Flow Distribution in Molten Salt Receiver Panels at High Flux Gradients
Investigating the Risk of Stagnating Flow Due to Uneven Irradiation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52825/solarpaces.v2i.821Keywords:
Molten Salt Tower, Dynamic Simulation, Critical Operation, Mass Flow ControlAbstract
This paper presents a simulation study on critical mass flow distributions in receiver panels of commercial-scale molten salt towers (MST). Despite sophisticated aimpoint optimizations, the flux density distribution on an MST receiver in actual operation contains significant vertical and horizontal gradients. This study investigated how the latter affects the mass flow distribution among the parallel absorber tubes in each panel. A parametric study applied a discretized dynamic thermohydraulic model of a commercial scale receiver design, highlighting at which mass flow rates, flux density gradients and mean flux densities the flow distribution can become critical. Excessive temperature developments were observed, suggesting maintaining appropriate minimal mass flow rates to avoid damaging tube walls and the molten salt chemistry.
Downloads
References
L. L. Vant-Hull, “The Role of “Allowable Flux Density” in the Design and Operation of Molten-Salt Solar Central Receivers,” J. Sol. Energy Eng, vol. 124, no. 2, pp. 165–169, 2002, doi: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1464124.
M. Binder, C. Schuhbauer, R. Uhlig, P. Schwarzbözl, R. Schwaiger, and R. Pitz-Paal, “Comparison of different safety concepts for evaluation of molten salt receivers,” Solar Energy, vol. 234, pp. 119–127, 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2022.01.051.
D. Hering, M. Binder, P. Schwarzbözl, R. Schwaiger, and R. Pitz-Paal, “Monitoring of service life consumption for tubular solar receivers: Review of contemporary thermomechanical and damage modeling approaches,” Solar Energy, vol. 226, pp. 427–445, 2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.08.022.
R. Popp, K. Iding, P. Schwarzbözl, T. Konrad, and D. Abel, “A comparison between model predictive and PID-based control of a molten salt solar tower receiver,” AIP Conf. Proc., vol. 2815, no. 1, p. 30016, 2023, doi: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0148728.
C. Schwager, C. J. T. Boura, R. Flesch, S. Alexopoulos, and U. Herrmann, “Improved efficiency prediction of a molten salt receiver based on dynamic cloud passage simulation,” AIP Conf. Proc., vol. 2126, no. 1, p. 30054, 2019, doi: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5117566.
C. Schwager, R. Flesch, P. Schwarzbözl, U. Herrmann, and C. J. Teixeira Boura, “Advanced two phase flow model for transient molten salt receiver system simulation,” Solar Energy, vol. 232, pp. 362–375, 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.12.065.
C. Schwager, F. Angele, B. Nouri, P. Schwarzbözl, C. J. Teixeira Boura, and U. Herrmann, “Impact of DNI Forecast Quality on Performance Prediction for a Commercial Scale Solar Tower: Application of Nowcasting DNI Maps to Dynamic Solar Tower Simulation,” in SolarPACES Conference 2022, 2022.
Published
How to Cite
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Christian Schwager, Jonas Schulte, Matthias Binder, Cristiano José Teixeira Boura, Ulf Herrmann
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2024-04-09
Published 2024-07-24
Funding data
-
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz
Grant numbers 0324327D
