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Coupled optical and thermal performance of a fin-like molten salt receiver for the next-generation solar power tower

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  • Wang, Wen-Qi
  • Qiu, Yu
  • Li, Ming-Jia
  • He, Ya-Ling
  • Cheng, Ze-Dong

Abstract

The receiver temperature for the next-generation concentrated solar power will be increased from about 560 °C to more than 700 °C, which increases heat losses and decreases receiver efficiency. To meet the challenge, coupled optical and thermal performance of a fin-like molten salt receiver is numerically evaluated by combining Monte Carlo Ray Tracing method and Finite Volume method. The numerical model is firstly validated by comparing the calculated results with the experimental results of the Solar Two plant. After validation, the model is used to obtain the optimal configuration of the fin-like receiver by parametric optimization. Then, efficiencies of the optimal fin-like receiver are compared with those of two cylindrical receivers under different time and weather conditions. In the end, solar flux distribution of the optimal fin-like receiver is analyzed. The results show that when the receiver diameters are the same, the efficiency of the optimal fin-like receiver, with a fin number of 12 and an inner diameter of 1.0 m, has an improvement of 3.8% compared with that of the cylindrical receiver at noon of spring equinox. Besides, the fin-like receiver can also achieve higher efficiencies than the two cylindrical receivers under different time and weather conditions. Moreover, the peak solar flux of the fin-like receiver is also reduced, which is smaller than that of the cylindrical receiver by 38.6% at noon of spring equinox under the same receiver diameter.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Wen-Qi & Qiu, Yu & Li, Ming-Jia & He, Ya-Ling & Cheng, Ze-Dong, 2020. "Coupled optical and thermal performance of a fin-like molten salt receiver for the next-generation solar power tower," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:272:y:2020:i:c:s0306261920305912
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115079
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Wang, Wen-Qi & Li, Ming-Jia & Cheng, Ze-Dong & Li, Dong & Liu, Zhan-Bin, 2021. "Coupled optical-thermal-stress characteristics of a multi-tube external molten salt receiver for the next generation concentrating solar power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
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    5. Ruan, Zhao-Hui & Gao, Peng & Yuan, Yuan & Tan, He-Ping, 2022. "Theoretical estimation of temperature-dependent radiation properties of molten solar salt using molecular dynamics and first principles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    6. Qiu, Yu & Xu, Yucong & Li, Qing & Wang, Jikang & Wang, Qiliang & Liu, Bin, 2021. "Efficiency enhancement of a solar trough collector by combining solar and hot mirrors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    7. Zhang, Yuanting & Qiu, Yu & Li, Qing & Henry, Asegun, 2022. "Optical-thermal-mechanical characteristics of an ultra-high-temperature graphite receiver designed for concentrating solar power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    8. Wang, Wen-Qi & Li, Ming-Jia & Jiang, Rui & Cheng, Ze-Dong & He, Ya-Ling, 2022. "A comparison between lumped parameter method and computational fluid dynamics method for steady and transient optical-thermal characteristics of the molten salt receiver in solar power tower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    9. Qiang Zhang & Kaijun Jiang & Yanqiang Kong & Jiangbo Wu & Xiaoze Du, 2021. "Study on Outlet Temperature Control of External Receiver for Solar Power Tower," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-18, January.
    10. Yuan, Yu & Wu, Gang & Yang, Qichang & Cheng, Ruifeng & Tong, Yuxin & Zhang, Yi & Fang, Hui & Ma, Qianlei, 2021. "Experimental and analytical optical-thermal performance of evacuated cylindrical tube receiver for solar dish collector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    11. Wang, Qiliang & Li, Guiqiang & Cao, Jingyu & Hu, Mingke & Pei, Gang & Yang, Hongxing, 2022. "An analytical study on optimal spectral characters of solar absorbing coating and thermal performance potential of solar power tower," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1300-1315.
    12. Wang, Wen-Qi & Li, Ming-Jia & Jiang, Rui & Hu, Yi-Huang & He, Ya-Ling, 2022. "Receiver with light-trapping nanostructured coating: A possible way to achieve high-efficiency solar thermal conversion for the next-generation concentrating solar power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 159-171.
    13. Li, Yawei & Zhou, Hao & Zuo, Yuhang & Zhang, Mingrui, 2022. "Experimental and numerical study on the preheating process of a lab-scale solar molten salt receiver," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 602-614.
    14. Qiu, Yu & Zhang, Yuanting & Li, Qing & Xu, Yucong & Wen, Zhe-Xi, 2020. "A novel parabolic trough receiver enhanced by integrating a transparent aerogel and wing-like mirrors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    15. Ye, Kai & Li, Qing & Zhang, Yuanting & Qiu, Yu & Liu, Bin, 2022. "An efficient receiver tube enhanced by a solar transparent aerogel for solar power tower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).

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