Abstract:
Improving the operating temperature of the solar receiver can enhance power cycle efficiency in solar power towers by raising the turbine-inlet temperature. However, maintaining high efficiency and safety at ultra-high temperatures (>1573 K) remains challenging. Therefore, this work focuses on the design and optimization of an oval tungsten solar receiver. Firstly, the receiver performance under the most extreme condition was evaluated by developing an optical–thermal–mechanical coupling model, finding the long radius a and short radius b of the oval cavity influence little while the symmetry radius c influences more obviously on the receiver efficiency. Meanwhile, all the three parameters influence obviously on the receiver safety and size. Subsequently, to make a compromise among efficiency, safety, and size, an optimal design with a = 110 mm, b = 90 mm, and c = 60 mm was obtained through an orthogonal design. Then, the performance of the optimal design was evaluated under the incident power of 5.5–8.0 kW, mass flow rate of 70–120 g s−1, and inlet temperature of 673–1173 K, demonstrating the receiver efficiency is as high as 79.73 % to 89.24 %. Most importantly, the optimal receiver can achieve the receiver efficiency of 81.70 % at the outlet temperature of 1573.80 K, meeting the design expectation for ultra-high temperature receiver. Finally, thermal loss analysis indicates that the convective loss constitutes 57.88 %–62.57 % of the total thermal loss from the insulation. In contrast, the radiative loss constitutes 61.52 %–80.01 % of the total thermal loss from the glass. These results can offer meaningful insights for designing ultra-high temperature receivers.
Gaohua Meng, Qing Li, Yu Qiu, Xun Chen, Tzu-Chen Hung, Jikang Wang, Wei Han,Performance evaluation of an oval solar receiver for safe and efficient ultra-high temperature operation,Applied Thermal Engineering,Volume 279, Part B,2025,127599,ISSN 1359-4311, https://doi.org/10.1016j.applthermaleng.2025.127599
