scholarly journals Solar Field Output Temperature Optimization Using a MILP Algorithm and a 0D Model in the Case of a Hybrid Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Plant for SHIP Applications

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3731
Author(s):  
Simon Kamerling ◽  
Valéry Vuillerme ◽  
Sylvain Rodat

Using solar power for industrial process heat is an increasing trend to fight against climate change thanks to renewable heat. Process heat demand and solar flux can both present intermittency issues in industrial systems, therefore solar systems with storage introduce a degree of freedom on which optimization, on a mathematical basis, can be performed. As the efficiency of solar thermal receivers varies as a function of temperature and solar flux, it seems natural to consider an optimization on the operating temperature of the solar field. In this paper, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) algorithm is developed to optimize the operating temperature in a system consisting of a concentrated solar thermal field with storage, hybridized with a boiler. The MILP algorithm optimizes the control trajectory on a time horizon of 48 h in order to minimize boiler use. Objective function corresponds to the boiler use, for completion of the heat from the solar field, whereas the linear constraints are a simplified representation of the system. The solar field mass flow rate is the optimization variable which is directly linked to the outlet temperature of the solar field. The control trajectory consists of the solar field mass flow rate and outlet temperature, along with the auxiliary mass flow rate going directly to the boiler. The control trajectory is then injected in a 0D model of the plant which performs more detailed calculations. For the purpose of the study, a Linear Fresnel system is investigated, with generic heat demand curves and constant temperature demand. The value of the developed algorithm is compared with two other control approaches: one operating at the nominal solar field output temperature, and the other one operating at the actual demand mass flow rate. Finally, a case study and a sensitivity analysis are presented. The MILP’s control shows to be more performant, up to a relative increase of the annual solar fraction of 4% at 350 °C process temperature. Novelty of this work resides in the MILP optimization of temperature levels presenting high non-linearities, applied to a solar thermal system with storage for process heat applications.

Author(s):  
Mohamad Modrek ◽  
Ali Al-Alili

Photovoltaic thermal collectors (PVT) combines technologies of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors into a hybrid system by attaching an absorber to the back surface of a PV panel. PVT collectors have gained a lot of attention recently due to the high energy output per unit area compared to a standalone system of PV panels and solar thermal collectors. In this study, performance of a liquid cooled flat PVT collector under the climatic conditions of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was experimentally investigated. The electrical performances of the PVT collector was compared to that of a standalone PV panel. Moreover, effect of sand accumulation on performance of PVT collectors was examined. Additionally, effect of mass flow rate on thermal and electrical output of PVT collector was studied. Electrical power output is slightly affected by changes in mass flow rate. However, thermal energy increased by 22% with increasing flow rate. Electrical power output of a PV panel was found to be 38% lower compared to electrical output of PVT collectors. Dust accumulation on PVT surface reduced electrical power output up to 7% compared with a reference PVT collector.


Author(s):  
Nathan Schroeder ◽  
Henk Laubscher ◽  
Brantley Mills ◽  
Clifford K. Ho

Abstract Falling particle receivers (FPRs) are being studied in concentrating solar power applications to enable high temperatures for supercritical CO2 (sCO2) Brayton power cycles. The falling particles are introduced into the cavity receiver via a linear actuated slide gate and irradiated by concentrated sunlight. The thickness of the particle curtain associated with the slide-gate opening dimension dictates the mass flow rate of the particle curtain. A thicker, higher mass flow rate, particle curtain would typically be associated with a smaller temperature rise through the receiver, and a thinner, lower mass flow rate, particle curtain would result in a larger temperature rise. Using the receiver outlet temperature as the process variable and the linear actuated slide gate as the input parameter a proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller was implemented to control the temperature of the particles leaving the receiver. The PID parameters were tuned to respond in a quick and stable manner. The PID controlled slide gate was tested using the 1 MW receiver at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). The receiver outlet temperature was ramped from ambient to 800°C then maintained at the setpoint temperature. After reaching a steady-state, perturbations of 15%–20% of the initial power were applied by removing heliostats to simulate passing clouds. The PID controller reacted to the change in the input power by adjusting the mass flow rate through the receiver to maintain a constant receiver outlet temperature. A goal of ±2σ ≤ 10°C in the outlet temperature for the 5 minutes following the perturbation was achieved.


