Roman Bader

Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland

Maurizio Barbato
Department of Innovative Technologies, SUPSI, 6928 Manno, Switzerland

An Air-Based Cavity-Receiver for Solar Trough Concentrators

A cylindrical cavity-receiver containing a tubular absorber that uses air as the heat transfer uid is proposed for a novel solar trough concentrator design. A numerical heat transfer model is developed to determine the receivers absorption efciency and pumping power requirement. The 2D steady-state energy conservation equation coupling radiation, convection, and conduction heat transfer is formulated and solved numerically by nite volume techniques. The Monte Carlo ray-tracing and radiosity methods are applied to establish the solar radiation distribution and radiative exchange within the receiver. Simulations were conducted for a 50 m-long and 9.5 m-wide collector section with 120 C air inlet temperature, and air mass ows in the range 0.11.2 kg/s. Outlet air temperatures ranged from 260 C to 601 C, and corresponding absorption efciencies varied between 60% and 18%. Main heat losses integrated over the receiver length were due to reection and spillage at the receivers windowed aperture, amounting to 13% and 9% of the solar power input, respectively. The pressure drop along the 50 m module was in the range 0.2311.84 mbars, resulting in isentropic pumping power requirements of 6.45 10 4 0.395% of the solar power input. DOI: 10.1115/1.4001675

Andrea Pedretti
Airlight Energy Holding SA, 6710 Biasca, Switzerland

Aldo Steinfeld1
Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and Solar Technology Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland e-mail: aldo.steinfeld@ethz.ch

Introduction

Cavity-receivers are typically used in point-focusing solar concentrating systems e.g., dishes and towers to efciently capture incoming radiation through multiple internal reections, while providing sufcient heat transfer area for heat removal by a heat transfer medium or by chemical reactions. In contrast, tubular receivers are typically used in line-focusing solar concentrator systems e.g., parabolic troughs to efciently absorb incident solar radiation through the application of selective coatings and vacuum insulations. However, when the heat transfer uid HTF has low volumetric heat capacity and thermal conductivity, as is usually the case for gases, cavity-receivers are an interesting alternative to conventional tube receivers, as they offer the potential for larger heat transfer area and ow cross section without signicantly affecting the reradiation losses from the absorber. Cylindrical cavity-receivers have been previously analyzed for an annular ow cross section 1 and for a cavity containing a single absorber tube or an array of absorber tubes 24 . Air is used as the HTF in the present case. The advantages are fourfold: 1 Performance loss and operating temperature constraints due to chemical instability of the HTF are avoided; 2 operating pressure can be close to ambient, eliminating the need for sophisticated sealing; 3 a packed-bed thermal storage can be incorporated to the system and heated directly by air, eliminating the need for a heat exchanger between HTF and thermal storage medium; and 4 costs for the heat transfer uid are removed. Further, by employing conventional materials of construction and avoiding selective absorber coatings, vacuum insulation, or getters, signicantly lower fabrication costs per unit receiver length are expected than those for existing receivers. On the other hand, the disadvantages of air-receivers are associated with the larger mass ow rates and surface area needed due to the lower volu1 Corresponding author. Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received March 28, 2010; nal manuscript received April 14, 2010; published online June 29, 2010. Assoc. Editor: Gilles Flamant.

metric heat capacity and thermal conductivity of air as compared with those of thermo-oils, molten salts, sodium, or other heat transfer uids proposed. These drawbacks translate into higher pressure drops and concomitant energy penalties. In this paper, a numerical heat transfer model of an air-based cylindrical cavityreceiver is developed and applied to investigate the inuence of air mass ow rate on outlet air temperature, receivers absorption efciency, pumping power requirements, and thermal losses.

Receiver Design

The cavity-receiver conguration is shown schematically in Fig. 1. It consists of a cylindrical cavity containing an eccentric absorber tube. Cavity and absorber are made of stainless steel and separated by an annular air gap at ambient pressure. The cavity is lined by a layer of mineral wool insulation, encapsulated in a thin aluminum shell. The rectangular cavity aperture area matches the focal plane of the solar trough concentrator and is closed by a quartz window to reduce reradiation and convection heat losses. The receiver dimensions are listed in Table 1.

