Performance improvement methods for quartz tube solid particle fluidized bed solar receiver

The conditions to improve performance of quartz tube silicon carbide (SiC) solid particle fluidized bed solar receiver was investigated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The difficulty of experimenting all possible operating conditions was overcome by preparing CFD base input with appropriate models and parameters. The amount of SiC in the bed, the size of particles, and the air inlet velocity were considered as variables. After model verification, in order to evaluate the effect of particle addition, bed without solid particles were simulated first. Outlet temperature of single-phase receiver was calculated as 421 K. Outlet temperatures of 913 K, 895 K, and 881 K were obtained for 400 µm diameter particles in 0.3 m bed height for air inlet velocities of 0.25, 0.3, and 0.35 m/s. Air outlet temperature decreases as air inlet velocity increases. On the other hand, too much reduction at inlet velocity retards the system performance since it affects fluidization. For 400 gm particle diameter and bed height of 0.2 m, outlet temperatures of 994 K, 974 K, and 955 K were found for the same air inlet velocities above. As bed height decreases, air outlet temperature increases. For particle diameters of 300 and 500 µm for bed height of 0.3 m, outlet temperatures of 980 K and 878 K were calculated for appropriate minimum fluidization velocities. Outlet temperature increased with decreasing particle size.