@article{PuppeGiulianoFrantzetal.2018, author = {Puppe, Michael and Giuliano, Stefano and Frantz, Cathy and Uhlig, Ralf and Schumacher, Ralph and Ibraheem, Wagdi and Schmalz, Stefan and Waldmann, Barbara and Guder, Christoph and Peter, Dennis and Schwager, Christian and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Alexopoulos, Spiros and Spiegel, Michael and Wortmann, J{\"u}rgen and Hinrichs, Matthias and Engelhard, Manfred and Aust, Michael}, title = {Techno-economic optimization of molten salt solar tower plants}, series = {AIP Conference Proceedings art.no. 040033}, volume = {2033}, journal = {AIP Conference Proceedings art.no. 040033}, number = {Issue 1}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, address = {Melville, NY}, doi = {10.1063/1.5067069}, year = {2018}, abstract = {In this paper the results of a techno-economic analysis of improved and optimized molten salt solar tower plants (MSSTP plants) are presented. The potential improvements that were analyzed include different receiver designs, different designs of the HTF-system and plant control, increased molten salt temperatures (up to 640°C) and multi-tower systems. Detailed technological and economic models of the solar field, solar receiver and high temperature fluid system (HTF-system) were developed and used to find potential improvements compared to a reference plant based on Solar Two technology and up-to-date cost estimations. The annual yield model calculates the annual outputs and the LCOE of all variants. An improved external tubular receiver and improved HTF-system achieves a significant decrease of LCOE compared to the reference. This is caused by lower receiver cost as well as improvements of the HTF-system and plant operation strategy, significantly reducing the plant own consumption. A novel star receiver shows potential for further cost decrease. The cavity receiver concepts result in higher LCOE due to their high investment cost, despite achieving higher efficiencies. Increased molten salt temperatures seem possible with an adapted, closed loop HTF-system and achieve comparable results to the original improved system (with 565°C) under the given boundary conditions. In this analysis all multi tower systems show lower economic viability compared to single tower systems, caused by high additional cost for piping connections and higher cost of the receivers. REFERENCES}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchwagerTeixeiraBouraFleschetal.2019, author = {Schwager, Christian and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Flesch, Robert and Alexopoulos, Spiros and Herrmann, Ulf}, title = {Improved efficiency prediction of a molten salt receiver based on dynamic cloud passage simulation}, series = {AIP Conference Proceedings}, volume = {2126}, booktitle = {AIP Conference Proceedings}, number = {1}, isbn = {978-0-7354-1866-0}, doi = {10.1063/1.5117566}, pages = {030054-1 -- 030054-8}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MahdiRendonSchwageretal.2019, author = {Mahdi, Zahra and Rend{\´o}n, Carlos and Schwager, Christian and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Herrmann, Ulf}, title = {Novel concept for indirect solar-heated methane reforming}, series = {AIP Conference Proceedings}, volume = {2126}, booktitle = {AIP Conference Proceedings}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, address = {Melville, NY}, issn = {0094-243X}, doi = {10.1063/1.5117694}, pages = {180014-1 -- 180014-7}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FrantzBinderBuschetal.2020, author = {Frantz, Cathy and Binder, Matthias and Busch, Konrad and Ebert, Miriam and Heinrich, Andreas and Kaczmarkiewicz, Nadine and Schl{\"o}gl-Knothe, B{\"a}rbel and Kunze, Tobias and Schuhbauer, Christian and Stetka, Markus and Schwager, Christian and Spiegel, Michael and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Bauer, Thomas and Bonk, Alexander and Eisen, Stefan and Funck, Bernhard}, title = {Basic Engineering of a High Performance Molten Salt Tower Receiver System}, series = {Solar Paces 2020}, booktitle = {Solar Paces 2020}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2020}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RendonSchwagerGhiasietal.2020, author = {Rendon, Carlos and Schwager, Christian and Ghiasi, Mona and Schmitz, Pascal and Bohang, Fakhri and Caminos, Ricardo Alexander Chico and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Herrmann, Ulf}, title = {Modeling and upscaling of a pilot bayonettube reactor for indirect solar mixed methane reforming}, series = {AIP Conference Proceedings}, booktitle = {AIP Conference Proceedings}, number = {2303}, doi = {10.1063/5.0029974}, pages = {170012-1 -- 170012-9}, year = {2020}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchwagerAngeleNourietal.2022, author = {Schwager, Christian and Angele, Florian and Nouri, Bijan and Schwarzb{\"o}zl, Peter and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Herrmann, Ulf}, title = {Impact of DNI forecast quality on performance prediction for a commercial scale solar tower: Application of nowcasting DNI maps to dynamic solar tower simulation}, series = {SolarPACES conference proceedings}, booktitle = {SolarPACES conference proceedings}, number = {Vol. 1}, publisher = {TIB Open Publishing}, address = {Hannover}, issn = {2751-9899 (online)}, doi = {10.52825/solarpaces.v1i.675}, pages = {9 Seiten}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Concerning current efforts to improve operational efficiency and to lower overall costs of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with prediction-based algorithms, this study investigates the quality and uncertainty of nowcasting data regarding the implications for process predictions. DNI (direct normal irradiation) maps from an all-sky imager-based nowcasting system are applied to a dynamic prediction model coupled with ray tracing. The results underline the need for high-resolution DNI maps in order to predict net yield and receiver outlet temperature realistically. Furthermore, based on a statistical uncertainty analysis, a correlation is developed, which allows for predicting the uncertainty of the net power prediction based on the corresponding DNI forecast uncertainty. However, the study reveals significant prediction errors and the demand for further improvement in the accuracy at which local shadings are forecasted.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchulteSchwagerFrantzetal.2022, author = {Schulte, Jonas and Schwager, Christian and Frantz, Cathy and Schloms, Felix and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Herrmann, Ulf}, title = {Control concept for a molten salt receiver in star design: Development, optimization and testing with cloud passage scenarios}, series = {SolarPACES conference proceedings}, booktitle = {SolarPACES conference proceedings}, number = {Vol. 1}, publisher = {TIB Open Publishing}, address = {Hannover}, issn = {2751-9899 (online)}, doi = {10.52825/solarpaces.v1i.693}, pages = {9 Seiten}, year = {2022}, abstract = {A promising approach to reduce the system costs of molten salt solar receivers is to enable the irradiation of the absorber tubes on both sides. The star design is an innovative receiver design, pursuing this approach. The unconventional design leads to new challenges in controlling the system. This paper presents a control concept for a molten salt receiver system in star design. The control parameters are optimized in a defined test cycle by minimizing a cost function. The control concept is tested in realistic cloud passage scenarios based on real weather data. During these tests, the control system showed no sign of unstable behavior, but to perform sufficiently in every scenario further research and development like integrating Model Predictive Controls (MPCs) need to be done. The presented concept is a starting point to do so.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MahdiDerschSchmitzetal.2022, author = {Mahdi, Zahra and Dersch, J{\"u}rgen and Schmitz, Pascal and Dieckmann, Simon and Caminos, Ricardo Alexander Chico and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Herrmann, Ulf and Schwager, Christian and Schmitz, Mark and Gielen, Hans and Gedle, Yibekal and B{\"u}scher, Rauno}, title = {Technical assessment of Brayton cycle heat pumps for the integration in hybrid PV-CSP power plants}, series = {SOLARPACES 2020}, booktitle = {SOLARPACES 2020}, number = {2445 / 1}, publisher = {AIP conference proceedings / American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville, NY}, isbn = {978-0-7354-4195-8}, issn = {1551-7616 (online)}, doi = {10.1063/5.0086269}, pages = {11 Seiten}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The hybridization of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Photovoltaics (PV) systems is a promising approach to reduce costs of solar power plants, while increasing dispatchability and flexibility of power generation. High temperature heat pumps (HT HP) can be utilized to boost the salt temperature in the thermal energy storage (TES) of a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) system from 385 °C up to 565 °C. A PV field can supply the power for the HT HP, thus effectively storing the PV power as thermal energy. Besides cost-efficiently storing energy from the PV field, the power block efficiency of the overall system is improved due to the higher steam parameters. This paper presents a technical assessment of Brayton cycle heat pumps to be integrated in hybrid PV-CSP power plants. As a first step, a theoretical analysis was carried out to find the most suitable working fluid. The analysis included the fluids Air, Argon (Ar), Nitrogen (N2) and Carbon dioxide (CO2). N2 has been chosen as the optimal working fluid for the system. After the selection of the ideal working medium, different concepts for the arrangement of a HT HP in a PV-CSP hybrid power plant were developed and simulated in EBSILON®Professional. The concepts were evaluated technically by comparing the number of components required, pressure losses and coefficient of performance (COP).