Characteristics of the transient thermal load and deformation of the evacuated receiver in solar parabolic trough collector

As a core element in solar parabolic trough collector, the evaluated receiver often runs under severe thermal conditions. Worse still, the transient thermal load is more likely to cause structural deformation and damage. This work develops an efficient transient multi-level multi-dimensional (M²) analysis method to address photo-thermal-elastic problems, thereby estimating transient thermal load and deformation for the receiver: (i) one-dimensional (1-D) thermo-hydraulic model is adopted to determine the transient thermo-hydraulic state, (ii) 3-D finite volume method (FVM) model for the receiver tube is established to obtain the real-time temperature distribution, (iii) 3-D finite element method (FEM) model is employed to make thermoelastic analysis. Based on this M² method, the typical transient cases are conducted in cold-start, disturbed-operation and regulated-process. Three indicators (average temperature of the wall (ATW), radial temperature difference (RTD), circumferential temperature difference (CTD)) are defined for overall analysis of the receiver thermal load. It is found that in the transient process, receivers face response delay and endure significant thermal load fluctuation. The response time for a single HCE (heat collecting element) under lower mass flow rate (1.5 kg s⁻¹) could sustain 280 s. During the cold-start stage (DNI=200 W m⁻² to 800 W m⁻²), the maximum value of CTD in receiver is as high as 11.67°C, corresponding to a maximum deflection of 1.05 cm. When the mass flow rate decreases sharply by 80%, the CTD reaches 33.04°C, causing a 2.06-cm deflection. It should be pointed out that in the cold-start stage and the lower mass flow rate operation for solar parabolic trough collector, alleviating the transient thermal load and deformation is of importance for safely and efficiently running evaluated receiver.