Abstract
Convective heat loss from solar tower receiver is experimentally investigated in wind tunnel with tilt angles and operating conditions. In order to simulate the receiver, an electric heater, which is made of aluminum (width : 100 mm, height : 100mm) is used and installed in the wind tunnel. The convective heat loss from the receiver is dependent on the direction and the velocity of the wind and the surface temperature of the receiver. The tilt angle and surface temperature of the receiver are varied from 0o (cavity facing straight down) and 90o(cavity aligned horizontally) and from $150^{\circ}C$ to $250^{\circ}C$, respectively. Also, the wind speed is changed from 0 to 4m/s. The convective heat loss is obtained by measuring consumed power to the heater to maintain the desired surface temperature. It is concluded that Nusselt number increases with increasing wind speed for all cases. Especially, it is showed that Nusselt number can be maximized when the tilt angle is 30o.