}, language = {en} } @article{SchwagerFleschSchwarzboezletal.2022, author = {Schwager, Christian and Flesch, Robert and Schwarzb{\"o}zl, Peter and Herrmann, Ulf and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e}}, title = {Advanced two phase flow model for transient molten salt receiver system simulation}, series = {Solar Energy}, volume = {232}, journal = {Solar Energy}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0038-092X (print)}, doi = {10.1016/j.solener.2021.12.065}, pages = {362 -- 375}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In order to realistically predict and optimize the actual performance of a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant sophisticated simulation models and methods are required. This paper presents a detailed dynamic simulation model for a Molten Salt Solar Tower (MST) system, which is capable of simulating transient operation including detailed startup and shutdown procedures including drainage and refill. For appropriate representation of the transient behavior of the receiver as well as replication of local bulk and surface temperatures a discretized receiver model based on a novel homogeneous two-phase (2P) flow modelling approach is implemented in Modelica Dymola®. This allows for reasonable representation of the very different hydraulic and thermal properties of molten salt versus air as well as the transition between both. This dynamic 2P receiver model is embedded in a comprehensive one-dimensional model of a commercial scale MST system and coupled with a transient receiver flux density distribution from raytracing based heliostat field simulation. This enables for detailed process prediction with reasonable computational effort, while providing data such as local salt film and wall temperatures, realistic control behavior as well as net performance of the overall system. Besides a model description, this paper presents some results of a validation as well as the simulation of a complete startup procedure. Finally, a study on numerical simulation performance and grid dependencies is presented and discussed.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchulteSchwagerNoureldinetal.2023, author = {Schulte, Jonas and Schwager, Christian and Noureldin, Kareem and May, Martin and Teixeira Boura, Cristiano Jos{\´e} and Herrmann, Ulf}, title = {Gradient controlled startup procedure of a molten-salt power-to-heat energy storage plant based on dynamic process simulation}, series = {SolarPACES: Solar Power \& Chemical Energy Systems}, booktitle = {SolarPACES: Solar Power \& Chemical Energy Systems}, number = {2815 / 1}, publisher = {AIP conference proceedings / American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville, NY}, isbn = {978-0-7354-4623-6}, issn = {1551-7616 (online)}, doi = {10.1063/5.0148741}, pages = {9 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The integration of high temperature thermal energy storages into existing conventional power plants can help to reduce the CO2 emissions of those plants and lead to lower capital expenditures for building energy storage systems, due to the use of synergy effects [1]. One possibility to implement that, is a molten salt storage system with a powerful power-to-heat unit. This paper presents two possible control concepts for the startup of the charging system of such a facility. The procedures are implemented in a detailed dynamic process model. The performance and safety regarding the film temperatures at heat transmitting surfaces are investigated in the process simulations. To improve the accuracy in predicting the film temperatures, CFD simulations of the electrical heater are carried out and the results are merged with the dynamic model. The results show that both investigated control concepts are safe regarding the temperature limits. The gradient controlled startup performed better than the temperature-controlled startup. Nevertheless, there are several uncertainties that need to be investigated further.}, language = {en} }