Investigation into the Feasibility of an Air Curtain for a Solar Central Receiver. Final Report

摘要

An experimental investigation into the feasibility of using an air curtain to decrease the convective losses from a solar central receiver cavity is described. The investigation makes use of a simplified small-scale model of a cavity, the side walls of which are electrically heated to simulate the effects of the sun. Although optimization of air-curtain performance was not within the scope of this work, a decrease in convective losses of approximately 35% was achieved. In this report, the apparatus, instrumentation, and test procedures used are described. The results achieved are presented and discussed. Some preliminary notions regarding extrapolating the model-scale results to full size are presented, and a research program to continue the development of the concept is briefly outlined. (ERA citation 09:035324)