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US 12,760,935 B2Granted
Falling particle receiver systems with mass flow control
AssigneeNational Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
InventorsClifford K. Ho, Kevin Albrecht
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods to control particle mass flow rate in solar receivers and associated heat exchangers based on feedback from one or more temperatures of particles in the system.
Claims18
A solar receiver system, comprising:
- a solar receiver having an inlet and an outlet;
- a hopper that provides particles to the solar receiver inlet;
- a first storage bin that receives the particles from the solar receiver outlet;
- a heat exchanger that receives particles from the first storage bin;
- a first particle flow control device disposed at the inlet of the solar receiver to control the flow of the particles from the hopper to the solar receiver to achieve a desired temperature of the particles discharged from the solar receiver;
- and
- a second particle flow control device disposed between the first storage bin and the heat exchanger;
- wherein the first particle flow control device is capable of receiving an input to change the flow of particles to the solar receiver based on a first temperature measurement of the particles released from the solar receiver;
- wherein the first particle flow control device is also capable of receiving an input to change the flow of particles to the solar receiver based on a second temperature measurement of particles in the first storage bin;
- and
- wherein the first particle flow control device thereby controls particle temperature of particles in the first storage bin and particle temperature of particles flowing into the heat exchanger.
8 more elements
A solar receiver system, comprising:
- a solar receiver for heating particles;
- a heat exchanger comprising an inlet and an outlet, the heat exchanger configured to exchange heat from the heated particles to a second medium;
- a particle storage bin disposed between the solar receiver and the heat exchanger;
- and
- a flow control device to control the particle flow of particles into the solar receiver based on an input from a temperature measurement device measuring particle temperature at the first storage bin.
2 more elements
A solar receiver system, comprising:
- a solar receiver having an outlet;
- a storage bin for collecting and storing particles from the outlet;
- and
- one or more particle flow control devices disposed at locations within the system to control the particle flow within the solar receiver system;
- wherein the particle flow and particle temperature of the particles flowing into the storage bin is determined by controlling the width of the flow into the solar receiver based on a particle temperature measurement made by a temperature measurement device at the storage bin;
- and
- wherein the one or more particle flow control devices thereby control particle temperature of the particles in the storage bin.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.