Experimental and numerical studies of the pressure drop in ceramic foams for volumetric solar receiver applications

a b s t r a c tThe efficiency of solar thermochemical cycles to split water and carbon dioxide depends in large part on highly effective gas phase heat recovery. To accomplish this goal, we present the design and analysis of the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of a counter-flow, tube-in-tube alumina heat exchanger operating at temperatures of 1500°C and integrated with a solar thermochemical reactor for isothermal production of syngas via the ceria redox cycle. The heat exchanger tubes are filled with alumina reticulated ceramic to enhance heat transfer. The effects of foam morphology and heat exchanger size on heat transfer, pressure drop, and process solar-to-fuel efficiency are explored by coupling a computational fluid dynamic model of the heat exchanger, including radiative transport, with the overall reactor energy balance. We examine foam pore densities of 10, 20 and 30 PPI, and porosities of 65-90%. The 10 PPI foam yields the best heat transfer performance and lowest pressure drop, as the larger pores enhance radiative heat transfer and decrease fluid phase drag forces. Although lower porosity is preferred to improve solid phase conduction in the RPC, the tradeoff in heat transfer and pressure drop point to use of higher porosity foam. Optimization for solar-to-fuel reactor efficiency is achieved with 85-90% porosity, 10 PPI RPC.

show abstract

“…(13) and (14) are within 15% of values predicted using the empirical correlations provided in [49][50][51].…”

Section: Heat Exchanger Modelmentioning

confidence: 69%

Model of an integrated solar thermochemical reactor/reticulated ceramic foam heat exchanger for gas-phase heat recovery

Chandran

Smith

Davidson

2015

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Notice that a violation of the Hagen-Poiseuille law in the Darcy flow experiments can be caused by the entrance effect [45,46]. Namely, if the entrance lengths required to achieve a fully developed laminar flow in the pore network is of the order of λL 0 , the fluid flow will be initially more localized, leading to a larger pressure drop.…”

Section: Dimension Number Symbol Definitionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Anomalous diffusion of fluid momentum and Darcy-like law for laminar flow in media with fractal porosity

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Other researchers have studied air absorbers from the microscopic point of view using a Representative Element Volume (REV) of the ceramic foam. Wu et al chose idealized packed tetrakaidecahedrons to represent the detailed geometry of the porous ceramic foam in a three dimensional model to predict the local convective heat transfer coefficient [23] and develop a new pressure drop correlation [24] for the air flow in the porous ceramic foam. Wang [27] showed that double-layer ceramic foam receiver gives improved performance and significantly higher efficiency based on the general thermophysical and permeability properties of the material.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic simulation and experimental validation of an open air receiver and a thermal energy storage system for solar thermal power plant

Bai

Yang

et al. 2016

Applied Energy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experimental and numerical studies of the pressure drop in ceramic foams for volumetric solar receiver applications

Cited by 210 publications

References 39 publications

Model of an integrated solar thermochemical reactor/reticulated ceramic foam heat exchanger for gas-phase heat recovery

Model of an integrated solar thermochemical reactor/reticulated ceramic foam heat exchanger for gas-phase heat recovery

Anomalous diffusion of fluid momentum and Darcy-like law for laminar flow in media with fractal porosity

Dynamic simulation and experimental validation of an open air receiver and a thermal energy storage system for solar thermal power plant

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About