In open cavity receivers employed in solar paraboloidal dish applications, natural convection occurs and contributes a significant fraction of energy loss. Its characteristics hence need to be clarified so that it can be effectively minimized in order to improve the system efficiency. The investigation of natural convection loss from cavity receivers was undertaken numerically and was validated using the published experimental results for four different receiver geometries. A good agreement between experimental and numerical results was obtained. Furthermore, the numerical results of all receivers were qualitatively comparable to the predictions by other available correlations hitherto, although it was found that each correlation has a limited range of applicability arising from the particular cavity geometry and experimental conditions used to derive it. To address this shortcoming, a new correlation based on the numerical results for three of the above four receivers has been proposed. The correlation employs a new concept of an ensemble cavity length scale, to take into account the combined effects of cavity geometry and inclination. Despite a wide variety of cavity geometries and operating conditions, the proposed correlation predicts approximately 50% of the data within ±20% and 90% of the data within ±50%. This is better than any of the other correlations published to date. The new correlation is also simpler to use than the most accurate of those previously published.
Skip Nav Destination
e-mail: keith.lovegrove@anu.edu.au
Article navigation
Research Papers
Numerical Investigation of Natural Convection Loss From Cavity Receivers in Solar Dish Applications
S. Paitoonsurikarn,
S. Paitoonsurikarn
School of Engineering,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
K. Lovegrove,
K. Lovegrove
School of Engineering,
e-mail: keith.lovegrove@anu.edu.au
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
G. Hughes,
G. Hughes
Research School of Earth Sciences,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
J. Pye
J. Pye
School of Engineering,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
S. Paitoonsurikarn
School of Engineering,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
K. Lovegrove
School of Engineering,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australiae-mail: keith.lovegrove@anu.edu.au
G. Hughes
Research School of Earth Sciences,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
J. Pye
School of Engineering,
Australian National University
, Canberra ACT 0200, AustraliaJ. Sol. Energy Eng. May 2011, 133(2): 021004 (10 pages)
Published Online: March 22, 2011
Article history
Received:
April 25, 2007
Revised:
January 19, 2011
Online:
March 22, 2011
Published:
March 22, 2011
Citation
Paitoonsurikarn, S., Lovegrove, K., Hughes, G., and Pye, J. (March 22, 2011). "Numerical Investigation of Natural Convection Loss From Cavity Receivers in Solar Dish Applications." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. May 2011; 133(2): 021004. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4003582
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
Numerical Investigations on Minimization of Convective Heat Losses From Hemispherical Cavity Receiver Using Air Curtain
J. Sol. Energy Eng (June 2025)
Related Articles
A Simplified Method for Calculating Transient Average Temperature and Heat Transfer in a Laterally Heated Cavity
J. Heat Transfer (August,1994)
Passive Solar Massive Wall Systems With Fins Attached on the Heated Wall and Without Glazing
J. Sol. Energy Eng (February,2000)
Effect of Aperture Geometry on Heat Transfer in Tilted Partially Open Cavities
J. Heat Transfer (November,1999)
Nonequilibrium Natural Convection in a Differentially Heated Cavity Filled With a Saturated Porous Matrix
J. Heat Transfer (May,2000)
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Chapters
Mixed-Up Convection
Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks: Everything You Know about Cooling Electronics Is Wrong
VOCs Natural Convection in Partially Porous Cavity
International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Technology (ICMET-London 2011)
Finite Element Solution of Natural Convection Flow of a Nanofluid along a Vertical Flat Plate with Streamwise Sinusoidal Surface Temperature
International Conference on Computer and Electrical Engineering 4th (ICCEE 2011)