Solar receiver-reactor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solar receiver-reactors for high-temperature applications, such as syngas production, face challenges including high production costs, unstable gas flow, and significant heat losses due to complex absorber structures and inefficient heat management.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an absorber that forms the redox reactor, with an absorption area for black-body radiation upstream of the absorber in the solar radiation path, utilizing an infrared-absorbing gas as both the oxidizing gas and heat-transporting medium to minimize heat losses and simplify the design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If complex absorber structures (wire mesh, porous ceramic foam) are used to achieve high temperatures, then the required temperatures of more than 800 K can be reached, but the construction expenditure becomes considerable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the complex absorber structure from the system by using direct solar irradiation of the reaction chamber walls. Instead of using wire mesh or porous ceramic foam to absorb heat and transfer it to the gas, the system directly absorbs solar radiation at the reaction zone, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining high temperatures.
Solution Approach 2:
The reaction chamber walls serve multiple functions: they act as both the solar absorber and the reaction vessel. The walls are designed to absorb solar radiation and simultaneously provide the high-temperature environment needed for the redox reactions, eliminating the need for separate absorber structures.
2Temperature
If volumetric receivers with extensive absorber structures are used, then high temperatures can be achieved, but gas flow becomes unstable and flow losses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the volumetric absorber structure that causes flow instability. By using direct solar irradiation of the reaction chamber, the system eliminates the complex internal structures that disrupt gas flow patterns, resulting in more stable and predictable flow behavior.
3Power
If concentrated solar radiation is used to achieve high temperatures for syngas production, then the thermal radiation can reach up to 2865 kW/m2, but heat losses become significant without efficient heat management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the potential harm of heat losses into a benefit by using the reaction chamber walls as solar absorbers. The walls that would normally lose heat to the environment are instead designed to absorb solar radiation directly, converting the heat loss problem into an efficient heat gain mechanism for driving the endothermic redox reactions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly reduces heat losses, simplifies the design and operation, and enhances efficiency by allowing for the effective utilization of black-body radiation and flexible heat management, thereby enabling high-temperature redox reactions with reduced operational costs.
Implementation Method 1
an absorption area for the black-body radiation of the absorber upstream from the same in the path of the solar radiation
Implementation Method 2
utilizing an infrared-absorbing gas as both the oxidizing gas and heat-transporting medium to minimize heat losses
Implementation Method 3
Syngas is preferably obtained by means of a redox reaction so that the reactor must be operated alternately between a higher temperature, the reduction temperature Tred, and a lower temperature, the oxidation temperature Tox
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for producing syngas by means of solar radiation, in which the reactor of a receiver-reactor is periodically heated via an aperture provided in the same for solar radiation by means of the solar radiation to an upper reduction temperature for a reduction process and subsequently cooled to a lower oxidation temperature for an oxidation process in the presence of an oxidation gas, wherein the sunlight is guided through an absorption chamber onto an absorber configured as a reactor, which includes a reducible/oxidizable material, and wherein a gas that absorbs the black-body radiation of the absorber is guided through the absorption chamber and the absorption chamber is configured so that the back radiation of the absorber through the aperture is essentially absorbed by the gas. Radiation losses caused by back radiation of the black-body radiation exiting the optical aperture are thus avoided in accordance with the invention. The heat of the back radiation, however, can be utilized directly in the heat-transporting fluid and is available for a flexible usage. The receiver-reactor has a simple design and is suitable as a low-cost receiver-reactor.