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.     

Modeling of the Dish Receiver With the Effect of Inhomogeneous Radiation Flux Distribution

In this work, a new modeling coupling the inhomogeneous radiation flux distribution for the dish receiver is proposed and developed. The radiation transmission and absorbing process of the dish concentrating system is achieved by using the Monte Carlo ray tracing method (MCRT method), which reveals the high-order nonuniformity of the irradiance flux distribution on the inner wall of the dish receiver. The implementation of the three-dimensional numerical simulation coupling the heat loss of the dish receiver is by combining the microscopic MCRT method and the macroscopic SIMPLE method. In addition, a coupled photon statistic method is established to ensure the accuracy of heat flux distribution computation. The modeling result reveals that the temperature distributions of the inner receiver surface are significantly influenced by the inhomogeneous radiation flux. The temperature of the high local heat flux density area that lies in the middle part of the inner surface reaches 1374.8 K, which is even higher than the top area. In addition, the combined heat losses from natural convection and surface radiation are analyzed and compared respectively. It is found that the surface radiation heat loss is the predominant heat loss pattern of the combined heat transfer, and the natural convection loss is sensitive to solar intensity and the orientation of dish cavity receiver but changes little with the emissivity of the inner surface.     

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%.     

A novel integrated simulation approach couples MCRT and Gebhart methods to simulate solar radiation transfer in a solar power tower system with a cavity receiver

An integrated simulation approach, which couples Monte Carlo ray tracing (MCRT) and Gebhart methods, is proposed to simulate solar radiation transfer in a solar power tower system with a cavity receiver. The MCRT method is used to simulate the solar radiation transfer process from the heliostat field to interior surfaces of the cavity receiver, and the Gebhart method is used to simulate the multiple reflections process of solar radiation within the cavity. This integrated simulation method not only reveals the cavity effect on receiver performance but also provides real-time simulation results. Based on this method, the reflection loss of the cavity receiver and solar flux distributions are discussed in detail. The results indicate that the cavity effect can significantly reduce the reflection loss and homogenize the concentrated solar energy distributed on interior surfaces to some extent. Moreover, the surface absorptivity has less effect on the reflection loss when cavity effect is considered. The cavity effect on homogenizing solar flux distributions is greater with lower surface absorptivity. In addition, although the concentrated solar energy is distributed on the cavity aperture with similar shapes at different times, the shape of the solar flux distribution on interior surfaces varies greatly with time.     

Effects of critical geometric parameters on the optical performance of a conical cavity receiver

The optical performance of a receiver has a great influence on the efficiency and stability of a solar thermal power system. Most of the literature focuses on the optical performance of receivers with different geometric shapes, but less research is conducted on the effects of critical geometric parameters. In this paper, the commercial software TracePro was used to investigate the effects of some factors on a conical cavity receiver, such as the conical angle, the number of loops of the helical tube, and the distance between the focal point of the collector and the aperture. These factors affect the optical efficiency, the maximum heat flux density, and the light distribution in the conical cavity. The optical performance of the conical receiver was studied and analyzed using the Monte Carlo ray tracing method. To make a reliable simulation, the helical tube was attached to the inner wall of the cavity in the proposed model. The results showed that the amount of light rays reaching the helical tube increases with the increasing of the conical angle, while the optical efficiency decreases and the maximum heat flux density increases. The increase in the number of loops contributed to an increase in the optical efficiency and a uniform light distribution. The conical cavity receiver had an optimal optical performance when the focal point of the collector was near the aperture.     

Numerical modelling and optimisation of natural convection heat loss suppression in a solar cavity receiver with plate fins

This study details the numerical modelling and optimization of natural convection heat suppression in a solar cavity receiver with plate fins. The use of plate fins attached to the inner aperture surface is presented as a possible low cost means of suppressing natural convection heat loss in a cavity receiver. In the first part of the study a three-dimensional numerical model that captures the heat transfer and flow processes in the cavity receiver is analyzed, and the possibilities of optimization were then established. The model is laminar in the range of Rayleigh number, inclination angle, plate height and thickness considered. In the second part of the study, the geometric parameters considered were optimized using optimization programme with search algorithm. The results indicate that significant reduction on the natural convection heat loss can be achieved from cavity receivers by using plate fins, and an optimal plate fins configuration exit for minimal natural convection heat loss for a given range of Rayleigh number. Reduction of up to a maximum of 20% at 0° receiver inclination was observed. The results obtained provide a novel approach for improving design of cavity receiver for optimal performance.     

