空间站太阳能热动力发电系统吸热器研究

系统介绍了国际上对空间站太阳能热动力发电系统中吸热器的研究成果。详细地介绍了目前国际上研究设计的两种吸热器的结构、尺寸以及工作原理，对蓄热相变材料及其和吸热管材料间的腐蚀、相容性进行了讨论。分析了吸热器相变材料储罐壁面的热松脱问题及其对策。研究结果对促进我国空间站事业的发展具有指导意义。     

Numerical analysis of convective heat transport in a porous semi‐trapezoidal enclosure with radiation effect

A theoretical and numerical study of natural convection of two‐dimensional laminar incompressible flow in a semi‐trapezoidal porous enclosure in the presence of thermal radiation is conducted. The semi‐trapezoidal enclosure has an inclined left wall that in addition to the right vertical wall is maintained at a constant temperature, whereas the remaining (horizontal) walls are adiabatic. The Darcy‐Brinkman isotropic model is utilized. The governing partial differential equations are transformed using a vorticity stream function and nondimensional quantities and the resulting governing nonlinear dimensionless equations are solved using the finite difference method with incremental steps. The impacts of the different model parameters (Rayleigh number [Ra], Darcy number [Da], and radiation parameter [Rd]) on the thermofluid characteristics are studied in detail. The computations show that convective heat transfer is enhanced with the greater Darcy parameter (permeability). The flow is accelerated with the increasing buoyancy effect (Rayleigh number) and heat transfer is also increased with a greater radiative flux. The present numerical simulations are more relevant to hybrid porous media solar collectors.     

Exergetic,environmental and economic analyses of small‐capacity concentrated solar‐driven heat engines for power and heat cogeneration

In this paper, the exergy interactions, environmental impact in terms of CO₂ mitigation, and the economics of small‐capacity concentrated solar power‐driven heat engines for power and heat generation are analysed for residential applications. Starting from a base case study that assumes mass production in Ontario, it is shown that the investment in such a system, making use of a heat engine and having 9 m² of aperture area, could be about CN$10 000 for a peak electrical efficiency of 18% and thermal efficiency of 75%. The average CO₂ mitigation due to combined savings in electricity and heat is ～0.3 kgCO₂ kWh^?1, a figure 3–4 times larger than for photovoltaic panels. If 25% government subsidy to the investment is provided, the payback period becomes 21.6 years. Additionally, if the financing benefits from a feed‐in‐tariff program (at 25% electrical sell‐back to the grid) and deductions from CO₂ tax are realized, then the payback time drops to 11.3 years. These results are obtained for a conservative scenario of 5.5% annual incremental increase in energy price. For the moderate consideration of all factors, it is shown that within the financial savings over the entire lifecycle, 7% are due to carbon tax, 30% are due to electrical production and the largest amount, 63%, is the result of reducing the natural gas heating capacity with solar heating from the proposed system. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comprehensive assessment of line‐/point‐focus combined scheme for concentrating solar power system

The line‐/point‐focus combined scheme for concentrating solar power (CSP) system is proposed. For solar field, the parabolic trough (PT) or linear Fresnel (LF) is used as the line‐focus preheating and evaporation stages while the solar tower is used as the point‐focus superheating and reheating stages. The combined schemes benefit from the high concentration ratio of point‐focus technology and low cost of line‐focus technology. Particularly, the combined scheme guarantees the concentrated solar thermal energy matching the temperature requirement of steam generation process with less exergy loss. Performance and economic assessments have been performed for 50 MW_e CSP system with two of the combined schemes, ie, PT (synthetic oil, SO) + Tower (molten salt, MS) and LF (direct steam generation, DSG) + Tower (DSG), as well as existing single schemes being the references, ie, PT (SO), LF (DSG), Tower (MS), and Tower (DSG). The comparative results show that the combined schemes are superior to liner‐focus schemes in efficiency and to point‐focus schemes in capital cost and scalability. Specifically, the PT (SO) + Tower (MS) system suggests the favorable potential in practical application with the highest annual net solar‐to‐electrical energy conversion efficiency of 16.07% and the reasonable levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of 16.121 US cent/(kW·h). This work provides an alternative guidance for future development of the CSP technology.     

