On-Sun Performance Evaluation of Alternative High-Temperature Falling Particle Receiver Designs

Ho, Clifford K.; Christian, Joshua Mark; Yellowhair, Julius E.; Armijo, Kenneth Miguel; Kolb, William J.; Jeter, Sheldon; Golob, Matthew; Nguyen, Clayton

doi:10.1115/1.4041100

Cited by 25 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Continuously falling configurations (i.e., distributions restricted in the horizontal plane only) include thin curtains [16] and more voluminous particle plumes [11,17]. Particle curtains are of interest, for instance, in solar power generation [18] while plumes are relevant in material transport, sedimentation phenomena as well as health and safety considerations [17,19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Settling of localized particle plumes in a quiescent water tank

Zürner

Toupoint²,

Souza³

et al. 2023

Phys. Rev. Fluids

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The fall or rise of inertial particles plumes in an initially quiescent fluid is ubiquitous in natural and industrial processes. Disentangling the influence of the numerous parameters of these systems on the plume velocity is thus a major issue. Moreover, understanding the energy transfer between the two phases and the structure of induced flow is another very relevant question. A specific experiment has been designed to tackle these problems. A continuous plume of inertial particles released above the center of a still water tank generates a large-scale recirculation flow. The present experimental study investigates the stationary settling dynamics and induced flow properties using various particle populations with particle-to-fluid density ratios from 3.8 to 14.3, Archimedes numbers 4 to 580 and mass fractions 10 −6 to 10 −3 , revealing an unexplored region of the parameter space. The fluid and particle velocities are measured simultaneously by two cameras, utilizing optical filtering and image post-processing. It is found that the settling in the laboratory frame generally follows the terminal velocity predicted using the Schiller-Naumann drag. The particle velocity relative to the surrounding fluid is unaffected by the particle mass fraction and always hindered due to the kinetic energy transferred to the fluid. This transfer of energy is most effective for low Archimedes numbers. All modifications of the settling behavior due to the particle mass fraction are caused by the back-reaction of the induced flow on the particles, no direct particle-particle interactions are observed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Settling of localized particle plumes in a quiescent water tank

Zürner

Toupoint²,

Souza³

et al. 2023

Phys. Rev. Fluids

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“…A number of variations of this concept have been investigated including strictly northfacing cavities [29], face-down cavities [30][31][32], and recirculating cavities [30,32]. Furthermore, in addition to purely free-falling FPRs, various particle obstructions have been investigated to slow the particle descent through the cavity using either meshes [17,33,34] or discrete 'catch-and-release' troughs [4,18,35] (as will also be discussed later in this paper). Novel particle curtain patterns to leverage light-trapping and volumetric heating effects have also been investigated though the benefit to the thermal performance has been outweighed by other considerations [36][37][38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Evaluation of a Next-Generation High-Temperature Particle Receiver for Concentrating Solar Thermal Applications

Mills

Schroeder

et al. 2022

Energies

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High-temperature particle receivers are being developed to achieve temperatures in excess of 700 °C for advanced power cycles and solar thermochemical processes. This paper describes designs and features of a falling particle receiver system that has been evaluated and tested at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. These advanced designs are intended to reduce heat losses and increase the thermal efficiency. Novel features include aperture covers, active air flow, particle flow obstructions, and optimized receiver shapes that minimize advective heat losses, increase particle curtain opacity and uniformity, and reduce cavity wall temperatures. Control systems are implemented in recent on-sun tests to maintain a desired particle outlet temperature using an automated closed-loop proportional–integral–derivative controller. These tests demonstrate the ability to achieve and maintain particle outlet temperatures approaching 800 °C with efficiencies between 60 and 90%, depending on incident power, mass flow, and environmental conditions. Lessons learned regarding the testing of design features and overall receiver operation are also presented.

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“…However, high-temperature receivers may also experience greater heat losses, both radiative and advective, through the receiver aperture. Recent studies have evaluated novel designs to reduce heat losses and increase receiver thermal efficiencies using obstructions, optimized geometries, light-trapping features, and wind mitigating features [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Quartz Aperture Covers on the Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Efficiency of Falling Particle Receivers

Yue

Mills

Christian

et al. 2022

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering

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Falling particle receivers are an emerging technology for use in concentrating solar power systems. In this work, quartz half-shells are investigated for use as full or partial aperture covers to reduce receiver thermal losses. A receiver subdomain and surrounding air are modeled using ANSYS® Fluent®. The model is used to simulate fluid dynamics and heat transfer for the following cases: (1) open aperture, (2), aperture fully covered by quartz half-shells, and (3) aperture partially covered by quartz half-shells. We compare the percentage of total incident solar power lost due to conduction through the receiver walls, advective losses through the aperture, and radiation exiting the aperture. Contrary to expected outcomes, results show that quartz aperture covers can increase radiative losses and result in modest to nonexistent reductions in advective losses. The increased radiative losses are driven by elevated quartz half-shell temperatures and have the potential to be mitigated by active cooling and/or material selection. Quartz half-shell total transmissivity was measured experimentally using a radiometer and the National Solar Thermal Test Facility heliostat field. Average measured total transmissivities are 0.97±0.01 and 0.94±0.02 for concave and convex side toward the heliostat field, respectively. Quartz half-shell aperture covers did not yield expected efficiency gains in numerical results due to increased radiative losses, but efficiency improvement in some numerical results and the performance of quartz half-shells subject to concentrated solar radiation suggest quartz half-shell aperture covers should be investigated further.

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On-Sun Performance Evaluation of Alternative High-Temperature Falling Particle Receiver Designs

Cited by 25 publications

References 24 publications

Settling of localized particle plumes in a quiescent water tank

Settling of localized particle plumes in a quiescent water tank

Design Evaluation of a Next-Generation High-Temperature Particle Receiver for Concentrating Solar Thermal Applications

Effect of Quartz Aperture Covers on the Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Efficiency of Falling Particle Receivers

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