Thermal performance simulation of a solar cavity receiver under windy conditions

Solar cavity receiver plays a dominant role in the light-heat conversion. Its performance can directly affect the efficiency of the whole power generation system. A combined calculation method for evaluating the thermal performance of the solar cavity receiver is raised in this paper. This method couples the Monte-Carlo method, the correlations of the flow boiling heat transfer, and the calculation of air flow field. And this method can ultimately figure out the surface heat flux inside the cavity, the wall temperature of the boiling tubes, and the heat loss of the solar receiver with an iterative solution. With this method, the thermal performance of a solar cavity receiver, a saturated steam receiver, is simulated under different wind environments. The highest wall temperature of the boiling tubes is about 150 °C higher than the water saturation temperature. And it appears in the upper middle parts of the absorbing panels. Changing the wind angle or velocity can obviously affect the air velocity inside the receiver. The air velocity reaches the maximum value when the wind comes from the side of the receiver (flow angle α = 90°). The heat loss of the solar cavity receiver also reaches a maximum for the side-on wind.     

塔式太阳能腔体吸热器光热耦合模型与试验

基于蒙特卡洛方法建立光线追踪模型,利用CCD相机和朗伯板展开聚光实验,实验结果表明测量光斑与模拟光斑在大小、形状和能量分布上吻合良好。针对腔体吸热器提出光热耦合模型,考虑腔内不同吸热管之间的辐射换热,模拟结果与实验结果最大相对误差为8.6%。     

Solar flux distribution study in heat pipe cavity receiver integrated with biomass gasifier

Technological advances have taken place in the field of solar receivers, gasifiers, and heat pipes, however, the integration of these technologies is not significantly available. In this paper, the conceptual design of a novel biomass gasifier is presented. The system facilitates the solar capture and gasification process separately. It is fitted with a heat pipe arrangement to transfer heat from the solar receiver zone to the gasifier zone. Collection of heat pipes comprised of few straight tubes and few innovative semi-‘S’ shaped tubes. Solar receiver geometry is modified to semi-cylindrical shape and the evaporator section of heat pipes is arranged circumferentially inside the solar receiver. The conventional gasifier is modified with an arrangement to distribute uniform solar heat throughout the fixed bed of biomass feedstock. This paper aims to present the optical analysis of the proposed heat pipe embedded solar receiver. Heat pipe disposition inside the cavity, receiver positioning on focal planes and slope error are varied to perform optical performance of the proposed solar reactor. Average solar flux is found to increase up to 1.1-fold to 1.7-fold placing cavity receiver below focal height by 16 and 32 mm respectively. Also, the magnitude and flux profiles incident on surfaces are affected with concentrator slope error. Average flux reduces up to 21.7% with 4 mrad as compared to 2 mrad error.     

Effects of geometrical parameters of a dish concentrator on the optical performance of a cavity receiver in a solar dish‐Stirling system

Dish‐Stirling concentrated solar power (DS‐CSP) system is a complex system for solar energy‐thermal‐electric conversion. The dish concentrator and cavity receiver are optical devices for collecting the solar energy in DS‐CSP system; to determine the geometric parameters of dish concentrator is one of the important steps for design and development of DS‐CSP system, because it directly affects the optical performance of the cavity receiver. In this paper, the effects of the geometric parameters of a dish concentrator including aperture radius, focal length, unfilled radius, and fan‐shaped unfilled angle on optical performance (ie, optical efficiency and flux distribution) of a cavity receiver were studied. Furthermore, the influence of the receiver‐window radius of the cavity receiver and solar direct normal irradiance is also investigated. The cavity receiver is a novel structure that is equipped with a reflecting cone at bottom of the cavity to increases the optical efficiency of the cavity receiver. Moreover, a 2‐dimensional ray‐tracking program is developed to simulate the sunlight transmission path in DS‐CSP system, for helping understanding the effects mechanism of above parameters on optical performance of the cavity receiver. The analysis indicates that the optical efficiency of the cavity receiver with and without the reflecting cone is 89.88% and 85.70%, respectively, and former significantly increased 4.18% for 38 kW XEM‐Dish system. The uniformity factor of the flux distribution on the absorber surface decreases with the decreases of the rim angle of the dish concentrator, but the optical efficiency of the cavity receiver increases with the decreases of the rim angle and the increase amplitude becomes smaller and smaller when the rim angle range from 30° to 75°, So the optical efficiency and uniformity factor are conflicting performance index. Moreover, the unfilled radius has small effect on the optical efficiency, while the fan‐shaped unfilled angle and direct normal irradiance both not affect the optical efficiency. In addition, reducing the receiver‐window radius can improve the optical efficiency, but the effect is limited. This work could provide reference for design and optimization of the dish concentrator and establishing the foundation for further research on optical‐to‐thermal energy conversion.     

