Controllable Solar Flux Heating for Freeze Recovery in Molten Salt Parabolic Trough Collectors

Imponenti, Luca; Shininger, Ryan; Gawlik, Keith; Price, Hank; Zhu, Guangdong

doi:10.1115/1.4047303

Controllable Solar Flux Heating for Freeze Recovery in Molten Salt Parabolic Trough Collectors

Journal Article · Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Energy Resources Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4047303· OSTI ID:1660189

Imponenti, Luca ^[1]; Shininger, Ryan ^[2]; Gawlik, Keith ^[2]; Price, Hank ^[2]; ^[3]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Solar Dynamics LLC, Broomfield, CO (United States)
Solar Dynamics LLC, Broomfield, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

In molten-salt parabolic trough plants, the melting process is particularly important for freeze recovery of salt that is solidified in a collector loop, should such an event occur. Currently impedance heating is expected for freeze recovery of the collector loops, but this method can be expensive. Here, a lower-cost alternative is proposed to use controllable concentrated solar flux directly from the parabolic mirrors to thaw salt that is frozen in the collector. A computational fluid dynamics model was developed to explore the solidification and melting processes of molten salt in a parabolic trough receiver and to assess the viability of this concept. Results indicate that concentrated solar heating has the potential to melt frozen salt in 5.6 h, compared to that in 8.8 h for a 300 W m^–1 impedance heating system. At the same time, controllable solar flux heating introduces nonuniform solar fluxes on the receiver surface, which can induce significant thermal stress on the receiver tube. A preliminary stress analysis indicates that the temperature difference across the receiver tube should be maintained below about 70 °C for heating up to 300 °C at internal pressures ≤10 bar. At these conditions, freeze recovery using solar flux heating will not significantly affect receiver lifetime. These results suggest that controllable solar flux heating could effectively supplement or replace impedance heating in the freeze recovery system. Incorporating this methodology in future parabolic trough concentrating solar power plants is an opportunity for capital and operational cost-savings.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1660189

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1773797

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5500-74094; MainId:5997; UUID:18f4f4f8-fa85-e911-9c21-ac162d87dfe5; MainAdminID:16257

Journal Information:: Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Journal Name: Journal of Energy Resources Technology Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 142; ISSN 0195-0738

Publisher:: ASMECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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