A Case Study on Parameters Influencing Dust Accumulation on CSP Reflectors

The effect of dust accumulation on CST （concentrated solar thermal） reflectors is to deflect, or scatter, incident light rays missing the receiver with a subsequent power produced loss. Dust fouling is site specific, and the understanding of interactions between different weather and or environmental parameters is crucial for plant profitability. This research intends to provide useful insights on the interaction between the most relevant weather parameters affecting soil accumulation. Results show a significant dependency of dust concentration versus humidity and ambient temperature, as well as a nexus between wind speed and ambient temperature seems to exist. As long as the temperature decreases an increase of humidity and dust concentration occurs. This phenomenon takes place mostly overnight till the first hours of the morning. Therefore, mirror＇s reflectance looks extremely affected by dust accumulation because of high humidity rate during the night and dews of early morning. Further investigations are required to validate the hypothesis that, a more effective cleaning activitie to restore plants＇ reflectivity are to be carried out during the early morning.

Dust accumulated fungi in air-conditioning system:Findings based on field and laboratory experiments

This study analyzes the growth and reproduction of dust accumulated fungi(DAF)in an air-conditioning system based on field measurement and molecular biology,laboratory experiment and prediction modelling.The field measurement was conducted to collect dust in filter screen,surface cooler and air supply duct of two air handling units(AHUs).The results indicate that dust volume and fungal number in two AHUs generally met the hygienic specification of public buildings,but the cleansing did not fulfil requirements.High-throughput sequencing was conducted,revealing that the dominant fungal species were Alternaria_betae-kenyensis,Cladosporium_delicatulum,Aspergillus_sydowii,Verticillium_dahliae.Laboratory experiment was conducted to analyze the impact of several factors(e.g.growth time,temperature,relative humidity,duct material)and their combination on the DAF growth.The results indicate that fungal growth increased with time,peaking at 4 days or 5 days.Higher relative humidity or temperature was conducive to fungal growth.The orthogonal experiment revealed that the condition of“antibacterial composite,22±1℃and 45%-55%RH”had the strongest inhibiting impact on fungal growth.Logistic model,Gompertz model and square-root model were further developed to predict the fungal growth under different conditions.The results show that the Logistic model had high feasibility and accuracy,the Gompertz model was feasible with lower accuracy and the square-root model was feasible with high accuracy.Overall,this study facilitates the understanding of the DAF growth in air-conditioning ducts,which is important for real-time prediction and timely control of the fungal contamination.

Influence of Dust Accumulation on the Solar Reflectivity of a Linear Fresnel Reflector

Solar reflecting and heat collecting systems are generally operated outdoors year-round,and the optical performance of the reflector is reduced by dust accumulation on the surface.In this study,the dust accumulation on a linear Fresnel reflector was investigated.The relative reflectivity of the mirror before and after dust accumulation and the physical and chemical characteristics of the dust were measured using an ultraviolet spectrophotometer,scanning electron microscope,and X-ray diffractometer.The results showed that the dust density on the mirror increased,and the relative reflectivity decreased with an increase in the dust accumulation time.During 48 days of dust accumulation,the average relative reflectivity decreased 9.4%for a 1 g/m^(2)increase in the dust density.Additionally,the dust density on the mirror increased while the relative reflectivity decreased with a decrease in the mirror tilt angle.The rate of decrease of the relative reflectivity was higher for the aluminum mirror than that of the silver mirror after dust accumulation.The main component of the dust particles in the test area was SiO_(2),and the particle size range of the dust was 0.9 um to 87µm.According to the physical and chemical properties of the dust and the shielding effect of the dust on the mirror,a model to predict the influence of natural dust accumulation on the relative reflectivity of the linear Fresnel reflector was proposed.The predicted results deviated about 1%from the test results.

Analysis of the Light Concentration Loss of a Fresnel CPV/T System after Dust Accumulation

Dust accumulation is one of the reasons for the performance degradation of concentrating photovoltaic and thermal(CPV/T) systems due to the deposition of dust particles with different compositions, shapes, sizes, and masses. In this work, an optical model was developed to investigate the influence of the particle size, diameter, shape, and deposition density on the light concentration efficiency, using the Monte Carlo raytracing(MCRT) method in the Tracepro software. The triangular particles had a larger influence on the light ray deflection and energy flux degradation than the circular and square particles. An average increase in the dust density of 1 g/m^(2) decreased the light concentration efficiency of particles with sizes smaller than 50 μm and 60 μm by 3.31% and 3.26%, respectively. Furthermore, the effect of the incidence angle on the light concentration efficiency was considered at an angle less than 2°.

Solar Flux Measuring and Optical Efficiency Forecasting of the Linear Fresnel Reflector Concentrator after Dust Accumulation

The linear Fresnel reflector concentrator(LFRC)is widely used in the field of solar energy utilization due to its simple structure,low cost,and excellent wind resistance.Nevertheless,the LFRC operates outdoors all year round,and the dust accumulation on the mirror will reduce the optical efficiency of the system,so it needs to be perfected and improved.In this paper,a focal plane energy flux experimental device was designed to test the energy flux of the system under different dust accumulation times.The results indicate that,the dust density on the mirror increased and the energy flux on the focal plane decreased with increase of dust accumulation time.After undergoing dust accumulation for 35 days,the dust density on the mirror reached 4.33 g/m^(2)and the average energy flux on the focal plane decreased to 1.78 kW/m^(2).Additionally,the variation of reflectivity caused by dust accumulation on mirror was taken as the quantitative index,and a prediction model for the impact of dust on the optical efficiency of the system was proposed.The results will provide guidance for improving the optical efficiency of the LFRC.