Heat Transfer Model

Steady-state energy conservation is given by Qsolar Ql,reflection Ql,reradiation Ql,convection Quseful = 0 1

where Qsolar is the concentrated solar radiation incident on the is the intercept factor dened as the ratio of solar receiver, radiation intercepted by the receiver aperture to that incident on the receiver, Ql,reflection is the solar radiation lost to the environment after one or multiple reections at surfaces 25, Ql,reradiation is the energy loss by radiation emitted by surfaces 26, Ql,convection is the convective heat loss from surfaces 5 and 6, and Quseful is the energy gain, carried away by the heat transfer uid. 3.1 Conductive Heat Transfer. 2D steady-state energy conservation applied to the solid domains absorber, cavity, and window of the receiver reduces to AUGUST 2010, Vol. 132 / 031017-1

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Table 3 Coefcients c in the discretized energy conservation equation 5 for cavity, absorber, and window; rj is the radial and r are the angular and radial position of node i , j, cavity/absorber CV dimensions, bwindow and dwindow are the window CV dimensions, and ki,j and ki,j are thermal conductivities between node i , j and its neighbors in +- and -directions. Cavity ci rki rj rj
1 ,j

Absorber 0 nabsorber = 1 r 2 r ki

Window dwindow bwindow

1,j

,j

ci,j

r 2 r

ki,j

rj

ki,j

0 nwindow = 1

Fig. 1 Cross-sectional view of the cavity-receiver conguration: 1 absorber inner surface, 2 absorber outer surface, 3 cavity inner surface, 4 window inner surface, 5 window outer surface, and 6 shell outer surface

ctotal = ci1,j + ci+1,j + ci,j1 + ci,j+1

k T =0

The boundary condition at the surfaces of the solid domains requires k T s n = qs 3

and dAi,j is the surface area of boundary control volume CV i , j . For cavity, absorber, and window, the coefcients c are given in Table 3. Thermal conductivities at the CV interfaces between node i , j and its neighbors in +- and -directions are denoted by ki ,j and ki,j : ki
,j

2ki,jki ki,j + ki

1,j 1,j

where n denotes the surface normal vector, and qs is the net surface energy ux by combined convection and radiation: qs = qconvection + qradiation 4 ki,j = Table 2 lists the number of nodes for the discretization of the cavity including insulation and shell , absorber, and window. Absorber and window temperatures are assumed constant along dimensions dabsorber and dwindow, hence nabsorber = nwindow = 1. Discretization of Eq. 2 for the temperature at node i , j yields 5 Ti,j = where 1 ci ctotal
1,j Ti 1,j

2ki,jki,j ki,j + ki,j

1 1

Temperature dependent thermal conductivities are used for AISI430 stainless steel 6 , for mineral wool insulation material and fused silica 7 , and for commercial aluminum alloy Al6061-T6 8 . 3.2 Convective Heat Transfer. The convective heat transfer coefcient between uid and wall for turbulent ow through a circular pipe is calculated using the Nu-correlation 9 : NuD = f/8 ReD 1000 Pr 1 + 12.7 f/8 1/2 Pr2/3 1 9

+ ci,j 1Ti,j

qs,i,jdAi,j

Table 1 Cavity-receiver dimensions shown in Fig. 1 in m Absorber inner radius Rabsorber Cavity inner radius Rcavity Absorber wall thickness dabsorber Cavity inner wall thickness dI Insulation thickness dII Shell thickness dIII Cavity aperture width baperture Window thickness dwindow Eccentricity 0.125 0.3 1.5 103 1.5 103 0.1 1 103 0.1 5.43 103 0.03

valid for 0.5 Pr 2000 and 3000 ReD 5 106. Friction factor f is supplied by the Moody diagram, with surface roughness e = 1.5 m drawn tubing . Natural convective heat transfer coefcient between two nested cylinders is calculated using the Nucorrelation 10 for surface 2, and for surfaces 3 and 4, respectively: NuD2 = h 2D 2 = k ln 1 + 0.5 2 2
1/4 RaD2 15 + 1/3 0.12 RaD2 15 1/15

