Study and Modeling of a Pressurized Air Receiver to Power a Micro Gas Turbine

International audienceIn the present work a solar receiver with reticulated porous ceramic foam bounded by two concentric cylinders, horizontal axis and length L is selected and studied. A receiver pre-sizing study based on the optimization work of Hischier allowed us to find the dimensions and the receiver input variables. We have developed a mathematical model based on the Representative elementary volume to model the flow and heat transfer within the absorber. The numerical solution of equations set was obtained with FLUENT. The power of 75 kW wanted in this study is obtained with a thermal efficiency equal to 87%. The fields of temperature and velocities from the simulation are analyzed and it is clear from this study that the temperature profiles show the excellent ability of the receiver to transfer the heat to the fluid. The influences of the porosity and mass flow on the thermal efficiency are analyzed also. It emerges from this study that the mass flow rate and porosity are very critical parameters on the thermal performance of the receiver. © 2016 Author(s)