Numerical investigation of natural convection heat loss in modified cavity receiver for fuzzy focal solar dish concentrator

In the present work, a 2-D-model is used to investigate the approximate estimation of the natural convection heat loss from an actual geometry of the modified cavity receiver (hemisphere with aperture plate) of fuzzy focal solar dish concentrator. The analysis of the receiver has been carried out based on the assumption of the uniform and maximum solar flux distribution in the central plane of the receiver. The total heat loss from the receiver has been estimated for both the configurations “with insulation” (WI) and “without insulation” (WOI) at the protecting aperture plane of the receiver. The convection heat loss of the modified cavity receiver was estimated by varying the inclinations of the receiver from 0° (cavity aperture facing sideways) to 90° (cavity aperture facing down). The convection heat loss is maximum at 0° and decreases monotonically with increase in angle upto 90°. The effect of operating temperature on convection heat loss for different orientations of the receiver was studied. The results of the numerical analysis are presented for a modified cavity receiver “with insulation” (WI) and “without insulation” (WOI) in the form of Nusselt number correlation: and . The maximum convection heat loss occurs at 0° inclination for both cases of the receiver, which is 63.0% (WI) and 42.8% (WOI) of the total heat loss, though the heat loss in WI configuration is lower than that of WOI configuration. Upon increasing the inclination of the receiver, the convection heat loss reduces to a minimum of 12.5% (WI) and 24.9% (WOI) of the total heat loss at 90°. The result of the present numerical model of standard receiver configuration (modified cavity receiver with insulation at bottom) is comparable with other well-known models.     

Optical efficiency analysis of cylindrical cavity receiver with bottom surface convex

The bottom surface of conventional cavity receiver cannot be fully covered by coiled metal tube during fabrication, which would induce a dead space of solar energy absorption. The dead space of solar energy absorption can severely decrease the optical efficiency of cavity receiver. Two new types of cavity receiver with bottom surface convex are put forward with the objective to solve the problem of dead space of solar energy absorption and improve the optical efficiency of cavity receiver. The optical efficiency and heat flux distribution of the two new types of cavity receiver are analyzed by Monte Carlo ray tracing method. Besides, the optical efficiency comparisons between conventional cavity receiver and the two new types of cavity receiver are conducted at different characteristic parameter conditions.     

Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulation of a cavity solar reactor for the reduction of cerium oxide

Radiative heat transfer in a solar thermochemical reactor for the thermal reduction of cerium oxide is simulated with the Monte Carlo method. The directional characteristics and the power distribution of the concentrated solar radiation that enters the cavity is obtained by carrying out a Monte Carlo ray tracing of a paraboloidal concentrator. It is considered that the reactor contains a gas/particle suspension directly exposed to concentrated solar radiation. The suspension is treated as a non-isothermal, non-gray, absorbing, emitting, and anisotropically scattering medium. The transport coefficients of the particles are obtained from Mie-scattering theory by using the optical properties of cerium oxide. From the simulations, the aperture radius and the particle concentration were optimized to match the characteristics of the considered concentrator.     

Optimum aperture size and operating temperature of a solar cavity-receiver

For solar cavity-receivers operating at high temperatures, the optimum aperture size results from a compromise between maximizing radiation capture and minimizing radiation losses. When the absorbed solar energy is utilized as high temperature process heat, the energy conversion efficiency can be represented as the product of the energy absorption efficiency and the Carnot efficiency. We describe a simple, semiempirical method to determine the optimum aperture size and optimum operating temperature of a solar cavity-receiver for which its energy conversion efficiency is maximum. Such optimization strongly depends on the incident solar flux distribution at the aperture plane of the receiver. We analytically examine the case of a Gaussian distribution of the incident power flux, and we compare theoretical results with the results obtained when using an optically measured flux distribution. Using Monte-Carlo ray tracing, we further investigate the influence of sunshape on the optimal parameters of a cavity-receiver in a paraboloidal concentrator.     

Mirror rearrangement optimization for uniform flux distribution on the cavity receiver of solar parabolic dish concentrator system

The nonuniform and high‐gradient solar radiation flux on the absorber surface of solar dish concentrator/cavity receiver (SDCR) system will affect its operational reliability and service lifetime. Therefore, homogenization of the flux distribution is critical and important. In this paper, 2 mirror rearrangement strategies and its optimization method by combining a novel ray tracing method and the genetic algorithm are proposed to optimize the parabolic dish concentrator (PDC) so as to realize the uniform flux distribution on the absorber surface inside the cavity receiver of SDCR system. The mirror rearrangement strategy includes a mirror rotation strategy and mirror translation strategy, which rotate and translate (along the focal axis) each mirror unit of the PDC to achieve multipoint aiming, respectively. Firstly, a correlation model between the focus spot radius and mirror rearrangement parameters is derived as constraint model to optimize the PDC. Secondly, a novel method named motion accumulation ray‐tracing method is proposed to reduce the optical simulation time. The optical model by motion accumulation ray‐tracing method and optimization model of SDCR system are established in detailed, and then, an optimization program by combining a ray‐tracing code and genetic algorithm code in C++ is developed and verified. Finally, 3 typical cavity receivers, namely, cylindrical, conical, and spherical, are taken as examples to fully verify the effectiveness of these proposed methods. The results show that the optimized PDC by mirror rearrangement strategies can not only greatly improve the flux uniformity (ie, reduce the nonuniformity factor) and reduce the peak local concentration ratio of the absorber surface but also obtain excellent optical efficiency and direct useful energy ratio. A better optimization results when the PDC is optimized by mirror rotation strategy at aperture radius of 7.0 m, focal length of 6.00 m, and ring number of 6; the nonuniform factor of the cylindrical, conical, and spherical cavity receivers is greatly reduced from 0.63, 0.67, and 0.45 to 0.18, 0.17, and 0.26, respectively; the peak local concentration ratio is reduced from 1140.00, 1399.00, and 633.30 to 709.10, 794.00, and 505.90, respectively; and the optical efficiency of SDCR system is as high as 92.01%, 92.13%, and 92.71%, respectively. These results also show that the dish concentrator with same focal length can match different cavity receivers by mirror rearrangement and it can obtain excellent flux uniformity.     

