In the framework of the European Optimised Microturbine Solar Power system (OMSoP) project, a novel energy system for solar electricity production was developed, based on the integration of the solar dish technology with Micro Gas Turbines (MGT). A pilot plant with a capacity of 5-7 kW(e) was realized and installed at the ENEA Casaccia site (Rome) and went under testing to validate the feasibility of the technology and improve the current design. The present work deals with the development of a quasi-state system model, built in the Engineering Equation Solver environment, composed of different modules that correspond to the main system components. The system model was used to define the optimal system parameters, to help the elaboration on an operational strategy to maximize the overall plant efficiency, and to guide the improvement of the single components in view of their optimised design. From the analysis it emerged that the system in design conditions is able to generate, in nominal conditions, 4.5 kW(e) instead of the expected 5 kW(e) due to the limitation of the stator current to 13 A, while maximum levels of 5.6 kW could be achieved by "overcharging" the high-speed generator up to 15 A and operating the MGT at the very high speed of 150 krpm. From the transient simulation of the demo system on an annual basis, the maximum average output power is 3.58 kW(e). Regarding the cycle efficiency, the annual averaged value is about 17%, whereas the target value is 21%. The improvement of the generator only does not seem to significantly increase the power output on the annual basis (3.75 kW(e) vs. 3.58 kW(e)). Differently, the improvement of the solar dish, with the upgrade of the other system components, would significantly increase the system power output to around ~10 kW(e).

This work presents the comprehensive development of a solar receiver for the integration into a micro gas-turbine solar dish system. Special focus is placed on the thermo-mechanical design to ensure the structural integrity of all receiver components for a wide range of operating conditions. For the development, a 3-dimensional coupled multi-physics model is established and is validated using experimental data. Contrary to previous studies, the temperature of the irradiated front surface of the absorber is included in the comprehensive validation process which results in a high level of confidence in the receiver design.

Finally, a full-scale solar receiver for the integration into the OMSoP solar dish system is designed and its performance determined for a wide operating range to define its safe operating envelope using the validated model. It is shown that the receiver is capable of operating at 803_C with an efficiency of 82.1% and a pressure drop of 0.3% at the nominal operating point, while at the same time functioning effectively   for a wide range of off-design conditions without compromising its structural integrity. At the nominal operating point, the maximum comparison stress of the porous absorber is 5.6 MPa compared to a permissible limit of 7.4 MPa.

The solar receiver performance has a direct impact on the CSP power plant performance and, thereby, its levelized cost of electricity. Improved receiver designs supported by new advanced numerical tools and experimental validation campaigns directly help to make CSP technology more competitive. This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation of the influence of the cavity receiver radiative properties and the thermal power input on the Dish-Stirling performance. Three cavity coatings are experimentally investigated: the original cavity material (Fiberfrax 140), Pyromark 2500 and Pyro-paint 634-ZO. Moreover, simulations validated with the experimental measurements are utilized to define a higher performance cavity receiver for the Eurodish system. The results indicate that the absorptivity of the cavity should be as low as possible to increase the receiver efficiency whereas the optimum emissivity depends on the operating temperatures. If the cavity temperature is lower than the absorber temperature, low emissivities are recommended and vice-versa. All material/coatings analyzed for the cavity provide similar receiver efficiencies, being Fiberfrax 140 slightly more efficient. Finally, a total receiver efficiency of 91.5% is reached by the proposed Eurodish cavity receiver when operating under the most favorable external conditions. 

Higher performance cavity receivers are needed to increase the competitiveness of solar power plants. However, the design process needs to be improved with more relevant experimental and numerical analyses. Thereby, the performance of four different Dish-Stirling cavities is investigated experimentally analyzing the influence of the cavity aperture diameter and shape at various operating temperatures. Temperatures inside the cavity receiver were collected together with the electrical power produced by the engine-generator. Then, a thermal system simulation was modelled and a comprehensive multi-parameter and multi-operation validation was performed. To improve this validation, the temperature distribution across the receiver tubes was analyzed in order to relate temperatures on the irradiated region with the non-irradiated one, where thermocouples can measure. The simulations were later used to obtain cavity receiver efficiencies, temperatures and loss breakdowns. The results show that the cavity receiver must be studied in optimization processes in conjunction with the other system components. Moreover, the reverse-conical cavity was found to be more efficient than a nearly cylindrical shape. Regarding the cavity receiver thermal losses, radiation and natural convection present similar contributions in the system under study. Finally, it was found that thermocouples installed on a non-irradiated region can be used to obtain peak receiver temperatures if the measurements are rectified by a correction value proportional to the DNI.

