Analysis of radiation heat transfer and temperature distribu- tions of solar thermochemical reactor for syngas production

This paper investigated radiation heat transfer and temperature distributions of solar thermochemical reactor for syngas production using the finite volume discrete ordinate method （fvDOM） and P1 approximation for radiation heat transfer. Different parameters including absorptivity, emissivity, reflection based radiation scatter- ing, and carrier gas flow inlet velocity that would greatly affect the reactor thermal performance were sufficiently investigated. The fvDOM approximation was used to obtain the radiation intensity distribution along the reactor. The drop in the temperature resulted from the radiation scattering was further investigated using the P1 approx- imation. The results indicated that the reactor temperature difference between the P1 approximation and the fvDOM radiation model was very close under different operating conditions. However, a big temperature difference which increased with an increase in the radiation emissivity due to the thermal non-equilibrium was observed in the radiation inlet region. It was found that the incident radiation flux distribution had a strong impact on the temperature distribution throughout the reactor. This paper revealed that the temperature drop caused by the boundary radiation heat loss should not be neglected for the thermal performance analysis of solar thermochemical reactor.

Thermal characteristics and thermal stress analysis of solar thermochemical reactor under high-flux concentrated solar irradiation

Nowadays, using a solar-driven thermochemical reaction system to convert greenhouse gases into high-quality liquid fuels has been proven to be an effective way to address the growing depletion of traditional fossil fuels. However, the utilization of highlyconcentrated solar irradiation runs the high risk of reactor damage issues resulting from thermal stress concentration, which seriously threatens the security and reliability of the total reactor system. In this study, the thermal radiation distribution and thermo-mechanical process in a volumetric reactor were numerically investigated by combining Monte Carlo ray-tracing method with computational fluid dynamics method. Based on the experimental results and thermal characteristic analysis, the formation mechanism of thermal stress concentration and the strategies of improving thermal stress distribution were discussed in detail.The simulation results indicate a great possibility of reactor damage at about 1000℃ operating temperature and 9.0 k W lamp power, which is well-matched with related experimental results. The ceramic damage typically occurs at the inner edges of the through-holes, including the aperture, the gas inlet, and the thermocouple hole, then extends along the lines connecting these holes and finally causes brittle fracture. By reasonable control of the opening direction and the distance between the throughholes, the maximum compressive stress can be reduced by 21.78%.