions of CuO with NPs having average diameter close to 10 nm were produced by the precursor transformation method. The spectral transmittances of CuO‐H₂O nanofluids decrease with increasing the NP concentration (0.01‐0.25 wt%) at wavelengths of 200 to 1350 nm. The photothermal conversion performance of CuO‐H₂O nanofluids is sensitive to the receiver depth, irradiation time, and NP concentration. The higher NP concentration causes stronger optical absorption in the upper part and reduces the temperature at the bottom accordingly. The temperature difference between CuO‐H₂O nanofluid and distilled water increased initially and then decreased with the increase of penetration depth, and there existed an optimal depth of 1 cm with respect to the best photothermal conversion performance. The receiver efficiency decreased with increasing the light irradiation time, and an efficiency improvement up to 30.4% was achieved for the 0.25 wt% nanofluid at the optimal depth of 1 cm as compared with water. This work shows that volumetric receivers provide a potential alternative for solar thermal energy utilization versus surface‐based absorber especially under concentrated solar radiation.     

Heat transfer performance of an external receiver pipe under unilateral concentrated solar radiation

The heat transfer and absorption characteristics of an external receiver pipe under unilateral concentrated solar radiation are theoretically investigated. Since the heat loss ratio of the infrared radiation has maximum at moderate energy flux, the heat absorption efficiency will first increase and then decrease with the incident energy flux. The local absorption efficiency will increase with the flow velocity, while the wall temperature drops quickly. Because of the unilateral concentrated solar radiation and different incident angle, the heat transfer is uneven along the circumference. Near the perpendicularly incident region, the wall temperature and absorption efficiency slowly approaches to the maximum, while the absorption efficiency sharply drops near the parallelly incident region. The calculation results show that the heat transfer parameters calculated from the average incident energy flux have a good agreement with the average values of the circumference under different boundary conditions. For the whole pipe with coating of Pyromark, the absorption efficiency of the main region is above 85%, and only the absorption efficiency near the parallelly incident region is below 80%. In general, the absorption efficiency of the whole pipe increases with flow velocity rising and pipe length decreasing, and it approaches to the maximum at optimal concentrated solar flux.     

Productivity enhancements of compound parabolic concentrator tubular solar stills

The performance of compound parabolic concentrator assisted tubular solar still (CPC-TSS) and compound parabolic concentrator-concentric tubular solar still (CPC-CTSS) (to allow cooling water) with different augmentation systems were studied. A rectangular saline water trough of dimension 2 m × 0.03 m × 0.025 m was designed and fabricated. The effective collector area of the still is 2 m × 1 m with five sets of tubular still – CPC collectors placed horizontally with north-south orientation. Hot water taken from the CPC-CTSS was integrated to a pyramid type and single slope solar still. Diurnal variations of water temperature, air temperature, cover temperature and distillate yield were recorded. The results showed that, the productivity of the un-augmented CPC-TSS and CPC-CTSS were 3710 ml/day and 4960 ml/day, respectively. With the heat extraction technique, the productivity of CPC-CTSS with a single slope solar still and CPC-CTSS with a pyramid solar still were found as 6460 ml/day and 7770 ml/day, respectively. The process integration with different systems cost was found slightly higher but the overall efficiency and the produced distilled water yield was found augmented.     

Thermal simulation of a single particle in a falling-particle solar receiver

A transient simulation of the heat transfer in a particle directly heated by the sun, in a falling-particle receiver, is presented. The local temperature can have a non-uniform distribution, that depends on many factors, such as the size of the particle, its rotation, and the exposition time. This fact should be considered when studying the material resistance and aging, or direct chemical reactions in the falling particle. The single-particle simulation presented here can be useful to test the validity of the global fluid dynamics simulations, to study single-particle related aspects such as aging, thermal stresses and chemical stability, to study the distribution of temperature if the particles are not uniform in size, or to study the efficiency in chemical applications.     

Numerical simulation of the heat flux distribution in a solar cavity receiver

In the solar tower power plant, the receiver is one of the main components of efficient concentrating solar collector systems. In the design of the receiver, the heat flux distribution in the cavity should be considered first. In this study, a numerical simulation using the Monte Carlo Method has been conducted on the heat flux distribution in the cavity receiver, which consists of six lateral faces and floor and roof planes, with an aperture of 2.0 m×2.0 m on the front face. The mathematics and physical models of a single solar ray’s launching, reflection, and absorption were proposed. By tracing every solar ray, the distribution of heat flux density in the cavity receiver was obtained. The numerical results show that the solar flux distribution on the absorbing panels is similar to that of CESA-I’s. When the reradiation from walls was considered, the detailed heat flux distributions were issued, in which 49.10% of the total incident energy was absorbed by the central panels, 47.02% by the side panels, and 3.88% was overflowed from the aperture. Regarding the peak heat flux, the value of up to 1196.406 kW/m² was obtained in the center of absorbing panels. These results provide necessary data for the structure design of cavity receiver and the local thermal stress analysis for boiling and superheated panels.     

Experimental investigation of ice‐chamber for melting of ice based on Scheffler solar concentrator for high altitude regions

This experimental analysis was performed with the aim to melt the ice into hot water at very high altitude regions such as Leh Ladakh. Three different designs of ice‐chamber were used to melt the ice with direct heating in minimum time. The radiations were focused on the receiver with the help of 1 m² Scheffler solar concentrator exposed to the atmospheric situations of NIT Kurukshetra. The Scheffler solar concentrator was fabricated with fiber‐reinforced plastic material. The fabrication process is discussed in detail. The results obtained from the design showed that the ice frozen at ?5°C completely melted, converting into water. The maximum temperature of water attained in the ice‐chamber with receiver 1 (circular plate with fins), 2 (CPC with fins), and 3 (copper crucible) was 57.7°C, 64.3°C, and 67.4°C, respectively.     

腔式太阳能高温空气吸热器传热过程数值模拟

介绍了一种应用于塔式太阳能热发电站的腔式高温空气吸热器,建立了吸热器内部空气流动及传热过程模拟数学模型,并通过数值方法,模拟了吸热器内部的空气流场和温度场。结果得知:空气进入吸热器后,沿内壁面轴向高速流动,随着深度的增加,速度越来越小,到达底部时速度最小;在压差的作用下,进入吸热器内部的空气会不断流向和冲刷针肋及壁面,而主流方向的流量不断减少;空气通过冲刷高温针肋及壁面不断吸收热量,温度不断升高;由于吸热器底部空气速度较小,对流换热系数较小和热流密度较大,因此该处温度较高,是整个吸热器的最脆弱部位;在高辐照强度情况下,虽然加大空气流量可降低吸热器壁面的温度,但由于其对流换热系数与空气流速不成正比例,壁面温度一般还会有所升高。