Publications Details
Flow stability in molten-salt tube receivers
In one design of molten-salt central receivers, the molten salt flows in a serpentine path, down one panel of tubes then up the next and down again continuing in this fashion through the receiver. There have been concerns about this design because in the down flow sections, the heat flux incident on the tubes can cause flow instability since the flow is in direct opposition to the buoyant forces. In extreme cases the buoyant forces can cause flow stagnation or reversal. An analysis of flow stability within individual tubes and down flow sections of receiver panels is presented. When the partial derivative of the pressure drop with respect to mass flow rate is negative ({partial_derivative}{Delta}P/{partial_derivative}{sup {lg_bullet}} < 0), the flow is unstable and could cause serious damage to the receiver. Stability maps are developed that show safe operating regimes where inertial forces dominate over buoyant forces. The data is then normalized using the Grashof and Reynolds numbers.