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Heat Transfer Fluid Solar Thermal
Heat Transfer Fluid Solar Thermal
Department of Thermal Engineering, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China
Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China
h i g h l i g h t s
< A ow and heat transfer model was built and solved using nite difference method.
< The processes in a trough solar collector of the DSG system were analyzed.
< The model is validated to be accurate by other experimental results.
< Radiation uctuations strongly affect the operation of a DSG system.
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 16 July 2012
Accepted 26 January 2013
Available online 14 February 2013
This paper analyzed the ow and heat transfer processes in a trough solar collector of the direct steam
generation (DSG) system. A ow and heat transfer model of the working uid in the absorber was
established and solved using the nite difference method. Experimental results of liquid water and dry
air heating processes validated the model. The experimental results, got under the condition that the
vacuum in the tube was destroyed, were used to test the developed model. The calculation results of the
model agreed with the experimental data. The dynamic characteristics of the collector outlet parameters
under variations of solar radiation intensity were analyzed in this paper. The impulse response of the
DSG system was complex as a short-time uctuation of the solar radiation notably affected the water
region length, the two-phase region length and the steam region length, which led to large uctuations
in the outlet temperature. Therefore, the outlet temperature of the once-through DSG system was
difcult to control. Extra heat was required to maintain the normal operation of the system.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Solar energy
Trough concentrating
Evacuated tubular collectors
Numerical model
1. Introduction
The main part of a solar trough collector power plant is a collector group formed by a large number of collectors. The overall
efciency of the solar trough power plant is usually limited by the
performance of the collector. A recent technology, direct steam
generation technology, represents a new direction in development
because of its low cost and high efciency [1].
Research conducted by the DISS project solved problems concerning the DSG process [1]. These problems included operation of
single and parallel rows in steady state or transient conditions,
start-up and shut down procedures, thermal stress of the absorber
tubes in transient conditions, and the best operation mode
denition.
Theoretical analysis on the characteristics of ow and heat
transfer in the absorber has previously been done. S. D. Odeh, G. L.
248
T
Solar Concentrator
Data
Collector
Flow
Meter
Radio
Meter
Pump
Fig. 2. System diagram of trough concentrating and evacuated tubular absorber
station.
2. Numerical model
2.1. Basic assumptions
(1) The solar radiation intensity along the axial and circumferential
directions of the vacuum tube (collector unit) is uniform;
(2) The radiation heat from the collector, the ground, and the other
collectors is negligible;
(3) The wind speed vane is in the normal direction of the vacuum
tube glass cover axis;
(4) The optical properties (optical efciency) along the axial and
circumferential directions of the vacuum tube is uniform;
(5) The working uid in the tube is uniform and the ow is stable;
(6) The temperature, pressure, and other state parameters in the
same section are uniform.
The following assumptions were made for heat transfer between the outside surface of the absorber and the inner surface of
the glass cover; any relevant errors were minor enough to be
ignored.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Qs Ib BLhK
(1)
(2)
Convective heat transfer was presumably caused by the free
convection of molecules under the condition of a complete vacuum
between the external surface of the absorber and the inner surface
of glass cover [6]. Hence, the heat transfer coefcient was calculated as:
hreconv
Sky
conduction
Absorber Wall
convection
conduction
convection
Glass Cover
kair
0:5Dr lnDe =Dr blDr =De 1
(3)
Qreconv
(4)
Ac kair
Dc kair
NuD
NuD
Ar Dc
Dr Dc
(5)
radiation
radiation
Fluid
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
hL
hre hc hca
hreconv hrerad hc hcaconv hcarad
hcaconv
convection
The total heat loss realized by the absorber included the combined heat loss, the radiation heat loss between the absorber surface and the glass cover, and the radiation heat loss between the
glass cover and the environment. Based on the thermal resistance
model, the heat loss coefcient was calculated as:
hc
Qc
2pLkc
2kc
Ar Te Tc
Ar lnDc =De
Dr lnDc =De
(6)
hab
2pLkab
2kab
Ar lnDr =Dw
Dr lnDr =Dw
(7)
k
Dw
(8)
(9)
249
Liquid
v
v
1 4rF 1 4rF wF ms
vt
vz
(12)
Vapor
v
v
4rG 4rG wG ms
v
vt
(13)
Liquid
v
v
1 4rF hF 1 4rF hF wF qvF
vt
vz
(14)
Vapor
v
v
4rG hG 4rG hG wG qvG
vt
vz
(15)
qv qvF qvG :
Ar Tr T
Qu
Ar =Aw hph 1=hab
(10)
i
l rF u2F
v
v h
vP
0
1 4rF wF
1 4rF w2F 1 4
1 4
Dw 2
vt
vz
vz
0
Liquid
F0
1=hL
1=hL Dr =Dw hph 1=hab
Vapor
(11)
(16)
l0 rF u2F
v
v
vP
4rG w2G 4 4
4rG wG
0
vt
vz
vz
Dw 2
(17)
_ rF Aw .
where uF m=
The temperature distribution in the single-phase region and the
gas remnant in the two-phase region were calculated by the energy
equations with the nite difference method, while the pressure and
temperature distribution in the two-phase region were calculated
by the momentum equations.
3. Experiment validation
A trough concentrating and evacuated tubular absorber station
was built to verify the accuracy of the model (Fig. 2) respectively
using water and air as the working uid. The centigrade scale was
used to indicate temperatures in this research. The opening length
250
Table 1
Comparison of experimental and simulation results using water as working uid.
