Thermal Performance and Pressure Drop Optimization in Particle-Based Solar Receivers for Next-Generation CSP Plants

Solar particle receivers offer significant potential for enhancing next-generation concentrated solar power (CSP) plant efficiency through ultra-high operating temperatures (>700).This study addresses the critical challenge of balancing thermal performance against hydraulic losses by developing an integrated optimization methodology combining high-fidelity multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD), response surface methodology (RSM), and multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (NSGA-II).Parametric analysis evaluated receiver geometry (inclination angle: 30-75, hydraulic diameter: 0.05-0.20 m), particle flow dynamics (mass flow rate: 0.5-2.0kg/s), and incident radiation (800 kW/m ).Results quantified a fundamental trade-off: thermal efficiency (th) declined by 24% as mass flow rate increased from 0.5 to 2.0 kg/s, while pressure drop (P) rose by 320%.Pareto-optimal solutions revealed high-efficiency designs achieving th > 82.3% at P > 5.8 kPa and low-resistance configurations maintaining P < 2.1 kPa with th = 71.6%.Crucially, the balanced solution (th = 78.1%,P = 3.4 kPa) reduced pumping power requirements by 32% compared to maximum-efficiency designs.Optimal operational windows were identified at inclination angles of 55-65 and hydraulic diameters of 0.12-0.17m, with a quantified trade-off of 2.9% th reduction per 1 kPa P decrease near the Pareto knee.This work establishes actionable design protocols for achieving >78% thermal efficiency with minimized hydraulic penalties, advancing economically viable high-temperature CSP systems.