2011 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 129-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanhtrung Dang ◽  
Ngoctan Tran ◽  
Jyh Tong Teng

The study was done both numerically and experimentally on the heat transfer behaviors of a microchannel heat sink. The solver of numerical simulations (CFD - ACE+software package) was developed by using the finite volume method. This numerical method was performed to simulate for an overall microchannel heat sink, including the channels, substrate, manifolds of channels as well as the covered top wall. Numerical results associated with such kinds of overall microchannel heat sinks are rarely seen in the literatures. For cases done in this study, a heat flux of 9.6 W/cm2was achieved for the microchannel heat sink having the inlet temperature of 25 °C and mass flow rate of 0.4 g/s with the uniform surface temperature of bottom wall of the substrate of 50 °C; besides, the maximum heat transfer effectiveness of this device reached 94.4%. Moreover, in this study, when the mass flow rate increases, the outlet temperature decreases; however, as the mass flow rate increases, the heat flux of this heat sink increases also. In addition, the results obtained from the numerical analyses were in good agreement with those obtained from the experiments as well as those from the literatures, with the maximum discrepancies of the heat fluxes estimated to be less than 6 %.


Author(s):  
Mahmood Lahroodi ◽  
A. A. Mozafari

This paper presents an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) - based modeling technique for prediction of outlet temperature, pressure and mass flow rate of gas turbine combustor. ANN technique has been developed and used to model temperature, pressure and mass flow rate as a nonlinear function of fuel flow rate to the combustion chamber. Results obtained by present modeling are compared with those obtained by experiment. A quantitative analysis of modeling technique has been carried out using different evaluation indices; namely, Mean-Square-Quantization-Error (MSQE) and actual percentage error. The results show the effectiveness and capability of the proposed modeling technique with reasonable accuracies of about 95 percent.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyyed Mahdi Taheri Mousavi ◽  
Fuat Egelioglu

The thermal performances of three slit-glazed solar air heaters (SGSAHs) were investigated experimentally. Three SGSAHs with different bed heights (7 cm, 5 cm, and 3 cm) were fabricated with multiple glass panes used for glazing. The length, width, and thickness of each pane were 154 cm, 6 cm, and 0.4 cm, respectively. Ambient air was continuously withdrawn through the gaps between the glass panes by fans. The experiments were conducted for four different gap distances between the glass panes (0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm) and the air mass flow rate was varied between 0.014 kg/s and 0.057 kg/s. The effects of air mass flux on the outlet temperature and thermal efficiency were studied. For the SGSAH with bed height of 7 cm and glass pane gap distance of 0.5 mm, the highest efficiency was obtained as 82% at a mass flow rate of 0.057 kg/s and the air temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet (∆T) was maximum (27°C) when the mass flow rate was least. The results demonstrate that for lower mass flow rates and larger gaps, the performance of SGSAH with a bed height of 3 cm was better compared to that of others. However, for higher mass flow rates, the SGSAH with 7 cm bed height performed better.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
Atul Kumar ◽  
Prabhakar Bhandari ◽  
K.S. Rawat

This paper presents a theoretical investigation of solar air heater using phase change material (PCM). PCM used in present configuration is homogenous mixture of paraffin wax with Aluminium powder. The purpose of using Aluminium powder with paraffin wax is to increase the thermal conductivity. PCM mixtures are encapsulated in cylinders and are used as solar absorbers. Using MATLAB program, the effect of different parameters is studied. It has been observed that with increase in mass flow rate, air outlet temperature decreases and freezing time of cylinder decreases. However, at constant mass flow rate, with increase in cylinder radius, air temperature decreases and while freezing time increase sharply. The different parameters have  to be chosen such that performance of solar air heater can be optimized.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Setiawan ◽  
Vera Pangni Fahriani ◽  
Sugeng Riyadi

