Aiming factor to flatten the flux distribution on cylindrical receivers

High incident flux gradients and hot spots lead to extreme thermal stresses that may damage and reduce the lifetime of central receivers. An aiming strategy based on a single parameter, k, named aiming factor, is developed to generate symmetric flux maps about the receiver equator. By means of this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy (Oxford) 2018-06, Vol.153, p.113-125
Main Authors: Sánchez-González, Alberto, Rodríguez-Sánchez, María Reyes, Santana, Domingo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Equator
Flat concentration profile
Fluctuations
Fluid dynamics
FluxSPT tool
Heliostat spillage
k factors
Power plants
Radiation
Receivers
Receivers & amplifiers
Solar energy
Solar flux
Solar power
Solar Power Tower
Spillage
Sunrise
Sunset
Symmetric flux map
Thermal stress
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Summary:High incident flux gradients and hot spots lead to extreme thermal stresses that may damage and reduce the lifetime of central receivers. An aiming strategy based on a single parameter, k, named aiming factor, is developed to generate symmetric flux maps about the receiver equator. By means of this k factor, ranging between 3 (generally equivalent to equatorial aiming) and 0 (alternatively aiming to top and bottom borders), the solar flux incident on the receiver and the spillage losses can be controlled. For each sector in a heliostat field, the aiming factor values causing the flattest symmetric flux maps, kflat, are deterministically found with a sweep and mesh shifting procedure. Results for Dunhuang solar power tower plant show that kflat is fairly constant throughout the year, except near sunrise and sunset in east and west sectors, respectively./ [Display omitted] •Single parameter to aim all the heliostats in a field with uniform spillage.•Flat flux distribution on central receivers.•Mesh shifting procedure to save computation time.•Implemented in FluxSPT freeware tool.
ISSN:0360-5442
1873-6785
DOI:10.1016/j.energy.2018.04.002