Windowed Versus Windowless Solar Energy Cavity Receivers

摘要

A model for a windowed, high-temperature cavity receiver of the heated-air type is developed and used to evaluate the greenhouse effect as a method for obtaining high receiver operating efficiencies. The effects on receiver efficiency of varying the window cutoff wavelength, the amount of absorption in the window pass-band, the cavity operating temperature, and the number of windows are determined. Single windowed cavities are found to offer theoretical efficiencies comparable to windowless ones, while multiple windowed units are found to suffer from low operating efficiencies due to losses resulting from reflections at each window/air interface. A ''first order'' examination is made of the feasibility of air cooling the window to assure its survival. This appears possible if a proper combination of cooling technique and window material characteristics is selected. (ERA citation 04:022135)