Combined convection heat loss characteristics of solar receiver under windy environment

A three-dimensional numerical simulation has been carried out to capture the combined convection heat loss characteristics of solar receiver under windy environment. Temperature contours inside the cavity, velocity contours on the aperture plane, and the variation of combined convection heat loss versus wind direction and tilt angle have been obtained. Different from the discipline that the convection heat loss decreases monotonically with the increasing of tilt angle under no-wind environment, the combined convection heat loss of solar receiver in windy environment is affected by both the wind and the tilt angle, and is more complex. When the wind flows toward the back of receiver, the combined convection heat loss varies little with the wind direction for the receiver at different tilt angles, but when the wind flows toward the aperture of receiver, the combined convection heat loss changes dramatically with the wind direction, and the tilt angle shows more significant impact on it.