Parametric investigation of particulate flow in interconnected porous media for central particle-heating receiver

Abstract

An interconnected porous structure can be utilized to regulate the particle mass flow rate for central Solar particle-heating receivers (SPR) in Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems. The porous structure reduces the speed of the falling particulate material, i.e. increases its residence time within the receiver, thereby allowing a large temperature rise to be achieved in a single pass. An experimentally-validated numerical model of particulate flow within a porous structure was presented in an earlier publication (Lee et al., 2015). In this note, the numerical model is parametrically applied to quantify the effect of various design parameters on the performance of the SPR. The effects of receiver height, porous medium characteristics, and particle size on the mass flux and average particle residence time within the receiver have been quantified. Generalized correlations for the mass flux and average residence time have been developed. These correlations represent the main result of this work; they should aid designers of SPRs in selecting the appropriate range of parameters for their application.