Investigations on Heat Loss in Solar Tower Receivers with Wind Speed Variation

Abstract

The performance of the Solar Tower Receiver (STR) affects significantly the efficiency of the entire solar power generation system and minimizing the heat loss of the STR plays a dominant role in increasing its performance. Unlike the other thermal losses the convective heat loss in STR has direct relation with wind conditions. In this study a Simulation tool ANSYS® FLUENT® was used to determine the convection heat loss in both cavity and externalSTR at wind speed varies from(2) to (10) m/s. A fixed tilt angle (θ= 90°) for the cavity receiver is adopted. The results show that the convection heat loss in both receivers increases with increase of wind speed. The absolute values are considerably lower in the case of the cavity with comparison to the external type. Furthermore, the radiative heat loss in the external and the cavity receivers is investigated. The results show that for the same absorbed area, the radiation loss in the cavity is lower by almost (80%) than the radiation loss in the external.