Article
A Case Study on Parameters Influencing Dust Accumulation on CSP Reflectors
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DOI:10.17265/1934-8975/2016.02.001
Author(s)
Selene Pennetta1, Francesco Anglani1, John Barry1 and Shengzhe Yu2
Affiliation(s)
1. Energy and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
2. Energy and Sustainable Engineering Process, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, Australia
ABSTRACT
The effect of dust accumulation on CST
(concentrated solar thermal) reflectors is to deflect, or scatter, incident light
rays missing the receiver with
a subsequent power produced loss. Dust fouling is site specific, and
the
understanding of interactions between different weather and or environmental parameters
is crucial for plant profitability. This research intends to provide
useful insights on the interaction between the most relevant weather parameters
affecting soil accumulation. Results show a significant dependency of dust concentration
versus humidity and ambient temperature, as well as a nexus between
wind speed and ambient temperature seems to exist. As long as the temperature decreases
an increase of humidity and dust concentration occurs. This phenomenon takes place
mostly overnight till the first hours of the morning. Therefore,
mirror’s reflectance looks extremely affected by dust accumulation because of high
humidity rate during the night and dews of early morning.
Further
investigations are required to validate the hypothesis that,
a more effective cleaning activitie to restore plants’ reflectivity are to be carried
out during the early morning.
KEYWORDS
CSP plant, reflectivity degradation, dust accumulation, dust concentration, environmental factors.
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