UC3M Solar
In the last decade, an important development of the CSP plants facilities has occurred, but the achievement of a flexible and safe operation condition, needed to lower the cost of power and provide security to the electric power system, remains an important challenge.
Current project
The viability of solar power tower plants is endangered owing to multiple failures in their high temperature systems, principally the receiver, the steam generator and the molten salt thermal storage tanks. These failures produce unscheduled shutdowns with significant economic losses that increase the financing costs of this technology due to its technological risk.
In this context, the aim of the ReFlexSPT project is to propose failure-free designs of the receiver, the steam generator and the injection in the molten salt tank of current and next generation of Solar Power Towers (SPT), which will also allow these systems to operate flexibly with a greater response speed and reliability, thus making the technology of solar power towers more economically viable, encouraging the penetration of variable renewable energies and providing security to the electricity system. To reach the these goals, the project comprises both experimental activities in a molten salt loop and CFD-DEM detailed simulations.
The project in a nutshell
Project title: Highly reliable thermomechanical designs for flexible solar power towers (ReFlexSPT)
Type of Project: Research project (Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento)
Project coordinators: Antonio Acosta Iborra, Domingo Santana Santana Funding Entity: AGENCIA ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACION (AEI) / EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND (ERDF)
Budget: 145,000.00 €
Project code: PID2021-122895OB-I00
Period: from 01/09/2022 to 31/08/2025
Group: Energy System Engineering (ISE) at the Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering (UC3M).
Number of researchers: 10
Finished project
In order to significantly contribute to the goal of a safe operation of CSP plants, the SOSreceiver project aims at increasing the knowledge in the operation of solar tubular
receivers, which are one of the most demanded elements of these plans. In particular, the research of the project is focused on central tubular receivers of Solar Power
Towers (SPT), as this the CSP technology that is experiencing a greater growth due to its superior thermal efficiency.
The fundamental idea to be developed in SOSreceiver project is the real-time quantification of the temperature and stress of the receiver tubes at the extreme conditions of their daily operation. This will allow the development of better designs and control strategies of CSP plants capable of further increasing the receiver efficiency while extending its useful life.
The project in a nutshell
Type of Project: Research coordinated project with two subprojects (Retos de Investigación, coordinado)
Project coordinators: Antonio Acosta Iborra, Domingo Santana Santana Funding Entity: AGENCIA ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACION (AEI)
Budget
Subproject-1 Budget: 150,040.00 €
Subproject-2 Budget: 83,490.00 €
Project codes
Subproject-1 Project code: RTI2018-096664-B-C21
Subproject-2 Project code: RTI2018-096664-B-C22
Period: from 01/01/2019 to 31/09/2022
Main groups: Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering (UC3M) and Department of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis (UC3M).
Number of researchers: 14
Current Project
The viability of solar power tower plants is endangered owing to multiple failures in their high temperature systems, principally the receiver, the steam generator and the molten salt thermal storage tanks. These failures produce unscheduled shutdowns with significant economic losses that increase the financing costs of this technology due to its technological risk.
In this context, the aim of the ReFlexSPT project is to propose failure-free designs of the receiver, the steam generator and the injection in the molten salt tank of current and next generation of Solar Power Towers (SPT), which will also allow these systems to operate flexibly with a greater response speed and reliability, thus making the technology of solar power towers more economically viable, encouraging the penetration of variable renewable energies and providing security to the electricity system. To reach the these goals, the project comprises both experimental activities in a molten salt loop and CFD-DEM detailed simulations.
The project in a nutshell
Project title: Highly reliable thermomechanical designs for flexible solar power towers (ReFlexSPT)
Type of Project: Research project (Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento)
Project coordinators: Antonio Acosta Iborra, Domingo Santana Santana
Funding Entity: AGENCIA ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACION (AEI) / EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND (ERDF)
Budget: 145,000.00 €
Project code: PID2021-122895OB-I00
Period: from 01/09/2022 to 31/08/2025
Group: Energy System Engineering (ISE) at the Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering (UC3M).
Number of researchers: 10
Finished project
In order to significantly contribute to the goal of a safe operation of CSP plants, the SOSreceiver project aims at increasing the knowledge in the operation of solar tubular receivers, which are one of the most demanded elements of these plans. In particular, the research of the project is focused on central tubular receivers of Solar Power Towers (SPT), as this the CSP technology that is experiencing a greater growth due to its superior thermal efficiency.
The fundamental idea to be developed in SOSreceiver project is the real-time quantification of the temperature and stress of the receiver tubes at the extreme conditions of their daily operation. This will allow the development of better designs and control strategies of CSP plants capable of further increasing the receiver efficiency while extending its useful life.
The project in a nutshell
Project title: Safe operation of solar tubular receivers by means of inverse thermo-elasticity methods (SOSreceiver)
Type of Project: Research coordinated project with two subprojects (Retos de Investigación, coordinado)
Project coordinators: Antonio Acosta Iborra, Domingo Santana Santana
Funding Entity: AGENCIA ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACION (AEI)
Budget
Subproject-1 Budget: 150,040.00 €
Subproject-2 Budget: 83,490.00 €
Project codes
Subproject-1 Project code: RTI2018-096664-B-C21
Subproject-2 Project code: RTI2018-096664-B-C22
Period: from 01/01/2019 to 31/09/2022
Main groups: Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering (UC3M) and Department of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis (UC3M).
