This paper presents experimental evaluation of ammonia receiver geometries with a 9 m2 dish concentrator. The experiments involved varying the geometric arrangement of reactor tubes in a thermochemical reactor built from a series of tubes arranged in a conical shape inside a cavity receiver. Differences in conical arrangement were found to affect the efficiency of energy conversion. The solar-to-chemical efficiency gain obtained by varying the receiver geometry was up to 7% absolute. From this, it is apparent that geometric optimizations are worth pursuing since the resulting efficiency gains are achieved with no increase in costs of manufacture for receivers. The experimental results and methodology can be used when developing receivers for larger dish concentrators, such as the second generation 500 m2 dish concentrator developed at the Australian National University.
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November 2012
Research-Article
An Experimental Study of Ammonia Receiver Geometries for Dish Concentrators
Rebecca Dunn,
Rebecca Dunn
Solar Thermal Group,
Research School of Engineering,
e-mail: rebecca.dunn@anu.edu.au;
rebecca.irene.dunn@gmail.com
Australian National University (ANU)
,Research School of Engineering,
Building 31, North Road
,Canberra ACT 0200
, Australia
e-mail: rebecca.dunn@anu.edu.au;
rebecca.irene.dunn@gmail.com
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Keith Lovegrove,
Keith Lovegrove
IT Power Australia,
PO Box 6127,
O’Connor ACT 2602,
PO Box 6127,
O’Connor ACT 2602,
Australia
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John Pye
John Pye
Solar Thermal Group,
Research School of Engineering,
Australian National University (ANU)
,Research School of Engineering,
Building 31, North Road
,Canberra ACT 0200
, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
Rebecca Dunn
Solar Thermal Group,
Research School of Engineering,
e-mail: rebecca.dunn@anu.edu.au;
rebecca.irene.dunn@gmail.com
Australian National University (ANU)
,Research School of Engineering,
Building 31, North Road
,Canberra ACT 0200
, Australia
e-mail: rebecca.dunn@anu.edu.au;
rebecca.irene.dunn@gmail.com
Keith Lovegrove
IT Power Australia,
PO Box 6127,
O’Connor ACT 2602,
PO Box 6127,
O’Connor ACT 2602,
Australia
John Pye
Solar Thermal Group,
Research School of Engineering,
Australian National University (ANU)
,Research School of Engineering,
Building 31, North Road
,Canberra ACT 0200
, Australia
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received January 27, 2011; final manuscript received April 26, 2012; published online August 6, 2012. Assoc. Editor Tatsuya Kodama.
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Nov 2012, 134(4): 041007 (9 pages)
Published Online: August 6, 2012
Article history
Received:
January 27, 2011
Revision Received:
April 26, 2012
Citation
Dunn, R., Lovegrove, K., Burgess, G., and Pye, J. (August 6, 2012). "An Experimental Study of Ammonia Receiver Geometries for Dish Concentrators." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. November 2012; 134(4): 041007. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4006891
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