Optical analysis of a semi-transparent packed bed of spheres for next-generation volumetric solar receivers

Volumetric solar absorbers are attractive for high-temperature concentrating solar applications because they—theoretically—have lower re-radiation losses than surface absorbers since concentrated radiation penetrates their volume. In practice, however, the incident radiation is predominantly absorbed in the top/frontal surfaces of porous and distributed absorber materials. Another challenge with high-temperature absorbers, generally, is the risk of creating hot spots resulting from a non-uniform temperature distribution. To overcome these limitations, this study reports on a semi-transparent absorber design, enabling the peak temperature to occur within the internal volume. Eight different ‘constant-transmittance’ and ‘variable-transmittance’ combinations of transparent/semi-transparent/opaque spheres were packed into a cylindrical cavity and exposed to a solar simulator for a layer-by-layer transmission test. A 3-D ray-tracing model was also developed to further elucidate the relative optical absorption of the cavity walls and spheres. An optimal variable-transmittance design enabled ∼40% of the rays to penetrate to >70% of the absorber's depth, and ∼56% of the total rays were absorbed within the inner volume. Therefore, the optimal design yields uniform absorption, potentially leading to a uniform temperature distribution and a minimisation of thermal emission losses. This study provides the first experimental proof that a semi-transparent packed bed can significantly outperform an opaque design.