Number of researchers: 14
Solar Power Towers
Concentrating Solar Power plants
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants are currently one of the most attractive technologies for renewable power generation and the transition of a green economy due to their ability to reduce the intermittence of the solar resource by means of Thermal Energy Storage (TES). Using mirrors (e.g. heliostats and collectors), the Sun irradiation is focused onto a receiver of the CSP plant. The receiver is normally of tubular type. Inside the tubes a heat transfer fluid (HTF) absorbs the heat.
Solar Power Towers (SPT), also called central tower power plants, is the configuration of CSP plants that is experiencing a greater growth because of its higher thermal efficiency, flexibility of operation and dispatchability when combined with TES. In SPT a large number of heliostats reflect the Sun’s rays and concentrate them onto the tubes of a solar receiver on top of a tower. To absorb the huge amount of solar radiation concentrated on the tubes, the HTF of SPT is typically molten solar salt, a mixture of nitrate salts (60% wt. NaNO3 and 40% wt. KNO3) that operates in the range of 290 ºC to 565 ºC. In addition to absorbing the heat in the tubes of the central receiver, molten salts offer the advantage of being the HTF for TES, eliminating the need of an additional storage media.
You can learn more about the general operation of CSPs in this educational video from the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy’s Energy 101 program. U.S. Department of Energy
Central tubular receivers
In its typical configuration, a central receiver of SPT comprises a set of panels, each one composed of many vertical tubes with a common inlet and outlet collectors (headers).
The flow of HTF circulates in parallel through of the tubes of a panel and in series from one panel to the next for a given flow path of the receiver. In external central receivers, the panels are placed surrounding the top of the tower and the tubes are exposed to the concentrated solar radiation on approximately half their outer surface, while the other half faces a refractory wall to which the tubes are attached by means of vertically sliding supports (clips).
The receiver tubes are one of the most critical elements of SPT plants because they are subjected to extremely high temperature gradients due to the huge concentration of solar radiation on the receiver. Tubes are also attacked from inside owing to erosion and corrosion of the tube wall produced at high temperatures by the molten salt. These conditions can eventually lead to the thermomechanical fatigue, creep and stress corrosion cracking of the tubes, which compromise the working life of the receiver and the availability of the plant. In the last decade an important development of the concentrating solar power (CSP) plants facilities has occurred, but enough data to develop reliable and cost-effective receivers are still lacking and the achievement of a safe operation condition remains an important challenge.
Solar Power Towers
Concentrating Solar Power plants
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants are currently one of the most attractive technologies for renewable power generation and the transition of a green economy due to their ability to reduce the intermittence of the solar resource by means of Thermal Energy Storage (TES). Using mirrors (e.g. heliostats and collectors), the Sun irradiation is focused onto a receiver of the CSP plant. The receiver is normally of tubular type. Inside the tubes a heat transfer fluid (HTF) absorbs the heat.
Solar Power Towers (SPT), also called central tower power plants, is the configuration of CSP plants that is experiencing a greater growth because of its higher thermal efficiency, flexibility of operation and dispatchability when combined with TES. In SPT a large number of heliostats reflect the Sun’s rays and concentrate them onto the tubes of a solar receiver on top of a tower. To absorb the huge amount of solar radiation concentrated on the tubes, the HTF of SPT is typically molten solar salt, a mixture of nitrate salts (60% wt. NaNO3 and 40% wt. KNO3) that operates in the range of 290 ºC to 565 ºC. In addition to absorbing the heat in the tubes of the central receiver, molten salts offer the advantage of being the HTF for TES, eliminating the need of an additional storage media.
You can learn more about the general operation of CSPs in this educational video from the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy’s Energy 101 program. U.S. Department of Energy
Central tubular receivers
In its typical configuration, a central receiver of SPT comprises a set of panels, each one composed of many vertical tubes with a common inlet and outlet collectors (headers).
The flow of HTF circulates in parallel through of the tubes of a panel and in series from one panel to the next for a given flow path of the receiver. In external central receivers, the panels are placed surrounding the top of the tower and the tubes are exposed to the concentrated solar radiation on approximately half their outer surface, while the other half faces a refractory wall to which the tubes are attached by means of vertically sliding supports (clips).
The receiver tubes are one of the most critical elements of SPT plants because they are subjected to extremely high temperature gradients due to the huge concentration of solar radiation on the receiver. Tubes are also attacked from inside owing to erosion and corrosion of the tube wall produced at high temperatures by the molten salt. These conditions can eventually lead to the thermomechanical fatigue, creep and stress corrosion cracking of the tubes, which compromise the working life of the receiver and the availability of the plant. In the last decade an important development of the concentrating solar power (CSP) plants facilities has occurred, but enough data to develop reliable and cost-effective receivers are still lacking and the achievement of a safe operation condition remains an important challenge.
News
The latest news and information about the UC3MSolar projects
Seminar on the scope of the ReFlexSPT project
One of the researchers of the ReFlexSPT project, Antonio Acosta Iborra, delivered on March 28th, 2023, a seminar on the topic of solar energy, air
Several contributions of the SOSreceiver project were presented at the 12CNIT conference (Madrid)
The research team presented some of their lasted findings of the SOSreceiver project at the XII National and III International Conference on Engineering Thermodynamics(12CNIT). The
Publications
All the Publications related to the SOSreceiver project published to date
Latest Publications
