Characteristics of heat transfer and pressure drops of the fills for solar tower volumetric air receivers

솔라 타워용 공기식 흡수기를 위한 충진재의 열전달 및 압력 강하 특성

Characteristics of heat transfer and pressure drops of fills for solar tower volumetric air receivers are experimentally investigated with the material and the thickness. The volumetric air receiver considered in this paper consists of a ceramic tube and fills are inserted in the ceramic tube. Air is used as the working fluid. Two materials, which are a honeycomb(diameter: 100mm, thickness: 30mm) and laminated mesh(diameter: 100mm, thickness: 1mm), are considered as the fills. In order to investigate the characteristics of heat transfer of fills, this volumetric air receiver is heated by an electric heater and air temperatures in ceramic tube are measured. Also, the radiative shields are installed to measure the only air temperature. In addition, the pressure losses are measured with the thickness of fills while the air goes through the fills inserted in an acrylic tube. The flow becomes turbulent and fully developed in front of the fills. The results show that the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the laminated mesh are superior to those of the honeycomb.