High-Temperature Heat-Pipe Type Solar Thermal Receiver

고온용 히트파이프형 태양열 흡수기

A numerical study was conducted on a simplified model of a high-temperature solar receiver which incorporates liquid-metal heat pipe. The objective of this paper is to compare the isothermal characteristics of the heat pipe receiver with the conventional receiver utilizing convection of molten salt as heat carrier. The solar receiver was assumed to be subject to a concentration ratio between 50 and 1,000 to supply high-temperature heat to a stirling engine for electric power generation. For simplicity of the analysis, a cylindrical geometry was assumed and typical dimensions were used based on available literature. The heat pipe had a shape of double-walled cavity and the working fluid was a sodium. The analysis was performed assuming that the radiation heat flux on the inner walls of the receiver was uniform, since the focus of this study was laid on the comparison of the conventional type and heat pipe type receiver. The results showed that the heat pipe type exhibited superior performance when the operating temperature becomes higher. In addition, to explore the advantage of the heat pipe receiver, the channel shape and dimensions should be adjusted to increase the heat transfer area between the wall and the heat trnasfer medium.