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Title: Investigation into the feasibility of an air curtain for a solar central receiver. Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7033930· OSTI ID:7033930

An experimental investigation into the feasibility of using an air curtain to decrease the convective losses from a solar central receiver cavity is described. The investigation makes use of a simplified small-scale model of a cavity, the side walls of which are electrically heated to simulate the effects of the sun. Although optimization of air-curtain performance was not within the scope of this work, a decrease in convective losses of approximately 35% was achieved. In this report, the apparatus, instrumentation, and test procedures used are described. The results achieved are presented and discussed. Some preliminary notions regarding extrapolating the model-scale results to full size are presented, and a research program to continue the development of the concept is briefly outlined.

Research Organization:
Nielsen Engineering and Research, Inc., Mountain View, CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-83SF11940
OSTI ID:
7033930
Report Number(s):
DOE/SF/11940-T1; ON: DE84013583
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English