10
Table 2 Number of nodes for the discretization; absorber and cavity: m and n in angular and radial directions; window: m along baperture and n along dwindow mabsorber nabsorber mcavity ncavity mwindow nwindow 30 1 30 50 20 1

NuD3 =

h 3D 3 = k ln 1
1/4 0.5 RaD3

2 2
15 1/3 + 0.12 RaD3 15 1/15

11 with D2 = 2 Rabsorber + dabsorber and D3 = 2Rcavity. Bulk air temperature in the annulus, Ta, is found by equating the heat transfer at surface 2, and surfaces 3 and 4: Transactions of the ASME

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Fig. 2 a Half prole of the CCT concentrator and b simulated radiative ux distribution at the focal plane of CCT and ideal parabolic trough concentrators. Focal length fconcentrator = 3.5 m and rim angle rim = 73.6 deg.

Ta T3+4 h 2A 2 = T h3A3+4 T
2 a

12

face properties and temperature on each segment. The condition for absorption inside the receiver is R1 E 17 where R1 is a random number from a uniform set in the interval 0,1 , and E is the emissivity of the considered surface segment. Conditions for window transmission, reection, and absorption are, respectively, R2 Tw, R2 Tw, Tw, + Rw, R2 18 19 20

where denotes the area-averaged temperatures and A denotes the T areas. Because Ta is required in the calculation of NuD2 and NuD3, it is determined iteratively. Air properties are evaluated at the lm temperatures 2 + Ta / 2 and T3+4 + Ta / 2, using air data from 7 . T Natural convective heat transfer coefcient for a horizontal isothermal cylinder is calculated using the Nu-correlation 11 : NuD6 = 0.60 +
1/6 0.387 RaD6 2 9/16 8/27

1 + 0.559/Pr

for

RaD6

1012 13

Tw, + Rw,

with air properties evaluated at the lm temperature. 3.3 Radiative Heat Transfer. Radiative exchange results from i absorbed solar radiation at surfaces 2 and 3 and window, and ii net radiative heat exchange among surfaces 16 and the environment. Hence, the boundary heat ux by radiation is qradiation = qreradiation qsolar 14 Concentrated solar radiation focused onto the receiver is obtained by a linear trough concentrator based on aluminized polymer mirror foils mounted on a precast concrete frame 12 . The mirror foils are pneumatically spanned to form a concentrator prole, as shown schematically in Fig. 2 a , consisting of an array of adjacent circular segments that approximates a parabola. The resulting radiative ux distribution at the focal plane of this compound circular trough CCT concentrator is shown in Fig. 2 b , and compared with that of the underlying ideal parabolic trough concentrator. Both distributions are determined by Monte Carlo raytracing, neglecting mirror surface errors and reection losses. Monte Carlo ray-tracing of both concentrator and receiver is applied to determine intercept factor , reection losses Ql,reflection, and solar radiation absorbed by surfaces 2 and 3, and the window 13 . Incident solar radiation missing the aperture spillage is assumed to be lost. Samples of nray = 105 rays are used. The energy carried by a single ray bundle is given by wray = Isun cos
skewAconcentratordx

Spectral directional transmittance Tw, , reectance Rw, , and absorptance Bw, of the quartz window are calculated based on spec13,14 : tral refractive index n and extinction coefcient Tw, = 1 1+ 1+ 1 1 + sin2 sin2 s + 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2 2

21

Rw, =

22

Bw, = where = 1 tan2 2 tan2

23

24 25

= exp with 4 =

,SiO2

26

nray

15

where Isun is the direct normal insulation, skew is the solar insulation angle with respect to normal incidence on the concentrator aperture, and Aconcentratordx is the net concentrator aperture area. Solar energy absorbed by a receiver surface segment of area dA is qsolardAdx = nabsorbedwray 16 where nabsorbed is the number of rays absorbed by the segment. Surfaces 13 and 6 are assumed gray diffused with uniform surJournal of Solar Energy Engineering

is the ray incidence angle on the window, and s is the rays optical path length inside the window, s = dw / cos , with angle of refraction calculated from Snells law. Radiative heat exchange among surfaces 14 and the environment is calculated with the net radiation method for enclosures radiosity equation comprising semitransparent windows 13 ,
N

