Modeling the Thermal Performance of Falling Particle Receivers Subject to External Wind

Falling particle receivers (FPRs) are an important component of future falling particle concentrating solar power plants to enable next-generation energy generation. High thermal efficiencies in a FPR are required to high thermodynamic efficiencies of the system. External winds can significantly impact the thermal performance of cavity-type FPRs primarily through changing the air flow in and out of the aperture. A numerical parametric study is performed in this paper to quantify the effect of wind on the thermal performance of a FPR. Wind direction was found to be a significant parameter that can affect the receiver thermal efficiency. The particle mass flow rate did not significantly change the overall effect of wind on the receiver. The receiver efficiency was strong function of the particle diameter, but this was primarily a result of varying curtain opacity with different diameters and not from varying effects with wind. Finally, the model was used to demonstrate that receiver efficiencies of 90% were achievable under the assumption that the effect of wind/advective losses were mitigated.