Characterization of Particle and Heat Losses From Falling Particle Receivers

Camera-based imaging methods were evaluated to quantify both particle and convective heat losses from the aperture of a high-temperature particle receiver. A bench-scale model of a field-tested on-sun particle receiver was built, and particle velocities and temperatures were recorded using the small-scale model. Particles heated to over 700 °C in a furnace were released from a slot aperture and allowed to fall through a region that was imaged by the cameras. Particle-image, particle-tracking, and image-correlation velocimetry methods were compared against one another to determine the best method to obtain particle velocities. A high-speed infrared camera was used to evaluate particle temperatures, and a model was developed to determine particle and convective heat losses. In addition, particle sampling instruments were deployed during on-sun field tests of the particle receiver to determine if small particles were being generated that can pose an inhalation hazard. Results showed that while there were some recordable emissions during the tests, the measured particle concentrations were much lower than the acceptable health standard of 15 mg/m3. Additional bench-scale tests were performed to quantify the formation of particles during continuous shaking and dropping of the particles. Continuous formation of small particles in two size ranges (< ∼1 microns and between ∼8–10 microns) were observed due to de-agglomeration and mechanical fracturing, respectively, during particle collisions.