The failure of receivers has been one of the main operating problems at the White Cliffs solar thermal power plant. This Technical Note reports the results of an initial investigation that identifies the cause as having been the thermal fatiguing of the tube walls. The fatigue appears to be caused by unstable heat transfer at vapor qualities below the point where critical heat flux is generally exceeded. Methods for avoiding this problem are tested.

Issue Section:
Technical Briefs
Topics:
Fatigue failure, Solar thermal power, Critical heat flux, Failure, Fatigue, Heat transfer, Vapors
1.
Bannister, P., 1991, “An Experimental and Analytical Assessment of a Steam Rankine Solar Thermal System,” PhD Thesis, Energy Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Aug.
2.
Carver, J. R., Kakarala, C. R., and Slotnik, J. S., 1964, “Heat Transfer in Coiled Tubes with two-phase Flow,” Research Rpt. 4438, Babcock and Wilcox, July.
3.
Jensen
M. K.
, and
Bergles
A. E.
,
1981
, “
Critical Heat Flux in Helically Coiled Tubes
,”
ASME Journal of Heat Transfer
, Vol.
103
, pp.
660
–
666
.
4.
Kaneff, S., 1987a, “The White Cliffs Solar Thermal Electric Power Systems,” Proc. ASME-JSME-JSES Solar Energy Conf. Honolulu, HI, pp. 815–820.
5.
Kaneff, S., 1987b, “The White Cliffs Project Overview for the Period 1979-1987,” Research Rpt. EP-RR-47, Engineering Physics Dept., Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Dec.
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 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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