This work presents the experimental evaluation of a novel pressurized high-temperature solar air receiver for the integration into a micro gas-turbine solar dish system reaching an air outlet temperature of 800°C. The experiments are conducted in the controlled environment of the KTH high-flux solar simulator with well-defined radiative boundary conditions. Special focus is placed on providing detailed information to enable the validation of numerical models. The solar receiver performance is evaluated for a range of operating points and monitored using multiple point measurements. The porous absorber front surface temperature is measured continuously as it is one of the most critical components for the receiver performance and model validation. Additionally, pyrometer line measurements of the absorber and glass window are taken for each operating point. The experiments highlight the feasibility of volumetric solar receivers for micro gas-turbine based solar dish systems and no major hurdles were found. A receiver efficiency of 84.8% was reached for an air outlet temperature of 749°C. When using a lower mass flow, an air outlet temperature of 800°C is achieved with a receiver efficiency of 69.3%. At the same time, all material temperatures remain below permissible limits and no deterioration of the porous absorber is found.

Laboratory-scale component testing in dedicated high-flux solar simulators is a crucial step in the developmentand scale-up of concentrating solar power plants. Due to different radiative boundary conditions available inhigh-flux solar simulators and full-scale power plants the temperature and stress profiles inside the investigatedreceivers differ between these two testing platforms. The main objective of this work is to present a systematicscaling methodology for solar receivers to guarantee that experiments performed in the controlled environmentof high-flux solar simulators yield representative results when compared to full-scale tests. In this work theeffects of scaling a solar air receiver from the integration into the OMSoP full-scale micro gas-turbine based solardish system to the KTH high-flux solar simulator are investigated. Therefore, Monte Carlo ray-tracing routines ofthe solar dish concentrator and the solar simulator are developed and validated against experimental characterizationresults. The thermo-mechanical analysis of the solar receiver is based around a coupled CFD/FEManalysislinked with stochastic heat source calculations in combination with ray-tracing routines. A geneticmulti-objective optimization is performed to identify suitable receiver configurations for testing in the solarsimulator which yield representative results compared to full-scale tests. The scaling quality is evaluated using aset of performance and scaling indicators. Based on the results a suitable receiver configuration is selected forfurther investigation and experimental evaluation in the KTH high-flux solar simulator.

The impinging receiver is a new member of the cavity solar receiver family. In this paper, the transient performance of a prototype impinging receiver has been studied with the help of a Fresnel lens based solar simulator and an externally fired micro gas turbine. The impinging receiver can offer an air outlet temperature of 810 °C at an absorber temperature of 960 °C. The radiative-to-thermal efficiency is measured to be 74.1%. The absorber temperature uniformity is good but high temperature differences have been detected during the ‘cold startup’ process. The temperature changing rate of the receiver is within 3 °C/s for the startup process and 4 °C/s for the shut-down process. In order to avoid quenching effects caused by the impinging jets, the micro gas turbine should be turned off to stop the airflow when the radiative power is off. 

This paper presents the characterization of the first Fresnel lens-based High-Flux Solar Simulator (HFSS) showing the evaluation of the total thermal radiative power dependent on the aperture radius at the focal plane. This result can be directly applied to calculate the thermal power input into any solar receiver tested in the KTH HFSS. Three measurement setups were implemented and their results combined to assess and verify the characterization of the solar simulator: a thermopile sensor measuring radiative flux, a CMOS camera coupled with a Lambertian target to obtain flux maps, and a calorimeter to measure the total thermal power within an area of 300×300 mm. Finally, a Monte Carlo analysis was performed to calculate the total uncertainties associated to each setup and to combine them to obtain the simulator characterization. The final result shows a peak flux of 6.8 ± 0.35 MW/m2 with a thermal power of 14.7 ± 0.75 kW within an aperture of 180 mm in diameter at the focal plane, and a thermal-electrical conversion efficiency of 25.8 ± 0.3%. It was found very good repeatability and a stable energy output from the lamps during the experiments.

In this paper, a Fresnel lens based high flux solar simulator (HFSS) is developed for concentrating solar power research and high temperature material testing. In this design, each commercially available 7 kW(e) xenon-arc lamp is coupled with a silicone-on-glass Fresnel lenses as the optical concentrator, and 12 lamp-lens units are distributed in a circular array. In total, the power of the solar simulator can reach 84 kWe. A ray tracing model has been developed based on the real arc-emitter shape and the Fresnel lens optics for predicting the optical performance of the HFSS design. The testing result shows that the ray tracing model can predict the flux distribution on the focal plane accurately but a bit conservative in the center region. The flux distribution on the focal plane appears axisymmetric with a peak flux of 7.22 MW/m(2), and 19.7 kW of radiative power in total is delivered on a 280 mm diameter target. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper presents the performance improvements implemented in the KTH high-flux solar simulator to deliver a total power on target closer to the working conditions of real CSP systems. Therefore, additional rectifiers were installed in the power conversion unit of the high-power lamps as well as the back reflector was coated providing more favorable spectral reflectance properties. The results of a single lamp/lens-combination show that the power on target in an aperture of 280mm in diameter was increased from 831W to 1446W while the peak flux was increased from 675kW/m² to 905kW/m².