A Novel Impeded Flow Particle Receiver for Better Stability and Controllability

Abstract

Various impeded flow particle receivers were proposed to prolong the particle residence time but always faced the risk of thermal deterioration and the difficulty of real-time particle velocity control. Herein, we reported a novel impeded flow particle receiver to solve above problems and further have the potential to control the particle velocity distribution. In this receiver, the friction along the path and the gate valves at outlet act as the obstruction structures to allow the particles to slide slowly and controllably in the form of a moving bed. The receiver’s structural validity and operational characteristics at different working conditions were detailly investigated with both experimental and numerical methods. Experimental results showed that the outlet particle temperature and efficiency could reach 847 o C and 77.2% under a solar simulator of 4 kW. An optical and thermal coupling model was developed and revealed an improved particle temperature of 1350 o C and efficiency of 82% under higher incident power. The effects of the temperature drop section, quartz glass on aperture and slow particle flow at the edge on the receiver performance were detailly analyzed, which could help optimize the design and operation of other particle receivers such as free-falling particle receivers.