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Modelling strategies for porous structures as solar receivers in central receiver systems: A review

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  • Avila-Marin, A.L.
  • Fernandez-Reche, J.
  • Martinez-Tarifa, A.

Abstract

An international effort is being made to contribute to greener electricity production. Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) has emerged as the favourite candidate due to the advantages associated with it such as dispatchability, maturity and scalability. Particular interest is raised by Central Receiver Systems (CRSs) due to their ability to work at higher temperatures and concentration factors than Parabolic Troughs. Among the different CRS technologies, Volumetric Absorbers (VAs) working with air have received renewed research interest. VAs consist of porous structures where air is heated directly by the porous matrix. An optimised morphological configuration is essential to increasing the thermal efficiency and minimizing thermal losses. The literature presents a large number of works dealing with VA issues and potentialities, and most of them focus on numerical simulation in order to assess an optimal geometrical design or to point out the best directions in terms of thermal behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Avila-Marin, A.L. & Fernandez-Reche, J. & Martinez-Tarifa, A., 2019. "Modelling strategies for porous structures as solar receivers in central receiver systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 15-33.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:111:y:2019:i:c:p:15-33
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.03.059
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    Cited by:

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    4. Avila-Marin, Antonio L. & Fernandez-Reche, Jesus & Carballo, Jose Antonio & Carra, Maria Elena & Gianella, Sandro & Ferrari, Luca & Sanchez-Señoran, Daniel, 2022. "CFD analysis of the performance impact of geometrical shape on volumetric absorbers in a standard cup," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 256-272.
    5. Avila-Marin, Antonio L., 2022. "CFD parametric analysis of wire meshes open volumetric receivers with axial-varied porosity and comparison with small-scale solar receiver tests," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 1094-1105.
    6. Guilong Dai & Ying Zhuang & Xiaoyu Wang & Xue Chen & Chuang Sun & Shenghua Du, 2022. "Experimental Investigation on the Vector Characteristics of Concentrated Solar Radiation Flux Map," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Pratticò, Luca & Fronza, Nicola & Bartali, Ruben & Chiappini, Andrea & Sciubba, Enrico & González-Aguilar, J. & Crema, Luigi, 2021. "Radiation propagation in a hierarchical solar volumetric absorber: Results of single-photon avalanche diode measurements and Monte Carlo ray tracing analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 482-493.
    8. Godini, Ali & Kheradmand, Saeid, 2021. "Optimization of volumetric solar receiver geometry and porous media specifications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 574-581.
    9. Navalho, Jorge E.P. & Pereira, José C.F., 2020. "A comprehensive and fully predictive discrete methodology for volumetric solar receivers: application to a functional parabolic dish solar collector system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    10. Sedighi, Mohammadreza & Padilla, Ricardo Vasquez & Rose, Andrew & Taylor, Robert A., 2022. "Optical analysis of a semi-transparent packed bed of spheres for next-generation volumetric solar receivers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    11. Barreto, Germilly & Canhoto, Paulo & Collares-Pereira, Manuel, 2019. "Three-dimensional CFD modelling and thermal performance analysis of porous volumetric receivers coupled to solar concentration systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Fang, Yi & Paul, Manosh C. & Varjani, Sunita & Li, Xian & Park, Young-Kwon & You, Siming, 2021. "Concentrated solar thermochemical gasification of biomass: Principles, applications, and development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    13. Rawal Diganjit & Nagaranjan Gnanasekaran & Moghtada Mobedi, 2023. "Thermohydraulic Efficiency of a Solar Air Heater in the Presence of Graded Aluminium Wire Mesh—A Combined Experimental–Numerical Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-32, July.
    14. Chen, Xue & Lyu, Jinxin & Sun, Chuang & Xia, Xinlin & Wang, Fuqiang, 2023. "Pore-scale evaluation on a volumetric solar receiver with different optical property control strategies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).
    15. Qimei Chen & Yan Wang & Jianhan Zhang & Zhifeng Wang, 2020. "The Knowledge Mapping of Concentrating Solar Power Development Based on Literature Analysis Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Barreto, Germilly & Canhoto, Paulo & Collares-Pereira, Manuel, 2020. "Parametric analysis and optimisation of porous volumetric solar receivers made of open-cell SiC ceramic foam," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    17. Akba, Tufan & Baker, Derek & Mengüç, M. Pınar, 2023. "Gradient-based optimization of micro-scale pressurized volumetric receiver geometry and flow rate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 741-752.
    18. Du, Shen & Li, Ming-Jia & He, Ya-Ling & Shen, Sheng, 2021. "Conceptual design of porous volumetric solar receiver using molten salt as heat transfer fluid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    19. Zhang, Hao & Shuai, Yong & Lougou, Bachirou Guene & Jiang, Boshu & Yang, Dazhi & Pan, Qinghui & Wang, Fuqiang & Huang, Xing, 2022. "Effects of foam structure on thermochemical characteristics of porous-filled solar reactor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).

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