Flow
rate
(L/h)
Radiation
intensity
(W/m2)
Inlet
temperature
( C)
100.0
200.0
300.0
350.0
400.0
450.0
500.0
722.88
713.38
708.38
727.20
728.99
723.63
714.49
18.9
17.9
17.5
17.4
17.3
17.3
17.1
Outlet temperature
Experimental
results
( C)
Simulation
results
( C)
68.0
42.0
32.2
30.7
28.4
27.6
25.9
70.8
43.7
34.1
32.1
28.0
26.4
24.9
Relative
error
4.12%
4.05%
5.95%
4.31%
1.45%
4.36%
3.86%
of reector was 1.5 m and the total length was 10 m. The inner and
outer diameters of the ve vacuum tubes were 38 mm and 102 mm,
and the length of each tube was 1.8 m. The radiation intensities
were testing data in the experiments. The outlet temperature range
was 20e70 C when heating water and 200e350 C when heating
air. Results from simulations were compared with the experimental
data.
3.1. Verication using water as working uid
Table 1 shows the comparison of experimental and model
simulation results using water as the working uid for model accuracy validation. The comparison results show that the relative
error of the simulation and experimental results was controllable to
6%, which is within the acceptable error range for engineering.
3.2. Verication using dry air as working uid
Table 2 shows the comparison of experimental and model
simulation results using dry air as the working uid for model accuracy validation. The listed ow rates are readings of the rotor
ow meter (working temperature 20 C) corresponding to the
volume ow rate. The comparison results show that the relative
error of the simulation and experimental results was controllable to
5%, which is within the acceptable error range for engineering.
3.3. Verication when vacuum destroyed
The effect on heat loss was considered when external matter
destroyed the tube vacuum. The gas pressure between the glass
cover and absorber increased after the vacuum was destroyed. The
heat transferring mechanism changed from free molecular motion
into natural convection when the pressure was higher than
133.3 Pa, resulting in an increase of heat loss. The pressure was
leveled to the ambient pressure by destroying two of the ve vacuum tubes used in the experiment to verify the accuracy of the
model in calculating heat loss in such situations.
Table 2
Comparison of experimental and simulation results using dry air as working uid.
Flow
rate
(L/h)
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
Radiation
intensity
(W/m2)
667.22
678.92
687.31
665.50
Inlet
temperature
( C)
43.6
44.2
41.8
43.4
Outlet temperature
Experimental
results
( C)
332.6
324.5
309.1
249.4
Simulation
results
( C)
347.8
329.7
314.2
246.1
Relative
error
Table 3
Comparison of experimental and simulation results using dry air as working uid
when tube vacuum was destroyed.
Flow
rate
(L/h)
Radiation
intensity
(W/m2)
Inlet
temperature
( C)
Outlet temperature
Experimental
results
( C)
Simulation
results
( C)
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
668.39
657.90
641.29
552.93
43.2
42.8
40.2
41.0
330.2
317.2
294.4
246.4
337.9
317.0
291.2
241.2
2.33%
0.04%
1.07%
2.13%
4.55%
1.59%
1.63%
1.33%
Relative
error
(1)
(2)
(3)
At valley
1000
1000
1000
800
500
150
Reversion
time (min)
1
1
1
251
Fig. 6. Water region, two-phase region and dry-steam region impulse response variation (1000e800 W/m2).
252
Dc
Dr
F0
hab
hboil
hc
hcaconv
hcarad
Fig. 14. Water region, two-phase region and dry-steam region impulse response
variation (1000e120 W/m2).
Similar to Cases (1) and (2), the variations were caused by asynchronization of the two regions variation. The pressure drop varied
severely because of drastic uctuations of the two-phase region.
However, it increased stably after the initial reappearance of the drysteam region, and nally decreased to a stable value after several
uctuations.
The results showed that the outlet temperature was strongly
affected by solar radiation intensity. It has been veried a problem
by the DISS project that the one-through DSG system is sensitive to
environmental disturbances since variations of solar radiation intensity may lead to great uctuations of the outlet parameters [13].
The uctuations would cause great thermal stress in the vacuum
tube, which may ultimately damage the collector [14]. Therefore,
measures should be taken to prevent this danger.
5. Conclusions
A ow and heat transfer model of the working uid in the
absorber was established to analyze the ow and heat transfer
processes in a trough solar collector for the DSG system in this
paper. A trough concentrating and evacuated tubular absorber
station was built for validation of the model. A comparison of
experimental results and model simulation results from three experiments showed that the relative errors for these results were in
the acceptable range for engineering. Hence, the model presented
in this paper is valuable for analyzing the dynamic characteristics of
the DSG system and providing guidance for industrial operation.
The impulse response of the DSG system was complex. The shorttime uctuation of the solar radiation notably affected water region
lengths, two-phase region lengths and steam region lengths, which
led to large uctuations in the outlet temperature and subsequently
endangered the stability and security of the whole system. Therefore,
automatic control technique, such as PI/PID control, is a necessary to
stabilize the outlet temperature of once-through DSG system. Extra
heat is required to maintain the normal operation of the system.
Acknowledgements
The Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University
(No. NCET-07-0495) funded this research.
Notations
B
Bo
b, l
De
hph
hreconv
hrerad
hL
hF
hG
Ib
K
kab
kc
kair
km
LsatW
Ltp
LsatS
M
ms
Pn
Po
Qs
Qu
Q reconv
To
wF
wG
Xtt
h
DP
253
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