Numerical simulation on the thermal performance of a solar molten salt cavity receiver

The receiver thermal performance directly affects the efficiency, reliability and safety of the entire solar tower power system. A model combining radiation, convection and conduction heat transfer modes was developed to model a 1 MW molten salt cavity receiver with determined basic design parameters. The coupled heat transfer model was used to predict the receiver's steady-state efficiency, temperature distribution and heat losses for various flow layouts and receiver aperture lip sizes.