Improving Solar Thermal Receivers for Reduced Heat Loss

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This project investigated novel configurations of tube banks for central tower receivers, including bladed concepts and incorporating the use of active airflow techniques.Key resultsWhen developing novel pipework layouts and configurations, it is valuable to involve the people who will be involved in building the structure as early as possible, to identify areas for improvement the manufacturability of the design. Similarly, it is valuable to discuss testing plans with those responsible for the testing as early and possible.In testing high-temperature receivers, it is important to carefully consider not only the ‘hot’ parts of the system, but also the areas which will receiver ‘spilled’ flux, and ensure suitable shielding is used throughout. In the case of this project, additional shielding needed to be added to protect instrument cabling due to unexpectedly intense spilled flux.The receiver module built and tested in this project was extremely complex, resulting in a long design period, and consequent time pressure during the testing phase. Simplicity should be a priority for future designs, since this also implies savings in the final product.Thermocouple design, installation and layout are critical aspects of developing an experimental concept, and need specific focus. Differential thermocouples, and configurations able to minimise experimental uncertainty need careful thought.Whole-of-team design reviews were valuable in this project, but could have been held earlier in the project for greater benefit. These reviews highlighted important considerations and triggered further design iterations as a result of topics that had not been thoroughly considered earlier.Receiver design and concentrator (optical) design are closely coupled and should be developed in parallel. This project had as its scope only the receiver design, however in other activities (such as in ASTRI), attention should be paid to synchronising the design of both components, with the lowest-cost design strongly in mind.

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