IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v157y2018icp247-257.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance analysis and optimization of an integrated azimuth tracking solar tower

Author

Listed:
  • Hu, Peng
  • Huang, Weidong

Abstract

A new design named as integrated azimuth tracking solar tower is presented in which all of the heliostats and receiver are installed on an azimuth tracking device, multi heliostats are fixed to one horizontal shaft which rotate to track the solar elevation variance to reduce the number of tracking device. An optical and thermal performance model is developed and validated for it. Its annual performance is studied and the design is optimized with the model. The results show that the annual averaged optical efficiency of optimized design is about 77%, and net solar heat efficiency is about 70% with a geometrical concentration ratio of 300. Its efficiency is rather near to the solar dish, and about 20% higher than that of the conventional solar tower system. The increased efficiency comes mainly from the improvements of cosine factor as it always works with azimuth = 0. Only 88 tracking devices are needed for two direction tracking of 1200 heliostats. The number of tracking devices is greatly reduced to decrease the cost and system complexity, increase the availability of the system. So the integrated azimuth tracking solar tower may be a potential solar energy technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Hu, Peng & Huang, Weidong, 2018. "Performance analysis and optimization of an integrated azimuth tracking solar tower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 247-257.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:157:y:2018:i:c:p:247-257
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.04.044
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544218306467
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2018.04.044?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Longlong & Li, Huairui & Xu, Qian & Huang, Weidong, 2015. "Performance analysis of Azimuth Tracking Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 722-732.
    2. Yao, Zhihao & Wang, Zhifeng & Lu, Zhenwu & Wei, Xiudong, 2009. "Modeling and simulation of the pioneer 1MW solar thermal central receiver system in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2437-2446.
    3. Behar, Omar & Khellaf, Abdallah & Mohammedi, Kamal, 2013. "A review of studies on central receiver solar thermal power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 12-39.
    4. Yu, Qiang & Wang, Zhifeng & Xu, Ershu, 2014. "Analysis and improvement of solar flux distribution inside a cavity receiver based on multi-focal points of heliostat field," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 417-430.
    5. Huang, Weidong & Sun, Lulening, 2016. "Solar flux density calculation for a heliostat with an elliptical Gaussian distribution source," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 434-441.
    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.
    7. Facão, Jorge & Oliveira, Armando C., 2011. "Numerical simulation of a trapezoidal cavity receiver for a linear Fresnel solar collector concentrator," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 90-96.
    8. Collado, Francisco J. & Guallar, Jesús, 2012. "Campo: Generation of regular heliostat fields," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 49-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Kun & He, Ya-Ling & Qiu, Yu & Zhang, Yuwen, 2016. "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," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 93-107.
    2. Mostafavi Tehrani, S. Saeed & Taylor, Robert A., 2016. "Off-design simulation and performance of molten salt cavity receivers in solar tower plants under realistic operational modes and control strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 698-715.
    3. Zheng, Zhang-Jing & Li, Ming-Jia & He, Ya-Ling, 2017. "Thermal analysis of solar central receiver tube with porous inserts and non-uniform heat flux," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1152-1161.
    4. Cruz, N.C. & Redondo, J.L. & Berenguel, M. & Álvarez, J.D. & Ortigosa, P.M., 2017. "Review of software for optical analyzing and optimizing heliostat fields," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1001-1018.
    5. Qiu, Yu & He, Ya-Ling & Wu, Ming & Zheng, Zhang-Jing, 2016. "A comprehensive model for optical and thermal characterization of a linear Fresnel solar reflector with a trapezoidal cavity receiver," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 129-144.
    6. Zhang, Maolong & Xu, Chao & Du, Xiaoze & Amjad, Muhammad & Wen, Dongsheng, 2017. "Off-design performance of concentrated solar heat and coal double-source boiler power generation with thermocline energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 697-710.
    7. Qiu, Yu & He, Ya-Ling & Li, Peiwen & Du, Bao-Cun, 2017. "A comprehensive model for analysis of real-time optical performance of a solar power tower with a multi-tube cavity receiver," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 589-603.
    8. Jafrancesco, David & Cardoso, Joao P. & Mutuberria, Amaia & Leonardi, Erminia & Les, Iñigo & Sansoni, Paola & Francini, Franco & Fontani, Daniela, 2018. "Optical simulation of a central receiver system: Comparison of different software tools," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 792-803.
    9. Hachicha, Ahmed Amine & Yousef, Bashria A.A. & Said, Zafar & Rodríguez, Ivette, 2019. "A review study on the modeling of high-temperature solar thermal collector systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 280-298.
    10. Okoroigwe, Edmund & Madhlopa, Amos, 2016. "An integrated combined cycle system driven by a solar tower: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 337-350.
    11. Hussain, C.M. Iftekhar & Norton, Brian & Duffy, Aidan, 2017. "Technological assessment of different solar-biomass systems for hybrid power generation in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1115-1129.
    12. Arrif, Toufik & Hassani, Samir & Guermoui, Mawloud & Sánchez-González, A. & A.Taylor, Robert & Belaid, Abdelfetah, 2022. "GA-GOA hybrid algorithm and comparative study of different metaheuristic population-based algorithms for solar tower heliostat field design," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 745-758.
    13. Ajbar, Wassila & Parrales, A. & Huicochea, A. & Hernández, J.A., 2022. "Different ways to improve parabolic trough solar collectors’ performance over the last four decades and their applications: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    14. Xie, Qiyue & Guo, Ziqi & Liu, Daifei & Chen, Zhisheng & Shen, Zhongli & Wang, Xiaoli, 2021. "Optimization of heliostat field distribution based on improved Gray Wolf optimization algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 447-458.
    15. Wang, Jianxing & Duan, Liqiang & Yang, Yongping, 2018. "An improvement crossover operation method in genetic algorithm and spatial optimization of heliostat field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 15-28.
    16. Zecan Tu & Daniela Piccioni Koch & Nenad Sarunac & Martin Frank & Junkui Mao, 2021. "Thermal Analysis of a Solar External Receiver Tube with a Novel Component of Guide Vanes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-21, April.
    17. Saghafifar, Mohammad & Gadalla, Mohamed, 2016. "Thermo-economic analysis of air bottoming cycle hybridization using heliostat field collector: A comparative analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 698-714.
    18. Collado, Francisco J. & Guallar, Jesús, 2013. "A review of optimized design layouts for solar power tower plants with campo code," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 142-154.
    19. Conroy, Tim & Collins, Maurice N. & Grimes, Ronan, 2020. "A review of steady-state thermal and mechanical modelling on tubular solar receivers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    20. Al-Sulaiman, Fahad A. & Atif, Maimoon, 2015. "Performance comparison of different supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycles integrated with a solar power tower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 61-71.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:157:y:2018:i:c:p:247-257. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.