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Status
Electronic Resource
Call number
Publication
DOE ET 21060 3; Report; February 1979.
Language
Library's review
ABSTRACT:
One of the principal projects undertaken by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in its program to develop alternate sources of energy is the Barstow, California l0MW Solar Thermal Pilot Plant. A McDonnell- Douglas/Rock~tdyne (MDAC) "once-through" central receiver design has been selected
In this design, feedwater entering at the bottom of the tower-mounted receiver flows up through 1680 vertically-mounted external tubes. The feedwater is converted by the radiant solar energy focused by a large surrounding field of mirrors into superheated steam in a single pass.
Though the once-through boiler concept is familiar to the electric power industry, its application to the solar energy conversion process introduces certain concerns, among which are reliability and performance of the boiler under the projected high flux levels of a commercial unit. The Pilot Plant flux levels, being less than half those of a commercial unit, cannot completely resolve these concerns.
In order to augment the data which will be produced by the Pilot Plant operation and to assist in the detail design of the Pilot Plant receiver itself, an early series of tests on a full- size MDAC receiver panel has been planned. The tests are scheduled to begin at the DOE Central Receiver-Solar Thermal Test Facility (CR-STTF) in Albuquerque during March, 1979.
Under the auspices of DOE, a dynamic digital computer simulation of that STTF-MDAC receiver panel configuration has been developed by the Aerospace Corporation. The purpose of such a simulation is to permit early, inexpensive studies of proposed test sequences and rapid investigations of potential control schemes. The results of those studies could give experimenters valuable insight into equipment performance parameters, and thus permit prudent limiting of actual hardware test time on the more expensive facility.
One of the principal projects undertaken by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in its program to develop alternate sources of energy is the Barstow, California l0MW Solar Thermal Pilot Plant. A McDonnell- Douglas/Rock~tdyne (MDAC) "once-through" central receiver design has been selected
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as that plant's solar-to-electrical energy conversion device.In this design, feedwater entering at the bottom of the tower-mounted receiver flows up through 1680 vertically-mounted external tubes. The feedwater is converted by the radiant solar energy focused by a large surrounding field of mirrors into superheated steam in a single pass.
Though the once-through boiler concept is familiar to the electric power industry, its application to the solar energy conversion process introduces certain concerns, among which are reliability and performance of the boiler under the projected high flux levels of a commercial unit. The Pilot Plant flux levels, being less than half those of a commercial unit, cannot completely resolve these concerns.
In order to augment the data which will be produced by the Pilot Plant operation and to assist in the detail design of the Pilot Plant receiver itself, an early series of tests on a full- size MDAC receiver panel has been planned. The tests are scheduled to begin at the DOE Central Receiver-Solar Thermal Test Facility (CR-STTF) in Albuquerque during March, 1979.
Under the auspices of DOE, a dynamic digital computer simulation of that STTF-MDAC receiver panel configuration has been developed by the Aerospace Corporation. The purpose of such a simulation is to permit early, inexpensive studies of proposed test sequences and rapid investigations of potential control schemes. The results of those studies could give experimenters valuable insight into equipment performance parameters, and thus permit prudent limiting of actual hardware test time on the more expensive facility.
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