High‐temperature latent heat storage technology to utilize exergy of solar heat and industrial exhaust heat

Latent heat storage (LHS) using phase change materials is quite attractive for utilization of the exergy of solar energy and industrial exhaust heat because of its high‐heat storage capacity, heat storage and supply at constant temperature, and repeatable utilization without degradation. In this article, general LHS technology is outlined, and then recent advances in the uses of LHS for high‐temperature applications (over 100 °C) are discussed, with respect to each type of phase change material (e.g., sugar alcohol, molten salt, and alloy). The prospects of future LHS systems are discussed from a principle of exergy recuperation. In addition, the technologies to minimize exergy loss in the future LHS system are discussed on the basis of the thermodynamic analysis by ‘thermodynamic compass’. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new integrated single‐diode solar cell model for photovoltaic power prediction with experimental validation under real outdoor conditions

The output power prediction by a photovoltaic (PV) system is an important research area for which different techniques have been used. Solar cell modeling is one of the most used methods for power prediction, the accuracy of which strongly depends on the selection of cell parameters. In this study, a new integrated single‐diode solar cell model based on three, four, and five solar cell parameters is developed for the prediction of PV power generation. The experimental validation of the predicted results is done under outdoor climatic conditions for an Indian location. The predicted power by three models is found close to measured values within 4.29% to 4.76% accuracy range. The comparative power estimation analysis by these models shows that the three‐parameter model gives higher accuracy for low solar irradiance values <150 W/m², the four‐parameter model in the range of 150 to 500 W/m², and the five‐parameter model for >500 W/m². The present model is also compared with other models in literature and is found to be more accurate with less percentage error. The overall results also show that the power produced depends on temperature and solar radiation levels at a particular location. Thus, single solar cell model developed can be used with sufficient accuracy for power forecast of PV systems for any location worldwide. The follow‐up research areas are also identified.     

Parametric study on the performance of the earth‐to‐air heat exchanger for cooling and heating applications

To reduce energy consumption, the earth‐to‐air heat exchanger (EAHE) is a suitable technique for cooling and heating buildings. This paper studies numerically the effect of some design parameters (pipe diameter, inlet condition, pipe length, and outlet condition) on the overall performance of the EAHE system. Four diameters of the EAHE pipe (2, 3, 4, and 6 in) are studied and this numerical study has been done for summer and winter seasons for Nasiriyah city in southern Iraq. First, the built numerical model was validated against the experimental model, and the results of comparison showed a good consensus. After the validation and by using computational fluid dynamics modeling, the overall performance of the EAHE system with all pipe diameters was analyzed with ranges of air velocity, DBT or inlet temperature, and a pipe length of 50 m. The simulated results showed that the EAHE system with 6 in pipe diameter has the best values of overall performance, but from the thermal performance point of view, the 2 in pipe diameter is more suitable.     

A new and inexpensive open source data acquisition and controller for solar research: Application to a water-flow glazing

A water-flow window consists of two glass panes making up a chamber in which a water layer flows in a controlled way. Such windows may be considered as Building-Integrated Solar Thermal (BIST) collectors, and could assist to incorporate renewable energy systems in buildings, improving their energy efficiency, especially when they are properly managed by a control system. Despite the need of an automatic controller for this kind of window and the advantages of microprocessor-based control for solar systems, only differential controllers have been described. A novel controller based on an inexpensive open source microcontroller board has been designed, built, programmed and installed in an experimental prototype water-flow window. The proposed data acquisition and control system, the code sequence steps, a model algorithm, and a comparison between the data collected by the system and a commercial datalogger are presented. The advantages of using an open source board for the proposed control system are analysed and the benefits of using a control system based on a microcontroller are discussed.