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Conceptual design of porous volumetric solar receiver using molten salt as heat transfer fluid

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  • Du, Shen
  • Li, Ming-Jia
  • He, Ya-Ling
  • Shen, Sheng

Abstract

Thermal radiation loss hinders the high-efficient operation of solar receiver at high temperature. Porous volumetric solar receiver using molten salt instead of air as heat transfer fluid is proposed. A comprehensive literature review is done to investigate the optical and radiative properties of molten in solar and infrared spectra. Direct pore-scale numerical simulation method based on X-ray computed tomography technique is applied to compare the fluid flow and heat transfer performance of molten salt and air porous volumetric solar receiver. The results present that some types of molten salts behave to be transparent in solar spectrum and opaque in infrared spectrum, which allow the penetration of solar radiation while strongly absorb the infrared emission in the receiver. The thermal efficiency of Hitec porous volumetric solar receiver is higher than traditional air porous receiver especially at higher working temperature, and it is improved by 9.6% at receiver’s outlet temperature of 1000 K. Due to its large heat storage capability and efficient convective heat transfer, small mass flow rate is required in the molten salt receiver to absorb solar radiation, which leads to orders-magnitude smaller pressure drop for the Hitec porous receiver. Further research related to this type of porous volumetric solar receiver is outlined with respect to experiment verification and application of high temperature molten salt.

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  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:301:y:2021:i:c:s0306261921008011
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117400
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Du, Shen & Li, Ming-Jia & Ren, Qinlong & Liang, Qi & He, Ya-Ling, 2017. "Pore-scale numerical simulation of fully coupled heat transfer process in porous volumetric solar receiver," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1267-1275.
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    5. Du, Shen & Ren, Qinlong & He, Ya-Ling, 2017. "Optical and radiative properties analysis and optimization study of the gradually-varied volumetric solar receiver," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 27-35.
    6. He, Ya-Ling & Xiao, Jie & Cheng, Ze-Dong & Tao, Yu-Bing, 2011. "A MCRT and FVM coupled simulation method for energy conversion process in parabolic trough solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 976-985.
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    8. Pabst, Christoph & Feckler, Gereon & Schmitz, Stefan & Smirnova, Olena & Capuano, Raffaele & Hirth, Peter & Fend, Thomas, 2017. "Experimental performance of an advanced metal volumetric air receiver for Solar Towers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 91-98.
    9. Qiu, Yu & Li, Ming-Jia & Wang, Wen-Qi & Du, Bao-Cun & Wang, Kun, 2018. "An experimental study on the heat transfer performance of a prototype molten-salt rod baffle heat exchanger for concentrated solar power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 63-72.
    10. Du, Shen & Tong, Zi-Xiang & Zhang, Hong-Hu & He, Ya-Ling, 2019. "Tomography-based determination of Nusselt number correlation for the porous volumetric solar receiver with different geometrical parameters," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 711-718.
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    Cited by:

    1. Forsberg, Charles, 2023. "Low-cost crushed-rock heat storage with oil or salt heat transfer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    2. Erany D. G. Constantino & Senhorinha F. C. F. Teixeira & José C. F. Teixeira & Flavia V. Barbosa, 2022. "Innovative Solar Concentration Systems and Its Potential Application in Angola," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-28, September.
    3. 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).

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