Thermo-mechanical solar receiver design and validation for a micro gas-turbine based solar dish system

This work presents the comprehensive development of a solar receiver for the integration into a micro gas-turbine solar dish system. Special focus is placed on the thermo-mechanical design to ensure the structural integrity of all receiver components for a wide range of operating conditions. For the development, a 3-dimensional coupled multi-physics model is established and is validated using experimental data. Contrary to previous studies, the temperature of the irradiated front surface of the absorber is included in the comprehensive validation process which results in a high level of confidence in the receiver design. Finally, a full-scale solar receiver for the integration into the OMSoP solar dish system is designed and its performance determined for a wide operating range to define its safe operating envelope using the validated model. It is shown that the receiver is capable of operating at 803 degrees C with an efficiency of 82.1% and a pressure drop of 0.3% at the nominal operating point, while at the same time functioning effectively for a wide range of off-design conditions without compromising its structural integrity. At the nominal operating point, the maximum comparison stress of the porous absorber is 5.6 MPa compared to a permissible limit of 7.4 MPa. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.