i=1

qreradiation,i Bi

N ki FkiRi = i=1

Fki Tw,i 1 +

ki

Ei 4 T Bi i 27

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ki

1 0

if

k=i

Table 4

Baseline parameters 850 30 120 1.0 60 1.85 0.8 0.9 0.1 0.1 50 475

otherwise

and indices k and i denote surface segments on surfaces 14 and run from 1 to N = 2mabsorber + mcavity + mwindow. Fki is the conguration factor from segment k to segment i, determined with Monte Carlo ray-tracing. For opaque surface segments Tw,i = 0. Hemispherical total window transmittance Tw, reectance Rw, absorptance Bw, and emittance Ew used in Eq. 27 are calculated from directional spectral quantities by 13
2 /2

c=
=0 =0 =0

, e

,T cos sin d d d T4

28

Direct normal insulation Isun W / m2 Solar incidence angle skew deg Air inlet temperature Tair,in C Air inlet pressure pair,in bar Ambient air temperature T C a Apparent sky temperature Tsky C Emissivity surface 1 1 Emissivity surface 2 2 Emissivity surface 3 3 Emissivity surface 6 6 Concentrator length lconcentrator m Net concentrator aperture area Aconcentrator,3D m2

where c represents Tw, Rw, Bw or Ew, and e b , T is the blackbody spectral emissive power at temperature T. The area-weighted average temperature of surfaces 24 is used in the calculations of Tw, Rw, and Bw, while the local window segment temperature is used in the calculation of Ew. Radiative heat losses from surfaces 5 and 6 are calculated from ql,reradiation,5,6 = E
4 T4 Tsky

a The receiver is contained in the gas tight chamber of an inated polymer membrane concentrator containing air at elevated temperature.

Simulation Results

29

where T is the local surface temperature. Radiative heat losses radiosity from surfaces 2 and 3 to the environment are calculated from
mwindow

Ql,reradiation,2+3 = bwindow
iw=1

Tw,iw Bw,iw

Ew,iw Ti4w qreradiation,iw 30

where index iw denotes the window CVs and qreradiation,iw is obtained from Eq. 27 . 3.4 Pumping Power Requirement. Pressure drop pair of the air ow between receiver inlet and outlet is calculated from 7
lreceiver

pair =
0

pair dx x
lreceiver

1 4Rabsorber

f
0

air

2 Tair x Uair Tair x dx

31

Power requirement Wp for compression of air from atmospheric pressure p to receiver inlet pressure pair,in = p + pair with isentropic pump efciency p,s is calculated assuming ideal gas: Wp = mair RairTair,in pair,in 1 p p,s air 1
1 air/ air

32

The baseline parameters are given in Table 4. Solar radiation incident on the receiver is Qsolar = 289 kW. The ideal radiative ux at the receiver aperture, shown in Fig. 2 b , is reduced by 13.4% due to solar incidence angle skew = 30 deg, by 8.5% due to transmission losses introduced by the concentrator top membrane and by an additional 6.3% due to reection losses on the mirrors. Peak concentration is reduced to 135 suns. End effects due to skew radiation and other concentrator imperfections are omitted from consideration. Air mass ow rates were varied in the range 0.11.2 kg/s. The integration step along the receiver axis is 1 m. Energy balance, Eq. 1 , is used as the convergence criterion in each 2D simulation step, with maximum residuum 1%. The outlet air temperature Tair,out, receiver absorption efciency absorption, and mechanical pumping power requirement Wp,s are shown as a function of the air mass ow rate mair in Fig. 3. As mair increases from 0.1 kg/s to 1.2 kg/s, Tair,out decreases from 601 C to 260 C, absorption increases from 17.6% to 59.7%, and Wp,s 3 increases from 1.9 W to 1.14 kW Wp,s Uair . Figure 4 shows the thermal losses from the receiver, normalized by Qsolar = 289 kW. The white portions of the bars represent the absorption efciency absorption. Temperature independent losses are 8.7 % incoming radiation spilled at the aperture, 12.7 % reection losses at the window, and 3.4 % reection losses from surfaces 2 and 3 to the environment. As mair is reduced from 1.2 kg/s to 0.1 kg/s, temperature dependent losses change in the following ranges: reradiation losses from surfaces 2 and 3 to the environment: 0.8314.7%, reradiation from surface 6 to the environment: 2.86.4%, reradiation from the window to the environment: 5.515.7%, convection losses from surface 6: 4.916.4%, and convection losses from surface 5: 1.84.2%. Overall, the temperature dependent losses increase from 15.8% at mair = 1.2 kg/ s to 57.4% at mair = 0.1 kg/ s. Local thermal losses and air temperature vary along

