A detailed performance model of the 30 MWe SEGS VI parabolic trough plant was created in the TRNSYS simulation environment using the Solar Thermal Electric Component model library. Both solar and power cycle performance were modeled, but natural gas-fired hybrid operation was not. Good agreement between model predictions and plant measurements was found, with errors usually less than 10%, and transient effects such as startup, shutdown, and cloud response were adequately modeled. While the model could be improved, it demonstrates the capability to perform detailed analysis and is useful for such things as evaluating proposed trough storage systems.
To check the feasibility of solar thermal remelting of aluminum scrap a directly absorbing rotary kiln receiver-reactor was constructed for experimentation in a mini-plant scale in the DLR high flux solar furnace. Conventionally the high energy demand for heating rotary kilns is met by the combustion of fossil fuels. This procedure generates a big exhaust gas volume which is contaminated by volatiles if the technology is applied to treat waste materials. Application of concentrated solar radiation to provide the high temperature heat enables to substitute the fossil fuel. Thus smaller off-gas streams are generated and lower investment and O&M cost are expected for the off-gas purification. In this paper market and environmental issues are discussed and pre-designs both for solar pilot and industrial scale applications are presented.
The study focuses on a numerical model describing the thermo-mechanical processes in an open volumetric solar absorber. In this application thermal loads of up to 850 kW/m² induce mechanical stresses inside the volume of the component. The objective of the study is to identify critical thermal load cases which may especially occur during start-up or shut down cases as well as during the transition of clouds. The study can be subdivided into three major parts. In a first step, the mechanical strength of the investigated materials has been determined in double-ring, three or four-point bending tests. In a subsequent numerical stress analysis the maximum stresses in the walls of the honeycomb structure at fracture load have been determined. The results of this combined experimental/numerical approach have been compared with the strength properties of dense materials. In a second step various transient and stationary load cases were considered and the corresponding temperature distributions were calculated. Thirdly, the thermo-mechanical model was used to determine the stress distributions which have been induced. Special attention was paid on the influence of the macro geometry and cell-density. The results of the study allow important conclusions for the operation of the receiver.
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