Structural reliability analysis of parabolic trough receivers

Parabolic trough receivers typically account for 30% of the cost of a solar field. Furthermore, experiences show the cost of operation and maintenance of parabolic trough receivers over the lifetime of the system can be quite high as regular maintenance is required. Therefore, the receiver’s cost and structural reliability is crucial to guarantee the parabolic trough plants work steadily, safely and above all, economically. The structure of a parabolic trough receiver is principally a stainless steel inner tube surrounded by a glass outer tube. Because the stainless steel tube has 4m long and is easy to get bent, the glass outer tube is quite fragile and therefore prone to break. Experiences in field operations show the bending of stainless steel tube is the main reason of parabolic trough receiver’s structural failure. This study mainly investigates why and how the stainless steel tubes get bent. In this paper, an indoor experiment, numerical simulations (CFD and FEA) and field measurements are conducted to jointly investigate the causes of stainless steel tube’s bending. An indoor experiment is conducted on a heat loss test-rig, and the deflection of the stainless steel tube under different isothermal conditions is studied. Numerical simulations are used to investigate the detailed temperature distribution, and its corresponding structural deformation of the stainless steel tube of parabolic trough receivers. The simulations adapt a MCRT code, FLUENT software and ANSYS workbench. Finally, field measurements are conducted on a 36m long parabolic trough collector to investigate the stainless steel tube bending under different working conditions. This study shows that improper installation and operational practices of parabolic trough receivers are the main causes for the structural failure of the parabolic trough’s receiver. This study is of great importance to guide the installation and operation of parabolic trough receivers.

[1]  Qi-Chu Zhang,et al.  Recent progress in high-temperature solar selective coatings , 2000 .

[2]  S. Kalogirou.  A detailed thermal model of a parabolic trough collector receiver , 2012 .

[3]  Juan Xiao,et al.  Three-dimensional numerical study of heat transfer characteristics in the receiver tube of parabolic trough solar collector , 2010 .

[4]  Markus Eck,et al.  Stratified Flow Phenomena in Parabolic Trough Systems , 2012 .

[5]  R. Pletcher,et al.  Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer. By D. A ANDERSON, J. C. TANNEHILL and R. H. PLETCHER. Hemisphere, 1984. 599 pp. $39.95. , 1986, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[6]  Jian Li,et al.  The analysis of residual stress in glass-to-metal seals for solar receiver tube , 2010 .

[7]  Kazuo Aoki,et al.  A rarefied gas flow induced by a temperature field: Numerical analysis of the flow between two coaxial elliptic cylinders with different uniform temperatures , 1998 .

[8]  Jian Li,et al.  Vacuum reliability analysis of parabolic trough receiver , 2012 .

[9]  Stuart W. Churchill,et al.  Correlating equations for laminar and turbulent free convection from a horizontal cylinder , 1975 .

[10]  Zhifeng Wang,et al.  Experimental study of glass to metal seals for parabolic trough receivers , 2012 .

[11]  Cole Boulevard,et al.  Executive Summary: Assessment of Parabolic Trough and Power Tower Solar Technology Cost and Performance Forecasts , 2003 .

[12]  Eckhard Lüpfert,et al.  Experimental Analysis of Overall Thermal Properties of Parabolic Trough Receivers , 2008 .

[13]  Henry Price,et al.  Progress in Development of High-Temperature Solar-Selective Coating , 2005 .

[14]  H. Schlichting.  Boundary Layer Theory , 1955 .

[15]  J. Muñoz,et al.  Analysis of internal helically finned tubes for parabolic trough design by CFD tools , 2011 .

[16]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Analysis of Conduction Heat Loss From a Parabolic Trough Solar Receiver with Active Vacuum by Direct Simulation Monte Carlo , 2012 .

[17]  Yong Shuai,et al.  Thermal stress analysis of eccentric tube receiver using concentrated solar radiation , 2010 .

[18]  Felix Sharipov,et al.  Heat transfer through a rarefied gas confined between two coaxial cylinders with high radius ratio , 2006 .

[19]  Agustín M. Delgado-Torres,et al.  Comparison of solar technologies for driving a desalination system by means of an organic Rankine cycle , 2007 .

[20]  Timothy A. Moss,et al.  Field Survey of Parabolic Trough Receiver Thermal Performance , 2006 .

[21]  Yong Shuai,et al.  Ray-Thermal-Structural Coupled Analysis of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector System , 2010 .

[22]  R. Forristall,et al.  Heat Transfer Analysis and Modeling of a Parabolic Trough Solar Receiver Implemented in Engineering Equation Solver , 2003 .

[23]  Nathan P. Siegel,et al.  Improved High Temperature Solar Absorbers for Use in Concentrating Solar Power Central Receiver Applications , 2011 .

[24]  Boris Orel,et al.  Sol–gel derived CuCoMnOx spinel coatings for solar absorbers: Structural and optical properties , 2001 .

[25]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Numerical Analysis of Heat Loss From a Parabolic Trough Absorber Tube With Active Vacuum System , 2011 .

[26]  Zhifeng Wang,et al.  Three-dimensional numerical study of heat transfer characteristics of parabolic trough receiver , 2014 .

[27]  Qiang Li,et al.  An experimental study of thermal characterization of parabolic trough receivers , 2013 .

[28]  D. Mills.  Advances in solar thermal electricity technology , 2004 .

[29]  Craig Turchi,et al.  Line-Focus Solar Power Plant Cost Reduction Plan (Milestone Report) , 2010 .

[30]  Mary Jane Hale,et al.  Developments in High Temperature Parabolic Trough Receiver Technology , 2004 .

[31]  R. Pitz-Paal,et al.  Experimental Verification of Optical Modeling of Parabolic Trough Collectors by Flux Measurement , 2009 .

[32]  Chang Xu,et al.  Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement in the receiver tube of direct steam generation with parabolic trough by inserting metal foams , 2013 .

[33]  Ya-Ling He,et al.  Numerical simulation of a parabolic trough solar collector with nonuniform solar flux conditions by coupling FVM and MCRT method , 2012 .

[34]  Jian Li,et al.  Hydrogen permeation model of parabolic trough receiver tube , 2012 .

[35]  Zhifeng Wang,et al.  The calculation and analysis of glass-to-metal sealing stress in solar absorber tube , 2010 .

[36]  Yangyang He,et al.  Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement by unilateral longitudinal vortex generators inside parabolic trough solar receivers , 2012 .

[37]  W. Rohsenow,et al.  Handbook of Heat Transfer , 1998 .

[38]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Three-Dimensional Optical and Thermal Numerical Model of Solar Tubular Receivers in Parabolic Trough Concentrators , 2012 .

[39]  Ya-Ling He,et al.  A MCRT and FVM coupled simulation method for energy conversion process in parabolic trough solar collector , 2011 .

[40]  C. Kennedy.  Review of Mid- to High-Temperature Solar Selective Absorber Materials , 2002 .