hv 7015

msm 15-4017PE

Update on Falling
Particle Receiver
Research at Sandia
Contributors:
Sandia National Laboratories
Georgia Institute of Technology
Bucknell University
King Saud University
German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Clifford K. Ho
Sandia National Laboratories
SAND2015-XXXX
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

Wi ENERGY

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National Nucietr Security Admlnlstf/ttian

Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia

Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of
Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Exceptional service
in the national interest

Sandia
National
Laboratories

Technology Description

Particle curtain

Particle elevator

Particle hot
storage tank
Particle-toworking-fluid heat

Aperture

exchanger
Particle cold
storage tank

Falling particle receiver

I

Falling Particle Receiver Technology

2

Presentation Overview
Objectives
Approach, Progress, and Results
Receiver
Particles
Balance of Plant

Future Work

Project Objectives
Make advancements in falling particle technologies
that will enable higher temperatures and greater
efficiencies at a lower cost
1.

Receiver designs

2.

Particle radiative properties and durability

3.

Balance of plant

Presentation Overview
Objectives
Approach, Progress, and Results
Receiver
Particles
Balance of Plant

Future Work

Receiver

Free-Falling Receiver Designs and Particle

Recirculation (SNL, DLR)

Develop CFD models to evaluate

and optimize receiver performance
with varying recirculation designs
ANSYS FLUENT: Radiation, convection,
discrete phase particles, turbulence
- Two scales: 100 MWe and prototype
for testing

1.18e+03

1.15e+03
1.12e+03
1.090+03
1.060+03
1.03e+03
9.97e+02
9.66e+02
9.36e+02
9.05e+02
8.75e+02
8.45e+02
8.14e+02
7.84e+02
7.54e+02
7.23e+02
6.93e+02
6.62e+02
6.32e+02
6.02e+02
5.71e+02

1/ /1 U.S. Department of Energy

Christian and Ho, Alternative Designs of a High Efficiency, North-Facing, Solid

Particle Receiver, SolarPACES 2013

Air Curtain Modeling (SNL)

Evaluate use of air recirculation in

falling particle receiver to reduce heat
loss and impacts of external wind
Investigate particle size, location, particle
flow rate, air flow rate, external wind

1 mm particle size

100 mm particle size

10 mm particle size

Design of Experiments
Factors
Particle size
Particle mass flow rate
Particle release location
Air curtain blower speed
External wind

Metrics

Particle curtain spread

'

Particle loss

Ho et al. , 2013/2014, Experimental and Numerical Studies ofAir

Curtains for Falling Particle Receivers,ASME ES-2013, ES-2014.

Sun Shot

U.S. Department of Energy

Air Curtain Testing (SNL)

10

Impact of Air Curtain on Convective Heat loss

The air curtain
generally increased
convective losses in
the system by ~0.5-1%
for low initial particle
temperatures of 25 C
When the simulated
initial particle
temperature was
increased to 600 C,
the convective losses
were reduced by 3.5
percentage

Particle
release

Air inj ection

Receiver
(outlined)

11

Discrete Porous Structures (Georgia Tech,

Sandia)

Particle curtain

Falling Particles

Discrete Structures
or
Porous Ceramic Foam

Aperture

Insulation

Patent Pending

12

Ga Tech Discrete Porous Structure Insert

Particle flow tests performed
Panel installed into receiver and prototype structure
Thermocouple funnels designed and built
Ground-based on-sun tests performed

13

Particle flow tests over chevron screens

14

Particle Image Velocimetry (1/4 discharge slot)

2nd row chevron near top

Bottom chevron (55 cm from top)

Standard Deviation

H Sun Shot

rS//l111 U.S. Department of Energv

0.60 m/s

0.07 m/s

0.53 m/s

0.09 m/s

0.52 m/s

0.08 m/s

15

Particle Velocities - Free fall vs. obstructed

7
Error bars for measured free-fall data
represent minimum and maximum values
Error bars for measured fall over chevron
screens represent one standard deviation

5
II

V)

>

u
O
Q)
u

1^4<

Measured free-fall (6.35 mm aperture)

Measured free-fall (9.5 mm aperture)

Measured free-fall (12.7 mm aperture)

ro

Q_

Ho et al. 2015,
Characterization of
Particle Flow in a FreeFalling Solar Particle
Receiver, ASME 2015
Power and Energy
Conversion Conference,
San Diego, CA, June 28 July 2, 2015.

Measured chevrons (6.35 mm aperture)

Analytical free-fall (without drag)

1
#

0.0

0.5

#
i

1.0
Distance from release (m)

1.5

2.0

16

On-Sun Testing

17

Prototype System Design

Caged
ladders

Work
platforms

Olds
Elevator

Top hopper
(two release
slots)

Receiver

Water-cooled
flux target

Bottom
hopper

Open space for

1 MW particle
heat exchanger

Top of tower
module

18

Chevron Screen Integration with Receiver

19

Thermocouple Funnel Testing

20

Ground-Based On-Sun Testing

Single Heliostat

Six Heliostats

March 9 - 10, 2015

March 26, 2015

21

Flux Characterization

Three front-row heliostats on

Irradiance distribution with a peak flux of

particle flow within the receiver

~55 kW/m2

22

Particle Temperatures
170
------ Temperature In (TC-TH-012)

150

------ Temperature Out (TC-BH-003)

----- Heliostat(s) on Receiver
----- Heliostat(s) on Flux Target

2 heliostats

30
10
20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

Time (min)

23

Summary of Results

Number
Peak
Average
of
Irradiance Particle
Heliostats (kW/mA2) AT (C)

