Numerical investigation of molten salt/SiO2 nano-fluid in the solar power plant cycle and examining different arrangements of shell and tube heat exchangers and plate heat exchangers in these cycles

Abstract

BackgroundSolar towers use heliostat to direct a lot of sunlight into a receiver. When concentrated solar radiation is converted to heat, it can drive a steam turbine connected to a power generator, which generates electricity. The purpose of this research is to design and analysis of a solar power plant in the climatic condition of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. MethodBoth TRANSYS and THERMO FLEX software are applied for such purpose. The intended power plant is composed of two sections of a solar cycle with molten salt as working fluid and a Rankine cycle with working fluid of water for power generation. COMSOL software is applied to simulate the preheater heat exchangers. ResultsThe results of this study indicated that the solar power plant generates the most electricity during June and July. The efficiency during these two months is 25% for molten salt nanofluid and 24% for molten salt. In addition, the use of molten salt nanofluid can improve the heat transfer in the solar receiver and produce more electricity in the power plant compared to the use of molten salt. Moreover, the use of two preheaters instead of one increases the efficiency of the cycle by up to 3%.