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 CONE CONCENTRATOR FOR HIGH-TEMPERATURE SOLAR CAVITY-RECEIVERS

A cone concentrator combined with a solar cavity receiver is presented and its performance compared to a single cavity receiver. For both cases the available heat sink within the receiver is calculated. The cone concentrator suffers from a high amount of rejected rays if the exit aperture is made too small. A larger exit aperture on the other hand increases the thermal losses of the cavity. The optimum cone geometry therefore has to be found taking also into account a model of the cavity. Different operating temperatures and different values of absorption coefficients of the cavity walls are considered. A cone concentrator was built and tested at the solar furnace in Cologne. It transmits 97 percent of the rays entering the entrance aperture, which is in exact agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

具有二次聚光器的新型大开口槽式太阳集热器设计与光学性能分析

针对大开口和更高运行温度的槽式太阳能热发电系统,提出一种可实现高聚光比、低辐射热损及能流密度均匀的新型槽式太阳集热器,即在集热管内放置外壁具有太阳选择吸收膜层和内壁具有反射膜层二次聚光器的大开口槽式太阳集热器。建立圆弧为微元段的自适应设计新方法,提出3种典型的二次聚光器面型,利用蒙特卡洛光线追迹方法仿真新型集热器的能流密度分布特性,验证该光学仿真方法,分析影响集热器光学性能的各种因素。结果表明,该集热器可显著提升集热效率。     

Heat transfer analysis of receiver for large aperture parabolic trough solar collector

Parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) is one of the most proven technologies for large‐scale solar thermal power generation. Currently, the cost of power generation from PTSC is expensive as compared with conventional power generation. The capital/power generation cost can be reduced by increasing aperture sizes of the collector. However, increase in aperture of the collector leads to higher heat flux on the absorber surface and results in higher thermal gradient. Hence, the analysis of heat distribution from the absorber to heat transfer fluid (HTF) and within the absorber is essential to identify the possibilities of failure of the receiver. In this article, extensive heat transfer analysis (HTA) of the receiver is performed for various aperture diameter of a PTSC using commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS Fluent 19.0. The numerical simulations of the receiver are performed to analyze the temperature distribution around the circumference of the absorber tube as well as along the length of tube, the rate of heat transfer from the absorber tube to the HTF, and heat losses from the receiver for various geometric and operating conditions such as collector aperture diameter, mass flow rate, heat loss coefficient (HLC), HTF, and its inlet temperature. It is observed that temperature gradient around the circumference of the absorber and heat losses from the receiver increases with collector aperture. The temperature gradient around the circumference of the absorber tube wall at 2 m length from the inlet are observed as 11, 37, 48, 74, and 129 K, respectively, for 2.5‐, 5‐, 5.77‐, 7.5‐, and 10‐m aperture diameter of PTSC at mass flow rate of 1.25 kg/s and inlet temperature of 300 K for therminol oil as HTF. To minimize the thermal gradient around the absorber circumference, HTFs with better heat transfer characteristics are explored such as molten salt, liquid sodium, and NaK78. Liquid sodium offers a significant reduction in temperature gradient as compared of other HTFs for all the aperture sizes of the collector. It is found that the temperature gradient around the circumference of the absorber tube wall at a length of 2 m is reduced to 4, 8, 10, 13, and 18 K, respectively, for the above‐mentioned mass flow rate with liquid sodium as HTF. The analyses are also performed for different HTF inlet temperature in order to study the behavior of the receiver. Based on the HTA, it is desired to have larger aperture parabolic trough collector to generate higher temperature from the solar field and reduce the capital cost. To achieve higher temperature and better performance of the receiver, HTF with good thermophysical properties may be preferable to minimize the heat losses and thermal gradient around the circumference of the absorber tube.