Average
Particle
Temperature
(C)

Power
absorbed
by
Specific
Mass
Propagated
Heat Flow Rate particles Incident Thermal % Error in
(J/kg-K)
(W)
Power (W) Efficiency Efficiency
(kg/s)

16

3.45

39.1

706

0.53

1297

1870

69%

17%

35

3.81

85.7

813

0.53

1648

3970

42%

11%

55

5.64

105.1

844

0.53

2533

6380

40%

12%

65

7.01

118.2

862

0.53

3217

7540

43%

14%

75

8.16

136.5

884

0.53

3841

8090

47%

18%

100

8.43

154.6

904

0.53

4060

10000

41%

17%

Plot oflthermal
efficiency

24

Particles

25

Particle Radiative Properties and

Rejuvenation (Bucknell, SNL)

Sintered Bauxite

0.934

0.843

0.864

Sintered Bauxite

0.929

0.803

0.862

Sintered Bauxite

0.894

0.752

0.831

Sintered Bauxite

0.906

0.754

0.843

Sintered Bauxite

0.909

0.789

0.843

Silica

0.55

0.715

0.490

Commercial Paint

0.97

0.88

0.897

*Spectral directional reflectance values were measured at room temperature. The total hemispherical emissivity was calculated
assuming a surface temperature of 700 C.
4
**Q is assumed to be 6x105 W/m2 and T is assumed to be 700 C (973 K): Ve =

Siegel et al. 2015, The Development of Direct Absorption and Storage Media for
Falling Particle Solar Central Receivers, ASME J. Solar Energy Eng., 137(4)

26

Particle Durability (Georgia Tech, DLR,

Sandia)
Laboratory tests for surface impact evaluation,
attrition, and sintering

Thousands of
drop cycles at
ambient and
elevated
temperatures
(up to 1000 C)
Ambient drop
tests at ~10 m

Knott et al.,Examining the Effects of High Temperatures on the Durability of Solid Particles for Use in
Thermal Energy Storage, SolarPACES 2013

Al-Ansary et al., Characterization and Sintering Potential of Solid Particles for Use in High
Temperature Thermal Energy Storage System, SolarPACES 2013,

27

Balance of Plant

28

Thermal Storage (KSU)

Experimental evaluation and modeling of prototype thermal
energy storage designs

[insulating Firebrick]

9 48e+02
9.16e+02
8.84e+02
8.52ei>02
820e>02

7 896*02
7.57e+02
7.2561*02
8.9361*02
6 61e+02
6.2961*02
598e+02
5 66e+02

3 346*02
502e+02
4 70e+02
4 38e+02
4.07e+02
3.756+02
3 43e+02
3.116+02

Particle Level

El-Leathy et al., Experimental Study of Heat Loss from a Thermal Energy Storage System for Use
with a High-Temperature Falling Particle Receiver System, SolarPACES 2013

29

Particle to Working Fluid Heat Exchanger

(Georgia Tech)
Experimental evaluation of heat transfer
coefficients & particle flow
Heat exchanger module designed and
instrumented for continuous sand flow over
heated tubes
Feed Ramp
Sand Flow
Hopper

Particle Flow
Assist Vibrator

Water/Air Out
Olds Elevator
Water/Air In

Serpentine Tube
Heat Exchanger
Funnel
Conveyor

Scale

Golob et al., 2013, Serpentine Particle-Flow Heat Exchanger with Working Fluid, for Solar Thermal
Power Generation, SolarPACES 2013

30

Particle Lifts (GT, SNL, DLR)

Evaluate commercial particle lift

designs
Requirements

Up to 10 kg/s/m

Particle loss < 0.01% of mass flow

Operating temperature ~ 500 C

(assumes AT during last drop of
>200 C)

- Different lift strategies evaluated

Olds Elevator

Screw-type

Bucket

Mine hoist

31

Presentation Overview
Objectives
Approach, Progress, and Results
Receiver
Particles
Balance of Plant

32

Future Work
Lift system to top of tower
June 8
Begin on-sun testing
Irradiance
Mass flow rate
Discrete porous structure vs.
free fall

Evaluate particle
temperature rise and
thermal efficiency
Propose particle/sCO2 heat
exchanger
33

Acknowledgments
Award # DE-EE0000595-1558

Sandia National Labs

-

Josh Christian, Daniel Ray,JJ Kelton, Kye Chisman, Bill Kolb, Ron Briggs

Georgia Tech
-

Sheldon Jeter, Said Abdel-Khalik, Dennis Sadowski, Jonathan Roop, Ryan Knott,
Matthew Golob, Clayton Nguyen, Evan Mascianica, Matt Sandlin

Bucknell University
-

Nate Siegel, Michael Gross

King Saud University

-

Hany Al-Ansary, Abdelrahman El-Leathy, Eldwin Djajadiwinata, Abdulaziz

Alrished

DLR
-

Lars Amsbeck, Reiner Buck, Birgit Gobereit

34

Questions?

Clifford K. Ho
ckho@sandia.gov
(505) 844-2384

35

Backup Slides

36

Predicted Thermal Efficiency

1.0
Average Particle Temperature = 600 C

77 =

aQ -sctTp4

0.9

0.8

----- Effective absorptance = 0.85

Ambient T = 20 C

----- Effective absorptance = 0.9

----- Effective absorptance = 0.95

0.5

0.4
0.0E+00

5.0E+05

1.0E+06

Irradiance (W/mA2)

h = 10 W/m2-K

e = 1

0.7

0.6

- h (Tp - Tamb)

1.5E+06

Average particle
temperature =
600 C

m
37