Publications Details

Report on the test of the molten-salt pump and valve loops

Smith, D.C.; Rush, E.E.; Matthews, C.W.; Chavez, J.M.; Bator, P.A.

The purpose of the molten-salt pump and valve loop test is to demonstrate the performance, reliability, and service life of full-scale hot- and cold-salt pumps and valves for use in commercial central receiver solar power plants. This test was in operation at Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal Test Facility from January 1988 to September 1990. The test hardware consists of two pumped loops; the hot-salt loop'' to simulate the piping and components on the hot (565{degrees}C) side of the receiver and the cold-salt loop'' to simulate piping and components on the receiver's cold (285{degrees}C) side. Each loop contains a pump and five valves sized to be representative of a conceptual 60-MW{sub e} commercial solar power plant design. The hot-salt loop accumulated over 6700 hours of operation and the cold-salt loop over 2500 hours during the test period. This project has demonstrated the performance and reliability required for commercial-scale molten-salt pumps and valves.