Session: 05-05 Solar Receiver Design 3

Paper Number: 114940

114940 - Optical Characterization of a Cavity Falling-Particle Snout Receiver 

Based on the Department of Energy’s down selection, the next generation of concentrating solar power (CSP) technology will rely on a particle medium to capture, store, and transfer heat. The particle-based systems could reduce the cost and complexity of solar thermal compared to the previous generation CSP technologies that relied on molten-salts as the storage medium. Additionally, particle-based CSP systems could operate at higher temperatures than the previous generation; thereby enabling higher efficiency power cycles and a wider temperature range for industrial heat applications.

One method for capturing the concentrated solar irradiance uses a free-falling particle curtain design where the particles fall in a waterfall configuration within a cavity. In this design, the heliostat field directly irradiates the waterfall “catch-and-release” particle curtain. This receiver design exposes the particle curtain to ambient conditions which results in continuous particle loss out of the receiver aperture. This can be particularly challenging at specific wind directions and speeds. One passive approach to reduce the wind sensitivity is to design the receiver with a “SNOUT” that extends from the aperture towards the heliostat field. However, this SNOUT negatively affects the heliostat field view of the receiver’s aperture, particularly the heliostats located on the field extreme boundaries. The optical impact of the SNOUT’s geometry on heliostat field layout and aimpoint strategy has not been fully investigated.

To address this, we have created a new falling-particle receiver model available within SolarPILOT. This model enables users to perform heliostat field layout and optical performance evaluations using the next generation falling-particle receiver. In this presentation, we present SolarPILOT’s new falling-particle receiver geometry as well as a sensitivity analysis focused on heliostat field performance.

Presenting Author: William Hamilton National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Presenting Author Biography: William (Bill) Hamilton joined the Thermal Sciences Group at NREL in 2019. His work at NREL includes the development of models to evaluate performance and optimize design, dispatch, and operation of concentrating solar power (CSP) energy systems. As a graduate student at the Colorado School of Mines, Bill collaborated with NREL to develop a dispatch optimization model to maximize revenue from CSP system operations using solar resource forecasts, electricity pricing, and system constraints.