A novel concept of a particle receiver for high-temperature solar applications was developed and evaluated in the present work. The so-called Centrifugal Particle Receiver (CentRec) uses small bauxite particles as absorber, heat transfer, and storage medium at the same time. Due to advantageous optical and thermal properties, the particles can be heated up to 1000 °C without sintering in the storage. High thermal efficiencies at high outlet temperatures are expected indicating a promising way for cost reduction in solar power tower applications. A 15kWth prototype was designed, built, and tested in order to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of the proposed concept. Extensive high flux experiments were conducted, investigating the thermal receiver performance and efficiency. For an input flux of 670 kW m−2, the target outlet temperature of 900 °C at a receiver efficiency of about 75% was successfully demonstrated.
Solar thermal energy generation needs receiver technologies which can drive highly efficient turbines and decouple the collection of energy from its use by an economic storage technology. High-temperature solid particle receivers for solar tower systems with particle storage are one option. Important issues regarding high-temperature particle receivers are minimization of convective losses, no particle loss due to susceptibility to wind, and high efficiency also in part-load operation. A design approach facing these challenges is the face-down receiver using recirculation of particles. A screening performance analysis studying different recirculation patterns is presented. Using smart recirculation schemes, high receiver efficiencies can be maintained also at part-load operation (100% load ^90%; 50% load ~6%; 20% load ~67%), Simulations of the face-down geometry yield total annual solar-to-electric efficiencies of 24% using a surround field. From the analyses, it can be concluded that solid particle receivers using smart recirculation patterns are a viable receiver option for storage and high-temperature high-efficiency turbine processes. [DOI: 10,1115/1,4004269]
Previous successful tests and promising results of a Centrifugal Particle Receiver (CentRec) for high temperature solar applications has been achieved in a lab scale prototype with 7.5 kWth [1, 2, 3]. In a next step this receiver technology is scaled up to higher thermal power for a future pilot plant.
This paper presents the optimization methodology of the design and technical solutions. It describes the manufacturing and assembly of the prototype and first tests and results of the commissioning including cold particle tests and prototype costs. Finally the paper gives an outlook on the planned further steps regarding hot lab tests and solar tests.
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