where Tair,in is the air temperature at receiver inlet. 3.5 Absorption Efciency. Energy balance for an absorber section of length dx yields 15 maircp,airdTair = Qusefuldx 33

and the air temperature at distance x from the receiver inlet is calculated by numerically integrating Quseful x dTair x = dx maircp,air Tair x 34

from x = 0 to x = x, with Tair x = 0 = Tair,in. The absorption efciency of the receiver is dened as
absorption =

Quseful Qsolar

35

Fig. 3 Air outlet temperature Tair,out, receiver absorption efciency absorption, and mechanical pumping power requirement Wp,s, for air mass ow rates in the range 0.11.2 kg/s

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Fig. 4 Heat ows by modes in %, normalized by the total concentrated incident solar power Qsolar; the diagram reports the useful energy gain and species the different contributions to energy losses for air mass ow rates in the range 0.11.2 kg/s

Fig. 6 Local absorption efciency as a function of the local air temperature; parameter is the air mass ow rate; for comparison, the absorption efciency of a commercial Schott PTR70 receiver is shown in 16

Summary and Outlook

the receiver axis x. For mair = 0.4 kg/ s, local losses increase from 2524 W/m at the entrance, where Tair,in = 120 C, to 3900 W/m at the receiver outlet, where Tair,out = 429 C Fig. 5 . Integrated over the receiver length, the largest heat loss sources are reection at the window 12.7% of Qsolar , convection at the receiver outer surface 9.6% of Qsolar , radiation emitted by the window 9.5% of Qsolar , and interception losses 8.7% of Qsolar . The local absorption efciency absorption,local = Quseful / Qsolar as a function of local air temperature is shown in Fig. 6 for air mass ow rates in the range 0.21.2 kg/s, and compared with that of a commercial Schott PTR70 receiver 16 . The absorption efciency of the air receiver at a given air temperature decreases with decreasing mass ow rate due to decreasing convective heat transfer between absorber tube and air. absorption is lower than that of the Schott receiver by at least 14.6% points at the entrance with 1.2 kg/s air mass ow, and by at most 48.6% points at the outlet with 0.2 kg/s air mass ow. If the concentrator module length is increased, higher air mass ow rate will be required in order to maintain constant air outlet temperature, leading to higher pumping power requirement Wp. Figure 7 shows Wp normalized by the estimated electricity output Welectric associated with one module, as a function of the module length, for different absorber tube radii Rabsorber. Parameters used in the calculations are listed in Table 5. absorption is set to 0.7, and mair is calculated such that Tair,out = 400 C throughout all cases. With the current absorber radius Rabsorber = 0.125 m, the air compressor would consume 25% of the produced electricity for a 200 m long module. Increasing Rabsorber to 0.2 m reduces the pumping power requirement to tolerable 3%.

We examined a new design of an air-based receiver for solar trough concentrators that features a tubular absorber contained in an insulated cavity, with a rectangular aperture closed by a quartz window. Numerical heat transfer simulations were conducted for a 50 m-long and 9.5 m-wide collector section, with xed inlet air temperature 120 C. As the air mass ow rate was varied in the range 0.11.2 kg/s, outlet air temperatures decreased from 601 C to 260 C, absorption efciencies increased from 18% to 60%, and isentropic pumping power requirements increased from 1.9 W to 1.14 kW. Main energy losses were caused by incoming solar radiation being spilled and reected at the receiver aperture. With decreasing mass ow rates and, consequently, increasing receiver temperatures, convection losses at the cavity outer surface and reradiation losses became predominant. Higher receivers absorption efciency is achievable by optimizing the receiver geometry, improving the cavity insulation, applying an antireective coating on the aperture window, and by incorporating a secondary con-

