Towards a Commercial Parabolic Trough CSP System Using Air as Heat Transfer Fluid

Good, Philipp; Zanganeh, Giw; Ambrosetti, Gianluca; Barbato, Maurizio; Pedretti, Andrea; Steinfeld, Aldo

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.03.041

Cited by 44 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The single-tank TES system was dimensioned in order to fulfill the round-the-clock energy requirement of a reference 80 MW e CSP plant based upon the Airlight Energy technology [2] [8]. Considering the foreseen advantages in terms of availability, affordability and reliability, a packed bed of natural rocks, 3-4 cm average particle diameter, was exploited as low-cost filler material.…”

Section: Industrial-scale Tes Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-tank TES System – Transient Evaluation of Thermal Stratification According to the Second-law of Thermodynamics

et al. 2015

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Single-tank thermal energy storage (TES) systems represent a valuable alternative, to the most common two-tank systems with molten slat, to effectively store thermal energy in concentrating solar power (CSP) applications. From an economic standpoint, the gap between the two TES solutions is relevant. A remarkable cost reduction can be achieved if a single-tank TES system, with a low-cost filler material, is exploited. In this kind of TES system, the buoyancy driven effects of the heat transfer fluid are exploited to establish and maintain a thermocline zone which separates the hot region on top and the cold region at the bottom of the tank. The thinner the thermocline thickness, the higher the thermodynamic quality of the stored energy. As soon as the TES is charged for the first time, i.e. startup of the system, the extent of thermal stratification may vary sharply during the first cycles before achieving a stable condition. For this reason, this study aims at evaluating, by means of accurate time-dependent 3D CFD simulations, the transient evolution of thermal stratification of a single-tank TES system exploited to fulfill the round-the-clock energy requirement of a reference 80 MW e CSP plant which uses air as heat transfer fluid. A total of 30 consecutive cycles, composed by charge/discharge phases, were simulated. Since the thermal energy stored is exploited to produce electrical energy, the performances of the TES system, operating under cyclic conditions, were qualitatively characterized by means of a stratification efficiency index based upon the second-law of thermodynamics.

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Section: Industrial-scale Tes Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-tank TES System – Transient Evaluation of Thermal Stratification According to the Second-law of Thermodynamics

et al. 2015

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“…Tracking-secondary LTP systems are currently being investigated as low-cost alternatives for high-concentration photovoltaics [4,5]. They are also of interest for increasing the operating temperature of thermal systems, in particular for trough CSP systems utilizing cavity-type absorbers [6]. In general, tracking-secondary LTP collectors may be used in conjunction with any receivers that are plateor cavity-like, and can be arranged in a discrete array along the length of the trough.…”

Section: Nomenclature Latin Charactersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory and design of line-to-point focus solar concentrators with tracking secondary optics

Cooper

Ambrosetti²,

Pedretti³

et al. 2013

Appl. Opt.

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The two-stage line-to-point focus solar concentrator with tracking secondary optics is introduced. Its design aims to reduce the cost per m(2) of collecting aperture by maintaining a one-axis tracking trough as the primary concentrator, while allowing the thermodynamic limit of concentration in 2D of 215× to be significantly surpassed by the implementation of a tracking secondary stage. The limits of overall geometric concentration are found to exceed 4000× when hollow secondary concentrators are used, and 6000× when the receiver is immersed in a dielectric material of refractive index n=1.5. Three exemplary collectors, with geometric concentrations in the range of 500-1500× are explored and their geometric performance is ascertained by Monte Carlo ray-tracing. The proposed solar concentrator design is well-suited for large-scale applications with discrete, flat receivers requiring concentration ratios in the range 500-2000×.

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“…An exception is a 6.5 MWh th pilot-scale demonstration unit, (Zanganeh et al, 2012). This unit was designed for an air-based tubular receiver for a CSP trough system that can deliver air at 600°C and above (Good et al, 2013). Recently, rocks have been suggested as filler material for oil and molten salt tanks in order to increase the energy density and help create and maintain temperature stratification (Van Lew et al, 2011;Flueckiger et al, 2012;Valmiki et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Nevertheless, air has several advantages: it is free, has no upper-temperature limitation, suffers no degradation, and is not toxic. Examples of CSP designs that use air as HTF include pressurized receivers for solar tower systems (Buck et al, 1999;Kribus et al, 2001;Heller et al, 2006;Hischier et al, 2012) and non-pressurized receivers for solar trough systems (Boyd et al, 1976;Bader et al, 2010;Good et al, 2013). Various TES concepts have been experimentally investigated for use with high-temperature air, including a packed beds of rocks (Meier et al, 1991;Hänchen et al, 2011;Zanganeh et al, 2012), alumina porcelain ceramics (Zunft et al, 2011), or ZrO 2 pellets (Jalalzadeh-Azar et al, 1996;Nsofor and Adebiyi, 2001), and a sand-based heat exchanger (Warerkar et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and numerical investigation of combined sensible–latent heat for thermal energy storage at 575°C and above

et al. 2015

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Towards a Commercial Parabolic Trough CSP System Using Air as Heat Transfer Fluid

Cited by 44 publications

References 5 publications

Single-tank TES System – Transient Evaluation of Thermal Stratification According to the Second-law of Thermodynamics

Single-tank TES System – Transient Evaluation of Thermal Stratification According to the Second-law of Thermodynamics

Theory and design of line-to-point focus solar concentrators with tracking secondary optics

Experimental and numerical investigation of combined sensible–latent heat for thermal energy storage at 575°C and above

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