Analysis of a failure mechanism in parabolic troughs receivers due to bellows cap overirradiation

Loreto Valenzuela; Eneko Setien; Eduardo Zarza

doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104491

Analysis of a failure mechanism in parabolic troughs receivers due to bellows cap overirradiation

Loreto Valenzuela^*
, Eneko Setien
, Eduardo Zarza

^*Corresponding author for this work

CIEMAT

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During the last years the number of broken tube receivers in parabolic-trough solar collectors was higher than expected in several commercial solar power plants and the failure events increased specially in winter. An exhaustive on field inspection of the broken glass envelopes and expansion bellows of the receivers (heat collecting elements) suggests that this unusual number of damaged receiver tubes is somewhere related with the over-irradiation of the bellows caps in some operation conditions. In this work the failure mechanism and the operation conditions that make it possible are analyzed. The analysis of this failure mechanism have allowed to identify the seasonality of the phenomenon and to design an appropriate strategy to reduce or even to prevent the failure due to the over irradiation of the bellows caps of solar receiver tubes.

Original language	English
Article number	104491
Journal	Engineering Failure Analysis
Volume	111
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104491
Publication status	Published - Apr 2020
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Heat collecting element
Heat flux
Parabolic-trough collector
Solar energy
Thermo-mechanical failure

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104491

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title = "Analysis of a failure mechanism in parabolic troughs receivers due to bellows cap overirradiation",

abstract = "During the last years the number of broken tube receivers in parabolic-trough solar collectors was higher than expected in several commercial solar power plants and the failure events increased specially in winter. An exhaustive on field inspection of the broken glass envelopes and expansion bellows of the receivers (heat collecting elements) suggests that this unusual number of damaged receiver tubes is somewhere related with the over-irradiation of the bellows caps in some operation conditions. In this work the failure mechanism and the operation conditions that make it possible are analyzed. The analysis of this failure mechanism have allowed to identify the seasonality of the phenomenon and to design an appropriate strategy to reduce or even to prevent the failure due to the over irradiation of the bellows caps of solar receiver tubes.",

keywords = "Heat collecting element, Heat flux, Parabolic-trough collector, Solar energy, Thermo-mechanical failure",

author = "Loreto Valenzuela and Eneko Setien and Eduardo Zarza",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2020",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104491",

language = "English",

volume = "111",

journal = "Engineering Failure Analysis",

issn = "1350-6307",

publisher = "Elsevier BV",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Analysis of a failure mechanism in parabolic troughs receivers due to bellows cap overirradiation

AU - Valenzuela, Loreto

AU - Setien, Eneko

AU - Zarza, Eduardo

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - During the last years the number of broken tube receivers in parabolic-trough solar collectors was higher than expected in several commercial solar power plants and the failure events increased specially in winter. An exhaustive on field inspection of the broken glass envelopes and expansion bellows of the receivers (heat collecting elements) suggests that this unusual number of damaged receiver tubes is somewhere related with the over-irradiation of the bellows caps in some operation conditions. In this work the failure mechanism and the operation conditions that make it possible are analyzed. The analysis of this failure mechanism have allowed to identify the seasonality of the phenomenon and to design an appropriate strategy to reduce or even to prevent the failure due to the over irradiation of the bellows caps of solar receiver tubes.

AB - During the last years the number of broken tube receivers in parabolic-trough solar collectors was higher than expected in several commercial solar power plants and the failure events increased specially in winter. An exhaustive on field inspection of the broken glass envelopes and expansion bellows of the receivers (heat collecting elements) suggests that this unusual number of damaged receiver tubes is somewhere related with the over-irradiation of the bellows caps in some operation conditions. In this work the failure mechanism and the operation conditions that make it possible are analyzed. The analysis of this failure mechanism have allowed to identify the seasonality of the phenomenon and to design an appropriate strategy to reduce or even to prevent the failure due to the over irradiation of the bellows caps of solar receiver tubes.

KW - Heat collecting element

KW - Heat flux

KW - Parabolic-trough collector

KW - Solar energy

KW - Thermo-mechanical failure

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85081115054

U2 - 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104491

DO - 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2020.104491

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85081115054

SN - 1350-6307

VL - 111

JO - Engineering Failure Analysis

JF - Engineering Failure Analysis

M1 - 104491

ER -

Analysis of a failure mechanism in parabolic troughs receivers due to bellows cap overirradiation

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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