A rigorous computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach to calculating temperature distributions, radiative and convective losses, and flow fields in a cavity receiver irradiated by a heliostat field is typically limited to the receiver domain alone for computational reasons. A CFD simulation cannot realistically yield a precise solution that includes the details within the vast domain of an entire heliostat field in addition to the detailed processes and features within a cavity receiver. Instead, the incoming field irradiance can be represented as a boundary condition on the receiver domain. This paper describes a program, the Solar Patch Calculator, written in Microsoft Excel VBA to characterize multiple beams emanating from a “solar patch” located at the aperture of a cavity receiver, in order to represent the incoming irradiance from any field of heliostats as a boundary condition on the receiver domain. This program accounts for cosine losses; receiver location; heliostat reflectivity, areas and locations; field location; time of day and day of year. This paper also describes the implementation of the boundary conditions calculated by this program into a Discrete Ordinates radiation model using Ansys® FLUENT (www.fluent.com), and compares the results to experimental data and to results generated by the code DELSOL.
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ASME 2010 4th International Conference on Energy Sustainability
May 17–22, 2010
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Advanced Energy Systems Division and Solar Energy Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4395-6
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Development of a “Solar Patch” Calculator to Evaluate Heliostat-Field Irradiance as a Boundary Condition in CFD Models Available to Purchase
Siri Sahib S. Khalsa,
Siri Sahib S. Khalsa
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
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Clifford K. Ho
Clifford K. Ho
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
Search for other works by this author on:
Siri Sahib S. Khalsa
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
Clifford K. Ho
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
Paper No:
ES2010-90052, pp. 483-490; 8 pages
Published Online:
December 22, 2010
Citation
Khalsa, SSS, & Ho, CK. "Development of a “Solar Patch” Calculator to Evaluate Heliostat-Field Irradiance as a Boundary Condition in CFD Models." Proceedings of the ASME 2010 4th International Conference on Energy Sustainability. ASME 2010 4th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Volume 2. Phoenix, Arizona, USA. May 17–22, 2010. pp. 483-490. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/ES2010-90052
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