Direct measurements and prediction of the particle egress from a vortex-based solar cavity receiver with an open aperture

We report direct, in-situ measurements and numerical predictions of the normalised particle egress from a vortex-based particle solar receiver with an open aperture under iso-thermal conditions. These represent an important advancement toward meeting the challenge of developing both a suitable configuration and control strategy for operation of an open-to-atmosphere vortex reactor without significant particle egress. This control strategy induces a net inflow through the aperture by over-ventilating the outlet port as means to mitigate particle egress (here polymethylmethacrylate particles) for one configuration of the device. The influences of the level of over-ventilation, the Froude number and the Stokes number on the overall normalised particle number from the receiver were investigated using a planar laser-based Mie scattering method and computational fluid dynamics. It was found that, although this control strategy can be configured to mitigate particle egress from the vortex-based particle solar receiver with an open aperture, this will require significant over-ventilation of the cavity for the present configuration. The sensitivity analysis also found that slight over-ventilation is the most significant factor on controlling particle egress while significant over-ventilation is less effective considering the impact on thermal performance and the demand of fan power. This represents an important step toward the development of a windowless reactor, although further development of the configuration is needed to achieve efficient mitigation.

Automated summary

This study presents direct measurements and numerical predictions of particle egress from a vortex-based particle solar receiver. The study investigates the control strategy and finds that significant over-ventilation is required to mitigate particle egress. Slight over-ventilation is found to be the most significant factor in controlling particle egress.