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Title: Design of a thermosyphon-based thermal valve for controlled high-temperature heat extraction

Abstract

Conventional concentrated solar power (CSP) is a reliable alternative energy source that uses the sun’s heat to drive a heat engine to produce electrical power. An advantage of CSP is its ability to store thermal energy for use during off-sun hours which is typically done by storing sensible heat in molten salts. Alternatively, thermal energy may be stored as latent heat in a phase-change material (PCM), which stores large quantities of thermal energy in an isothermal process. On-sun, the PCM melts, storing energy. Off-sun, the latent heat is extracted to produce dispatchable electrical power. Here, this paper presents the design of a thermosyphon-based device with sodium working fluid that is able to extract heat from a source as demand requires. A prototype has been designed to transfer 37 kW of thermal energy from a 600°C molten PCM tank to an array of 9% efficient thermoelectric generators (TEGs) to produce 3 kW of usable electrical energy for 5 h. This “thermal valve” design incorporates a funnel to collect condensate and a central shut-off valve to control condensate gravity return to the evaporator. Three circumferential tubes allow vapour transport up to the condenser. Pressure and a thermal resistance models were developed tomore » predict the performance of the thermal valve. The pressure model predicts that the thermal valve will function as designed. The thermal resistance model predicts a 5500× difference in total thermal resistance between “on” and “off” states. The evaporator and condenser walls comprise 96% of the “on” thermal resistance, while the small parasitic heat transfer in the “off” state is primarily (77%) due to radiation losses. Lastly, this simple and effective technology can have a strong impact on the feasibility, scalability, and dispatchability of CSP latent storage. In addition, other industrial and commercial applications can benefit from this thermal valve concept.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4]
  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Physics Department
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA (United States). Mechanical Engineering Department
  4. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Physics Department; National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
OSTI Identifier:
1393371
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1550598
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5500-67912
Journal ID: ISSN 1359-4311
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308; AR06704918
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Thermal Engineering
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 126; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1359-4311
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; PCM; sodium; thermal valve; thermosyphon; CSP; heat pipe

Citation Formats

Oshman, Christopher, Hardin, Corey, Rea, Jonathan, Olsen, Michele L., Siegel, Nathan, Glatzmaier, Gregory C., Parilla, Philip A., Ginley, David S., and Toberer, Eric S. Design of a thermosyphon-based thermal valve for controlled high-temperature heat extraction. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.038.
Oshman, Christopher, Hardin, Corey, Rea, Jonathan, Olsen, Michele L., Siegel, Nathan, Glatzmaier, Gregory C., Parilla, Philip A., Ginley, David S., & Toberer, Eric S. Design of a thermosyphon-based thermal valve for controlled high-temperature heat extraction. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.038
Oshman, Christopher, Hardin, Corey, Rea, Jonathan, Olsen, Michele L., Siegel, Nathan, Glatzmaier, Gregory C., Parilla, Philip A., Ginley, David S., and Toberer, Eric S. 2017. "Design of a thermosyphon-based thermal valve for controlled high-temperature heat extraction". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.038. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1393371.
@article{osti_1393371,
title = {Design of a thermosyphon-based thermal valve for controlled high-temperature heat extraction},
author = {Oshman, Christopher and Hardin, Corey and Rea, Jonathan and Olsen, Michele L. and Siegel, Nathan and Glatzmaier, Gregory C. and Parilla, Philip A. and Ginley, David S. and Toberer, Eric S.},
abstractNote = {Conventional concentrated solar power (CSP) is a reliable alternative energy source that uses the sun’s heat to drive a heat engine to produce electrical power. An advantage of CSP is its ability to store thermal energy for use during off-sun hours which is typically done by storing sensible heat in molten salts. Alternatively, thermal energy may be stored as latent heat in a phase-change material (PCM), which stores large quantities of thermal energy in an isothermal process. On-sun, the PCM melts, storing energy. Off-sun, the latent heat is extracted to produce dispatchable electrical power. Here, this paper presents the design of a thermosyphon-based device with sodium working fluid that is able to extract heat from a source as demand requires. A prototype has been designed to transfer 37 kW of thermal energy from a 600°C molten PCM tank to an array of 9% efficient thermoelectric generators (TEGs) to produce 3 kW of usable electrical energy for 5 h. This “thermal valve” design incorporates a funnel to collect condensate and a central shut-off valve to control condensate gravity return to the evaporator. Three circumferential tubes allow vapour transport up to the condenser. Pressure and a thermal resistance models were developed to predict the performance of the thermal valve. The pressure model predicts that the thermal valve will function as designed. The thermal resistance model predicts a 5500× difference in total thermal resistance between “on” and “off” states. The evaporator and condenser walls comprise 96% of the “on” thermal resistance, while the small parasitic heat transfer in the “off” state is primarily (77%) due to radiation losses. Lastly, this simple and effective technology can have a strong impact on the feasibility, scalability, and dispatchability of CSP latent storage. In addition, other industrial and commercial applications can benefit from this thermal valve concept.},
doi = {10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.038},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1393371}, journal = {Applied Thermal Engineering},
issn = {1359-4311},
number = C,
volume = 126,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 16 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Mon Jan 16 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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Cited by: 11 works
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