Performance analysis and optimization of molten a salt cavity receiver in solar power plants

Abstract

The objective of this paper focuses on optimizing the performance of solar systems. These systems play an essential role in the production of electricity worldwide. They are sources of clean energy which can be exploited in areas rich with solar potential.In this paper, the goal is to optimize the heat flow absorbed by the receiver. To do this, genetic algorithms are proposed as an approach able of solving the problematic subject with constraints that are countable and interlinked. These constraints are inspired from the energy balance of the solar tower concentrator under study.The results obtained by numerical analysis based on these constraints and the objective functions (maximizing the heat flow received and minimizing the losses of the heat flow) shows the existence of an optimal receiver efficiency value for the heliostat surface total, the receiver temperature, the molten salt temperature, the receiver opening surface, the receiver surface, the diameter, the thickness, the tubes thermal conductivity of the receiver and the steam flow at turbine inlet. In addition, the energy efficiency of the solar tower system improves better depending on the power cycle chosen such as the Hirn cycle with reheating and racking used in our case