Experimental investigation on the energy and exergy performance of a coiled tube solar receiver

Zhu, Jianqin; Wang, Kai; Wu, Hongwei; Wang, Dunjin; Du, Jiuyu; Olabi, Abdul–Ghani

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.07.013

Cited by 50 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…As a result, the exergy efficiency is employed to characterize the available energy of the collector tube, which can be calculated by Ref. [15].…”

Section: Exergy Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The thermal efficiency of the collector tube is used to evaluate the heat absorbing ability of the collector tube which is expressed as [15]:…”

Section: Heat Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They evaluated the energy and exergy losses in each component and in the overall system to identify the causes and locations of the thermodynamic imperfection. Experimental investigations on the energy and exergy performances of a coiled tube solar receiver were carried out by Zhu et al [15]. The study results indicate that the highest exergy efficiency is approximately 28% and the highest energy efficiency is around 82%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Optimal energy use of the collector tube in solar power tower plant

et al. 2016

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a b s t r a c tAs one of the most important parts of the solar power tower plant, the receiver plays an important role in the high-efficiency operation of the solar power tower system. Obtaining the maximum available energy in the receiver is highly desired in real-world operations. In this paper heat transfer and exergy transfer methods are used to model the energy transfer process in a collector tube. Different from common analysis methods, in order to ensure the molten salt to obtain the maximum available energy, an objective function is proposed to convert the task into a constrained optimization problem. The gravitational search (GS) algorithm is employed to search for the optimal solution of the proposed objective function. Numerical results indicate that the proposed optimization method can find the optimal operation parameters under different conditions. The heat transfer and exergy transfer characteristics along the collector tube under the optimal working condition are revealed, which quantifies the available energy along the collector tube, as well as reveals the location of energy degradation in the tube. The research findings will provide a beneficial reference for the effective use of the solar energy.

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“…As a result, the exergy efficiency is employed to characterize the available energy of the collector tube, which can be calculated by Ref. [15].…”

Section: Exergy Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The thermal efficiency of the collector tube is used to evaluate the heat absorbing ability of the collector tube which is expressed as [15]:…”

Section: Heat Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Optimal energy use of the collector tube in solar power tower plant

et al. 2016

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“…In the authors' earlier studies [25,26], a coiled tube solar receiver had been designed and tested in the real solar radiation condition. But due to the limitation of the tube material, the coiled tube solar receiver could not achieve very high temperature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study of the energy and exergy performance for a pressurized volumetric solar receiver

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2016

Applied Thermal Engineering

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h i g h l i g h t sPerformance of a pressurized volumetric solar receiver is experimentally discussed. Energy and exergy analysis is performed during a two-hour period in the morning. The efficiency of the solar receiver is maintained at around 60% under steady state. The highest exergy efficiency and energy efficiency is approximately 36% and 87%. a b s t r a c tThis article presents an experimental investigation of the heat transfer characteristics as well as energy and exergy performance for a pressurized volumetric solar receiver under variable mass flow rate conditions. During a two-hour period of continuous operation in the morning, the solar irradiance is relatively stable and maintained at approximately 600 W/m 2 , which is beneficial for analyzing the energy and exergy performance of the solar receiver. Experimental results show that the mass flow rate fluctuation has insignificant effect on the solar receiver outlet temperature, whereas the mass flow rate plays an important role in the solar receiver power, energy efficiency and exergy efficiency. The efficiency of the solar receiver is normally above 55% with the highest efficiency of 87%, and under steady state operating conditions the efficiency is maintained at approximately 60%. A very low value of the heat loss factor (0.014 kW/K) could be achieved during the current steady state operating conditions. The highest exergy efficiency is approximately 36%. In addition, as the temperature difference increases, the impact of the exergy factor increases. The highest exergy factor is 0.41 during the entire test.

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“…They showed accurate and computationally cost effective predictions for fin-and-tube local temperature distributions, based on calculated non-uniform wall-fluid heat transfer coefficients captured by using advanced flow pattern maps based on wall wetting conditions for different flow regimes [42]. The modeling efforts for solar-driven tubular cavity receivers and reactors have been extensively reported [16,[43][44][45][46][47]. Martinek et al [16,44] developed a 3D steady-state model for a multi-tubular solar reactor for steam gasification of carbon using a hybrid Monte Carlo/ Finite Volume method for radiative heat transfer and a single-phase fluid flow model with volume-averaged mixture properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and design guidelines for direct steam generation solar receivers

et al. 2018

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• A computational model for solar receiver for direct steam generation is developed.• Experiments are conducted and used to validate the model.• Practical designs, operational conditions and material choices are investigated.• Model provides design tool for direct steam generation solar cavity receivers. A R T I C L E I N F OKeyword: Solar energy Multi-mode heat transfer modeling Two-phase flow modeling Solar receiver Steam generator Concentrated solar A B S T R A C T Concentrated solar energy is an ideal energy source for high-temperature energy conversion processes such as concentrated solar power generation, solar thermochemical fuel production, and solar driven high-temperature electrolysis. Indirectly irradiated solar receiver designs utilizing tubular absorbers enclosed by a cavity are possible candidates for direct steam generation, allowing for design flexibility and high efficiency. We developed a coupled heat and mass transfer model of cavity receivers with tubular absorbers to guide the design of solardriven direct steam generation. The numerical model consisted of a detailed 1D two-phase flow model of the absorber tubes coupled to a 3D heat transfer model of the cavity receiver. The absorber tube model simulated the flow boiling phenomena inside the tubes by solving 1D continuity, momentum, and energy conservation equations based on a control volume formulation. The Thome-El Hajal flow pattern maps were used to predict liquid-gas distributions in the tubular cross-sections, and heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop along the tubes. The heat transfer coefficient and fluid temperature of the absorber tubes' inner surfaces were then extrapolated to the circumferential of the tube and used in the 3D cavity receiver model. The 3D steady state model of the cavity receiver coupled radiative, convective, and conductive heat transfer. The complete model was validated with experimental data and used to analyze different receiver types and designs made of different materials and exposed to various operational conditions. The proposed numerical model and the obtained results provide an engineering design tool for cavity receivers with tubular absorbers (in terms of tube shapes, tube diameter, and water-cooled front), support the choice of best-performant operation (in terms of radiative flux, mass flow rate, and pressure), and aid in the choice of the component materials. The model allows for an indepth understanding of the coupled heat and mass transfer in the solar receiver for direct steam generation and can be exploited to quantify the optimization potential of such solar receivers.

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Experimental investigation on the energy and exergy performance of a coiled tube solar receiver

Cited by 50 publications

References 27 publications

Optimal energy use of the collector tube in solar power tower plant

Optimal energy use of the collector tube in solar power tower plant

Experimental study of the energy and exergy performance for a pressurized volumetric solar receiver

Modeling and design guidelines for direct steam generation solar receivers

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