Parabolic Trough Solar Receiver Research Articles

Analysis of Conduction Heat Loss From a Parabolic Trough Solar Receiver with Active Vacuum by Direct Simulation Monte Carlo

Results are reported of a numerical analysis of conduction heat loss from a parabolic trough solar receiver with controlled pressure within the annular gap between the tubular absorber and the glass vacuum jacket. A direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC)model of rarefied gas within the annular gap is coupled to radiation heat transfer for directional- and spectral-dependent concentrated incident solar radiation. This modeling approach is valid for high Knudsen numbers, and consistently predicts slightly higher heat loss than a continuum model using slip boundary conditions in the range of pressures of interest around 1 Pa. 3-D simulations of axial flow through the annular gap predict higher gas conductance by the DSMC method than by slip flow models, with values converging as pressure increases.

Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement by unilateral longitudinal vortex generators inside parabolic trough solar receivers

This study presents numerical computation results on turbulent flow and coupled heat transfer enhancement in a novel parabolic trough solar absorber tube, the unilateral milt-longitudinal vortexes enhanced parabolic trough solar receiver (UMLVE-PTR), where longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) are only located on the side of the absorber tube with concentrated solar radiation (CSR). The novel absorber tube and the corresponding parabolic trough receiver with smooth absorber tube (SAT-PTR) are numerical studied by combining the finite volume method (FVM) and the Monte Carlo ray-trace (MCRT) method for comparison and verification from the viewpoint of field synergy principle (FSP). Then the effects of Reynolds number, heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet temperature, incident solar radiation and LVG geometric parameters were further examined. It was found that the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement of this novel absorber tube can be explained very well by the field synergy principle, and that the proposed novel UMLVE-PTR has good comprehensive heat transfer performance than that of the SAT-PTR within a wide range of major influence factors of diverse working conditions and geometric parameters.

Heat transfer analysis of parabolic trough solar receiver

Solar Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTCs) are currently used for the production of electricity and applications with relatively higher temperatures. A heat transfer fluid circulates through a metal tube (receiver) with an external selective surface that absorbs solar radiation reflected from the mirror surfaces of the PTC. In order to reduce the heat losses, the receiver is covered by an envelope and the enclosure is usually kept under vacuum pressure. The heat transfer and optical analysis of the PTC is essential to optimize and understand its performance under different operating conditions. In this paper a detailed one dimensional numerical heat transfer analysis of a PTC is performed. The receiver and envelope were divided into several segments and mass and energy balance were applied in each segment. Improvements either in the heat transfer correlations or radiative heat transfer analysis are presented as well. The partial differential equations were discretized and the nonlinear algebraic equations were solved simultaneously. Finally, to validate the numerical results, the model was compared with experimental data obtained from Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) and other one dimensional heat transfer models. Our results showed a better agreement with experimental data compared to other models.

A systematic study of the residual gas effect on vacuum solar receiver

A parabolic trough solar receiver is the key component in the parabolic trough solar system. The annulus between the absorber and glass envelope is evacuated to protect the solar selective coating and decrease the heat loss of entire receiver. However, at any existing operational solar plants, the vacuum condition in annulus may be compromised by glass breakage, seals and bellows broken, hydrogen penetration and getter decomposition. In this paper, different heat transfer mechanisms due to variable residual gas conditions in the annulus are analyzed. In addition, a series of heat loss tests of China’s first high temperature vacuum solar receiver are carried out by two methods with special exhaust system and vacuum gauges. The negative effects of residual gas, including environmental-sensitivity enhancement, coating degradation, and system efficiency decreasing, are acquired and analyzed with theoretical as well as test results.

An optimized model and test of the China’s first high temperature parabolic trough solar receiver

The vacuum solar receiver is the key component of a parabolic trough solar plant, which plays a prominent role in the gross system efficiency. Recently, China’s first high temperature vacuum receiver, Sanle-3 HCE, has been developed and produced by Southeast University and Sanle Electronic Group. Before being utilized in China’s first parabolic trough solar plant, accurately estimating the thermal properties of this new receiver is important. This paper first establishes and optimizes a 1-D theoretical model at Matlab program to compute the receiver’s major heat loss through glass envelope, and then systematically analyzes the major influence factors of heat loss. With the laboratorial steady state test stand, the heat losses of both good vacuum and non-vacuum Sanle-3 receivers were surveyed. Comparison shows the original 1-D model agrees with the ends covered test while remarkably deviating from end exposed test. For the purpose of identifying the influence of receiver’s end to total heat loss, an additional 3-D model is built by CFD software to further investigate the different heat transfer processes of receiver’s end components. The 3-D end model is verified by heating power and IR temperature distribution images in the test. Combining the optimized 1-D model with the new 3-D end model, the comparison with test data shows a good accordance. At the same time the heat loss curve and emittance curve of this new receiver are given and compared with those of several other existing receivers as references.