Energy Systems Engineering

The solar concentrator-receiver systems are used for providing intermediate industrial process heat as well as for producing electricity. The cavity receiver is used with the parabolic dish concentrator system. The performance of the receiver plays a very important role in the overall efficiency of the concentrator-receiver system. The heat losses from the cavity receiver, especially the convective losses affect the performance of the system. The experimental and theoretical determination of the convective heat losses have been found to be complex and dependent on factors such as inclination of the cavity, the external wind conditions and shape and size of the cavity. An experimental study is proposed to be carried out in this work to determine the temperature profiles and the existence of various zones in the cavity for different values of inclination, wind conditions and aspect ratio. This would lead to a better understanding of the convective heat losses and the total heat losses within the cavity. Theoretical convective loss analysis from the cavity receiver is carried out using Fluent software. A field study is also proposed in order to analyse the convective heat transfer from a 160 m2 parabolic dish-cavity receiver system