Development of a Small Solar Thermal Power Plant for Heat and Power Supply to Domestic and Small Business Buildings

Abstract

Irina (2018) Development of a small solar thermal power plant for heat and power supply to domestic and small business buildings. ABSTRACTThe small solar thermal power plant is being developed with funding from EU Horizon 2020 Program. The plant is configured around a 2-kWel Organic Rankine Cycle turbine and solar field, made of Fresnel mirrors. The solar field is used to heat thermal oil to the temperature of about 240 o C. This thermal energy is used to run the Organic Rankine Cycle turbine and the heat rejected in its condenser (about 18-kWth) is utilized for hot water production and living space heating.The plant is equipped with a latent heat thermal storage to extend its operation by about 4 hours during the evening building occupancy period. The phase change material used is Solar salt with the melting/solidification point at about 220 o C. The total mass of the PCM is about 3,800 kg and the thermal storage capacity is about 100 kWh. The operation of the plant is monitored by a central controller unit. The main components of the plant are being manufactured and laboratory tested with the aim to assemble the plant at the demonstration site, located in Catalonia, Spain. At the first stage of investigations the ORC turbine will be directly integrated with the solar filed to evaluate their joint performance. During the second stage of tests, the Latent Heat Thermal Storage will be incorporated into the plant and its performance during the charging and discharging processes will be investigated. It is planned that the continuous filed tests of the whole plant will be performed during the 2018-2019 period.

Numerical Investigation of Pipelines Modeling in Small-Scale Concentrated Solar Combined Heat and Power Plants

“…In order to better appreciate the influence of the different models of pipelines on the energy performance of small-scale concentrated solar plants, the case of the Innova Microsolar plant [18] has been considered. In particular, the system consists of: (i) a 146 m 2 linear Fresnel reflectors (LFR) solar field, (ii) a 3.8 ton latent heat thermal energy storage system equipped with reversible heat pipes, and (iii) an organic Rankine cycle unit designed for a power production of 2 kWe/18 kWth, as extensively discussed in [19]. For the purpose of this analysis, the characteristics of the tubes (length, internal diameter and insulating material) are the same as in the Innova Microsolar, thus making possible in the future the comparison of the numerical simulations with the experimental data once the plant is in full operation.…”

Solar Salt Latent Heat Thermal Storage for a Small Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Plant

“…In the small solar power plant designed [19], the LHTESS is arranged to provide thermal energy at the rate of 25 kW for a duration of 4-h period for the ORC unit to deliver electrical power and heat to a dwelling during the night time occupational period.…”

Comparative Study of Two Types of Medium Temperature Phase Change Materials

“…The LHTES cells for experimental tests were developed with a thermal storage capacity of about 1 kWh to model medium temperature solar thermal storage applications at temperature levels of about 220°C. The thermal energy accumulated in a larger scale LHTES can be used, for example, to extend the operational period of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) turbine [4] or other converters in solar thermal electricity plants [5]. Fig.…”

“…The LHTES cell is designed in order to provide thermal energy at the rate of 0.25 kW for the duration of 4-hour period [4]. In order to store this amount of the thermal energy as a latent heat, about 39 kg of solar salt or 58 kg of the metal alloy are necessary.…”

“…The charging of the cell is carried out by applying a constant heat flux produced by cylindrical cartridges placed in the cell, this mean that the heat transfer rate to the LHTES is fixed. These cartridges simulate the charging process by heat pipes [4]. The number of heat pipes installed in the cell is two with the maximum heating/cooling rate of 125 W each with a length of 500 mm.…”