Dense wire mesh as a high-efficiency solar volumetric absorber

Maya Livshits, Lior Avivi, Abraham Kribus

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Heating a gas to over 1,000°C with concentrated sunlight can enable advanced high-performance applications such as solar-driven combined cycles and solar thermo-chemical processes. Solar receivers using volumetric porous absorbers are intended to produce the 'volumetric effect' leading to reduced heat loss and high absorber efficiency. However, experiments on volumetric absorbers have not shown this effect, and the absorbers' efficiency is usually in the range of 70-80% rather than the desirable range of over 90%. Several porous structure geometries, including the well-known ceramic honeycomb and ceramic foam, were investigated with a numerical model. The results show that even optimal configurations still fall short of the desired range of absorber efficiency. A new candidate structure, a dense wire mesh, was investigated and compared to the conventional absorbers. The volumetric convection coefficient was also measured experimentally to provide validation of the single report found in the literature for this structure. An attractive solution with high efficiency of 90% was found for a dense wire mesh with pore diameter of 1 mm and porosity of 0.83. This geometry seems then a promising candidate for future volumetric absorbers.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAerospace Heat Transfer; Computational Heat Transfer; Education; Environmental Heat Transfer; Fire and Combustion Systems; Gas Turbine Heat Transfer; Heat Transfer in Electronic Equipment; Heat Transfer in Energy Systems
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9780791857885
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017
EventASME 2017 Heat Transfer Summer Conference, HT 2017 - Bellevue, United States
Duration: 9 Jul 201712 Jul 2017

Publication series

NameASME 2017 Heat Transfer Summer Conference, HT 2017
Volume1

Conference

ConferenceASME 2017 Heat Transfer Summer Conference, HT 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBellevue
Period9/07/1712/07/17

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dense wire mesh as a high-efficiency solar volumetric absorber'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this