Abstract
A system for testing the thermal cycling of materials and components has been developed and installed at the DISTAL-I parabolic dish facility located at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA) in Spain. This system allows us to perform abrupt heating/cooling tests by exposing central solar receiver materials to concentrated solar radiation. These tests are performed to simulate both the normal and critical operational conditions of the central solar receiver. The thermal fatigue life for the INCONEL 625LCF® plate when subjected to concentrated solar radiation has been estimated with this system. We have also developed a numerical model that evaluates the thermal behavior of the plate material; additionally, the model yields the tensile-compressive stresses on the plate, which allow the estimation of the Stress-Life (S-N) fatigue curves. These curves show that the lifetime of the plate is within the High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) region at the operational temperatures of both 650 °C and 900 °C.
Highlights
Due to the rising costs of fossil fuels, technologies for generating electric power, such as solar towers, have become commercially important
The solar tower plans consist of three major components: a heliostat field, a tower, and a central solar receiver that is towermounted
The manuscript is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the testing facility at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), a ray-tracing analysis that models the facility, a numerical simulation that determines the temperature distribution on the plate, and the experimental cycling test for the plate; section 3 shows the experimental temperature evolution, a comparison of these results against numerical simulations, the thermal stress calculation, and the Stress-Life curve (S-N) estimate of the plate lifetime; Section 4 discusses the main conclusions of the manuscript
Summary
ESTIMATE OF ThErMAl FATIgUE lIFETIME FOr ThE INCONEl 625lCF PlATE whIlE ExPOSED TO CONCENTrATED SOlAr rADIATION ESTIMACIóN DEl TIEMPO DE vIDA BAJO FATIgA TérMICA PArA UNA PlACA DE INCONEl 625lCF, MIENTrAS SE ExPONE A rADIACIóN SOlAr CONCENTrADA withstand severe operational conditions caused by high radiative fluxes generated by the heliostats. The operational lifetime of a costcompetitive central tower facility must be at least 30 years, which will permit a minimum of 10,000 to 15,000 thermal cycles on the solar receiver Due to this requirement, materials used to produce solar receivers must withstand stresses caused by thermal fatigue throughout the lifetime of the receiver. Useful lifetime predictions have been generated for materials that undergo thermal fatigue, but these predictions have been made for conventional industrial applications, such as heat exchangers[4], steam generators[5 and 6], and conventional furnaces[7 and 8]. None of these predictions have estimated the durability of solar receiver materials. The manuscript is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the testing facility at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), a ray-tracing analysis that models the facility, a numerical simulation that determines the temperature distribution on the plate, and the experimental cycling test for the plate; section 3 shows the experimental temperature evolution, a comparison of these results against numerical simulations, the thermal stress calculation, and the Stress-Life curve (S-N) estimate of the plate lifetime; Section 4 discusses the main conclusions of the manuscript
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