One of the causes of boiler pipe breakage is corrosion. The prediction of the lifetime of the tube and superheater effectiveness on the boiler shall be calculated to determine and predict the failure time. The prediction of the lifetime of the tube is a prediction of the time of the failure of the superheater tube in the boiler so that the return can be performed.  The effectiveness of the superheater in the boiler is a comparison of the heat transfer rate of the overheated tubes  inside the boiler. The research method was research and development, a computational program using an optimization process.  The variables used in the study were steam input temperature, metal tube temperature, steam outlet temperature, natural gas input temperature, natural gas mass flow rate,  vapour mass flow rate, and natural gas outlet temperature. This study takes a case study of the superheater boiler from the company. The results of calculation of the life expectancy of the operating conditions  shall be 11 years when the boiler data sheet is used and 14 years  for using the actual boiler data. Superheater effectiveness in boilers with 56% is a data sheet on boilers and 56% of the actual data. Optimization of the particle swarm algorithm predicted a  29 year  lifespan. The effectiveness of the superheater in the boiler is 86%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3464
Author(s):  
Hélio A. G. Diniz ◽  
Tiago F. Paulino ◽  
Juan J. G. Pabon ◽  
Antônio A. T. Maia ◽  
Raphael N. Oliveira

This paper presents a distributed mathematical model for a carbon dioxide direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump used to heat bath water. The main components are a gas cooler, a needle valve, an evaporator/collector, and a compressor. To develop the heat exchange models, mass, energy, and momentum balances were used. The model was validated for transient as well as steady state conditions using experimental data. A reasonably good agreement was observed between the predicted temperatures and experimental data. The simulations showed that the time step required to demonstrate the behavior of the heat pump in the transient regime is greater than the time step required for the steady state. The results obtained with the mathematical model revealed that a reduction in the water mass flow rate results in an increase in the water outlet temperature. In addition, when the carbon dioxide mass flow rate is reduced, the compressor inlet and outlet temperatures increase as well as the water outlet temperature.


Author(s):  
Arnold Gad-Briggs ◽  
Pericles Pilidis

The Design Point (DP) performance of a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is fairly straightforward to establish for a given mass flow rate, turbomachinery compressor Pressure Ratio (PR) and reactor Core Outlet Temperature (COT). The plant components are optimum for that point but this is no longer the case if the plant’s operating conditions are changed for part-load performance. Data from tests or previous operating experiences are useful in determining typical part load performance of components based on characteristic maps. However, when individual components are linked in a plant, the range of operating points for part load performances are severely reduced. The main objective of this study is to derive Off-Design Points (ODPs) for the Simple Cycle Recuperated (SCR) and Intercooled Cycle Recuperated (ICR) when considering a temperature range of −35 to 50°C and COTs between 750 to 1000°C, using a modelling & performance simulation tool designed specifically for this study, which calculates the best operational equilibrium ODPs that are critical to the economics of the NPP. Results show that the recuperator High-Pressure (HP) side and reactor pressure losses alter the actual operating parameters (mass flow rate and compressor PR). The SCR yielded a drop in plant cycle efficiency of 1% for a 4% pressure loss in comparison to the ICR (5%) for the same amount of recuperator HP losses. Other parameters such as the precooler and recuperator Low-Pressure (LP) losses still retain the same operating inlet PRs and mass flow rates regardless of the magnitude of the losses. In the absence of characteristic maps in the public domain, the ODPs have been used to produce characteristic trend maps for first order ODP calculations. The analyses intend to aid the development of cycles for Generation IV NPPs specifically Gas Cooled Fast Reactors (GFRs) and Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTRs), where helium is the coolant.


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