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<p>Heliostats concentrate solar radiation onto a central receiver in solar tower systems; however, conventional receiver designs often suffer from limited thermal power output, efficiency, and operational stability. To address these limitations, this research introduces a Modified Circular Leaf Type Solar Receiver with an optimized geometric configuration aimed at enhancing thermal performance, minimizing hydraulic losses, and improving overall energy utilization. The study combines computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using ANSYS®16 with laboratory-scale experiments to provide a detailed thermofluidic and thermodynamic evaluation. A comparative analysis is performed between the proposed design and conventional receivers, including conical, cylindrical, and billboard types, under varying solar flux intensities (1000–3000 W/m<sup>2</sup>) and mass flow rates (0.1–1.0 <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(kg/s\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>), using water as the heat transfer fluid. In addition to thermal performance, exergy analysis is conducted to evaluate system irreversibility, determine the quality of energy conversion, and identify regions with maximum exergy destruction. It is important to note that the study focuses on comparative thermofluidic assessment under low-to-moderate heat flux conditions rather than full-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) tower operation. The results demonstrate that the proposed receiver achieves a maximum thermal efficiency of up to 95%, representing an improvement of 16–51% over conventional designs at lower flow rates (0.1–0.6 <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(kg/s\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>). Additionally, a reduction in pressure drop of approximately 12% is observed, along with a peak power output of 0.09&#xa0;kW. The reported efficiency corresponds to receiver-level heat absorption under controlled laboratory conditions, excluding heliostat and atmospheric losses, indicating enhanced thermodynamic performance for practical applications.</p>

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Thermal and hydraulic performance evaluation of a modified circular leaf type receiver for solar tower systems

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月11日

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  • Kaustubh Ganesh Kulkarni,
  • Pradip Krishna Tamkhade,
  • Sandeep Pundlik Nalavade,
  • Raviraj Bhairu Gurav,
  • Sangeeta S. Mundra,
  • Saurabh Pradeep Joshi

摘要

Heliostats concentrate solar radiation onto a central receiver in solar tower systems; however, conventional receiver designs often suffer from limited thermal power output, efficiency, and operational stability. To address these limitations, this research introduces a Modified Circular Leaf Type Solar Receiver with an optimized geometric configuration aimed at enhancing thermal performance, minimizing hydraulic losses, and improving overall energy utilization. The study combines computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using ANSYS®16 with laboratory-scale experiments to provide a detailed thermofluidic and thermodynamic evaluation. A comparative analysis is performed between the proposed design and conventional receivers, including conical, cylindrical, and billboard types, under varying solar flux intensities (1000–3000 W/m2) and mass flow rates (0.1–1.0 \(kg/s\) ), using water as the heat transfer fluid. In addition to thermal performance, exergy analysis is conducted to evaluate system irreversibility, determine the quality of energy conversion, and identify regions with maximum exergy destruction. It is important to note that the study focuses on comparative thermofluidic assessment under low-to-moderate heat flux conditions rather than full-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) tower operation. The results demonstrate that the proposed receiver achieves a maximum thermal efficiency of up to 95%, representing an improvement of 16–51% over conventional designs at lower flow rates (0.1–0.6 \(kg/s\) ). Additionally, a reduction in pressure drop of approximately 12% is observed, along with a peak power output of 0.09 kW. The reported efficiency corresponds to receiver-level heat absorption under controlled laboratory conditions, excluding heliostat and atmospheric losses, indicating enhanced thermodynamic performance for practical applications.