Modelling and testing of a solar-receiver system applied to high-temperature processes

Solar volumetric-receivers have been successfully used in both electricity production and thermochemical applications. This paper studies the applicability of this technology to the production of process heat for high-temperature uses (573-1073 K). As such, a volumetric-receiver system was designed, installed and tested in the Plataforma Solar de Almeria's Solar Furnace (SF-60). The facility consisted of an open-volumetric-receiver module connected to a concentrated-solar-energy driven prototype, whose design was based on a previous three-dimensional CFD model. This work focuses on the validation of the CFD model and on the experimental evaluation of the high-temperature solar prototype, taking into account the uncertainty of the experimental and simulation results. Numerical results were in appreciable agreement with the experimental data, which determined that the prototype was able to reach the high-temperature range (850 K) with a homogeneous thermal profile. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.