Simulation of thermal hydraulic performance of multiple parallel micropin arrays for concentrating solar thermal applications with supercritical carbon dioxide
Abstract
Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants have the potential to provide 24 h, renewable electricity. Current CSP systems have high capital and operational costs which makes the levelized cost of electricity uncompetitive with conventional techniques. Recent experimental research has shown the potential of small unit cells (up to 2 × 2 cm) containing micropin arrays (DH < 1 mm) to operate efficiently at high incident flux (>140 W cm-2) using supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid. Applying this technology to CSP systems would result in a smaller central receiver, which would reduce thermal losses, increase receiver efficiency and reduce the capital cost of the receiver component. This study investigates and addresses the practical thermal and hydraulic issues in numbering up these small unit cells into numerous parallel cells within an integrated module design. A thermal hydraulic network model is developed to quantify the distribution and the overall receiver efficiency of an integrated module. This model is used to specify maximum allowable unit cell size and header dimensions to maintain acceptable thermal performance and pressure loss. Once a module design was finalized, parametric studies were performed to study the effects of varying incident flux on flow distribution and thermal performance ofmore »
- Authors:
-
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). School of Mechanical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1571293
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1548607
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0007108
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Solar Energy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 164; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0038-092X
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; Solar thermal; Supercritical; Receiver; Modular
Citation Formats
Hyder, Matthew B., and Fronk, Brian M. Simulation of thermal hydraulic performance of multiple parallel micropin arrays for concentrating solar thermal applications with supercritical carbon dioxide. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2018.02.035.
Hyder, Matthew B., & Fronk, Brian M. Simulation of thermal hydraulic performance of multiple parallel micropin arrays for concentrating solar thermal applications with supercritical carbon dioxide. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.02.035
Hyder, Matthew B., and Fronk, Brian M. Thu .
"Simulation of thermal hydraulic performance of multiple parallel micropin arrays for concentrating solar thermal applications with supercritical carbon dioxide". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.02.035. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1571293.
@article{osti_1571293,
title = {Simulation of thermal hydraulic performance of multiple parallel micropin arrays for concentrating solar thermal applications with supercritical carbon dioxide},
author = {Hyder, Matthew B. and Fronk, Brian M.},
abstractNote = {Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants have the potential to provide 24 h, renewable electricity. Current CSP systems have high capital and operational costs which makes the levelized cost of electricity uncompetitive with conventional techniques. Recent experimental research has shown the potential of small unit cells (up to 2 × 2 cm) containing micropin arrays (DH < 1 mm) to operate efficiently at high incident flux (>140 W cm-2) using supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid. Applying this technology to CSP systems would result in a smaller central receiver, which would reduce thermal losses, increase receiver efficiency and reduce the capital cost of the receiver component. This study investigates and addresses the practical thermal and hydraulic issues in numbering up these small unit cells into numerous parallel cells within an integrated module design. A thermal hydraulic network model is developed to quantify the distribution and the overall receiver efficiency of an integrated module. This model is used to specify maximum allowable unit cell size and header dimensions to maintain acceptable thermal performance and pressure loss. Once a module design was finalized, parametric studies were performed to study the effects of varying incident flux on flow distribution and thermal performance of the module. Finally, the results show that an integrated module design can be achieved with less than 5% flow maldistribution and a pressure drop acceptable to the remainder of the system.},
doi = {10.1016/j.solener.2018.02.035},
journal = {Solar Energy},
number = C,
volume = 164,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journalWeb of Science