The performance of the central receiver is directly related to the efficiency and power generation capacity of the solar tower power plant. In this paper, by combining the analytical approximation method and the finite volume method, the coupled optical and thermal performance of a 50 MWe external cylindrical receiver was numerically evaluated. The thermal performance of the receiver under design parameters was first simulated, and the model was verified by the comparison with the method in Zhou et al. [Renewable Energy 164, 331–345 (2021)]. The effects of key parameter and uniformity of incident flux distribution on the thermal performance were then extensively investigated. Finally, the thermal performance changes in one day were explored. The results showed that direct normal radiation (DNI), salt inlet mass flow, salt inlet temperature, and coating absorption rate strongly affected the receiver's thermal performance. Compared with the non-uniform incident flux distribution, the accurate salt outlet temperature could also be obtained under the uniform incident flux distribution, but the thermal efficiency was underestimated by 0.5%, and the wall temperature on the front side of the tube was generally underestimated, reaching 5.6% at the location of the maximum wall temperature. Evolution trend of the salt outlet temperature and maximum wall temperature on vernal equinox was similar to that of the DNI distribution. From 14:00 to 18:00, they decreased by 18.3% and 12.3%, respectively. The maximum wall temperature from 13:00 to 16:00 exceeded the design value of 700 °C, which was detrimental to the safe operation of the receiver and might cause decomposition of molten salt in the tube.

中文翻译：

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50 MWe外部圆柱形太阳能接收器热性能的光学和热耦合模拟

中央接收器的性能与太阳能塔式发电厂的效率和发电能力直接相关。在本文中，通过结合解析逼近方法和有限体积方法，对50 MWe外部圆柱接收器的耦合光学和热性能进行了数值评估。首先对接收机在设计参数下的热性能进行了仿真，并通过与Zhou等人的方法进行了比较，验证了模型的正确性。[可再生能源164，331–345（2021）]。然后广泛研究了关键参数和入射通量分布的均匀性对热性能的影响。最后，探讨了一天内的热性能变化。结果表明，直接法向辐射（DNI），盐入口质量流量，盐入口温度和涂层吸收速率会严重影响接收器的热性能。与不均​​匀的入射通量分布相比，在均匀的入射通量分布下也可以获得准确的盐出口温度，但是热效率低估了0.5％，并且管前侧的壁温通常被低估了，在最高壁温位置达到5.6％。春分时盐出口温度和最高壁温的演变趋势与DNI分布相似。从14:00到18:00，它们分别下降了18.3％和12.3％。从13:00到16:00的最高壁温超过了700°C的设计值，这对接收器的安全运行有害，并可能导致管中的熔融盐分解。