Abstract Recently, thermosiphon has been considered as an economically competitive approach for the withdrawal of thermal energy from molten salt. This feature of thermosiphon is particularly attractive for concentrated solar power (CSP) technology because molten salt can be used both as the direct receiver and thermal energy storage material, and pumping requirements can be minimized. However, the thermosiphon loop must be properly designed; otherwise the heated molten salt can flow in the reverse direction or solidify before heat exchange is fully carried out. In this paper, the dependence of important molten salt flow characteristics such as temperature, velocity and friction factor on the thermosiphon loop dimensions is theoretically investigated. The model is carried out for the withdrawal of 1 MW of thermal energy from the molten salt. The economic assessment of the conversion of this energy to electricity for reverse osmosis desalination is also carried out. It is observed that by using the minimum possible value of leg length and maximum possible values of diameter and pressure head, the lowest decline of temperature and highest velocity of flow can be achieved along the loop. Fresh water production is more valuable than electricity and steam production by 460% and 480%, respectively.

中文翻译：

---

新型热虹吸驱动反渗透：可再生能源和淡水回收的技术经济模型

摘要 最近，热虹吸已被认为是一种从熔盐中提取热能的具有经济竞争力的方法。热虹吸的这一特性对聚光太阳能 (CSP) 技术特别有吸引力，因为熔盐可以用作直接接收器和热能储存材料，并且可以最大限度地减少泵送要求。但是，必须正确设计热虹吸回路；否则加热后的熔盐会在热交换完全进行之前反向流动或凝固。在本文中，从理论上研究了重要的熔盐流动特性（如温度、速度和摩擦系数）对热虹吸回路尺寸的依赖性。该模型用于从熔盐中提取 1 MW 的热能。还进行了将这种能量转化为电力用于反渗透海水淡化的经济评估。观察到，通过使用腿长的最小可能值和直径和压头的最大可能值，可以实现沿回路的最低温度下降和最高流速。淡水生产比电力和蒸汽生产的价值分别高出 460% 和 480%。