Thermomechanical stress on a high‐temperature‐heat‐exchanger unit under solar‐specific operating conditions

Gas‐cooled solar heat exchanger units (panels) are envisaged for installation in solar tower power plants. The thermal stresses arising in the panel in solar operation are high and are in part unique, so that design and development of this hot component has to rely on experimental studies. The present paper describes experimental studies done on a panel. For the tests a 3 MW hot‐gas test facility built primarily for the testing of hot components is used. Solar operating conditions are simulated on a panel prototype and the resulting thermal loads measured on critical panel components. Planning and optimizing of the test program as well as the evaluation of test results have been supported with finite element computing. The test results presented here show what stresses are exerted on the components by the solar‐specific operating conditions. Moreover, it is shown how rapidly changing unsteady thermal loads at high temperatures can be precisely detected and evaluated. In combination with efficient modern methods of calculation (e.g. finite element analysis) these results can be also be used to solve similar problems on other hot components.