Fig. 7 Electric pumping power requirement in % of estimated electric power output for one module of given length; parameter is the absorber tube radius Table 5 Parameters in pumping power calculations; local receiver absorption efciency and incident solar power are assumed constant along the receiver Air inlet temperature Tair,in , C Air outlet temperature Tair,out , C Receiver absorption efciency absorption Isentropic pump efciency p Electric generator efciency generator Power cycle efciency Rankine Solar power incident on receiver Qsolar , W / m 120 400 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.3 5780

Fig. 5 Thermal losses and air temperature black curve as a function of position along the receiver axis x, mair = 0.4 kg/ s

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centrator at the cavity aperture. If longer modules are used, the absorber tube radius will have to be increased in order to keep the pumping power requirements to a tolerable level.

Quseful r r R Rabsorber Rair Rcavity R1 , R2 Ra Re s T T Tw Uair Welectric Wp wray x,y,z x Greek Symbols

Acknowledgment
This study has been funded by the Swiss Federal Ofce of Energy and Airlight Energy Holding SA.

Nomenclature
A Aconcentrator dA baperture bwindow B c C cp,air D dI dII dIII dabsorber dwindow dx e e b E f f concentrator Fki h i , iw , j Isun k ki ,j , ki,j l m,n mair mwindow N n nray n Nu p pair pair / x Pr q qconvection q1 Q1 qradiation qreradiation qsolar Qsolar surface area m2 net concentrator aperture area m2 / m surface segment area m2 cavity aperture width m2 window control volume width m2 absorptance coefcients in discretized equation W/m K ; placeholders for Tw, Rw, Ew, and Bw solar concentration ratio specic heat capacity of air J/kg K diameter m cavity inner wall thickness m cavity insulation thickness m shell thickness m absorber wall thickness m window thickness m receiver length increment m surface roughness m blackbody spectral emissive power W/m emittance Moody friction factor focal length of concentrator m conguration factor from surface segments k to i heat transfer coefcient W / m2 K indices of nodes solar irradiance W / m2 thermal conductivity W/m K ; index thermal conductivity at control volume interface between node i , j and neighboring nodes in i- / j-directions W/m K length m number of nodes in discretized energy equation air mass ow rate kg/s number of window control volumes total number of surface segments on surfaces 14 unit surface normal vector number of sunrays in Monte Carlo simulation spectral refractive index Nusselt number pressure Pa pressure drop in air ow between receiver inlet and outlet Pa local pressure gradient in receiver Pa/m Prandtl number heat ux W / m2 surface heat ux by convection W / m2 energy loss per unit time and per unit surface area W / m2 energy loss per unit time from the receiver W surface heat ux by radiation W / m2 radiosity W / m2 solar energy absorbed by surface W / m2 total concentrated solar power incident onto the receiver W

total energy gain by the heat transfer uid per unit time W radial coordinate m radial control volume dimension m reectance absorber inner radius m specic gas constant of air J/kgK cavity inner radius m random numbers, 0,1 Rayleigh number Reynolds number optical path length m temperature C , K area averaged temperature transmittance mean air ow velocity m/s electric power output calculated for one concentrator module W pumping power requirement W energy carried by one sunray in Monte Carlo simulation W Cartesian coordinates dummy variable absorption coefcient m1 angle of refraction rad Dirac function, ki = 1 if k = i, else ki = 0 eccentricity m ; emmissivity concentrator rim angle deg intercept factor receiver absorption efciency generator efciency pump efciency power cycle efciency extinction coefcient adiabatic exponent of air wavelength m angular control volume dimension rad sunray incidence angle on window rad solar incidence angle deg reectivity air density kg/ m3 StefanBoltzmann constant W / m2 K4 transmissivity surfaces annulus incoming inlet outgoing outlet isentropic; surface window spectral ambient directional; energy ow per unit receiver length

ki rim absorption generator p Rankine air

skew air

Subscripts 1,2, a i in o out s w

Superscript

References
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5 6 7 8 9 10

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