E!452, THICAV, High thermal inertia solar cavity receiver development, Procada AB

Important results from the project

A sunlight receiver with high thermal inertia for thermal solar power plants has been developed in the project. A completely new concept that had not previously been possible has been developed using additive manufacturing that allows compressed air as the media. The design has both the opportunity to drastically lower the manufacturing cost of the entire receiver, but also to increase operational reliability as no liquid media is needed inside the heating loop.

Expected long term effects

The project aimed to develop and demonstrate innovative methodology for manufacturing a sunlight receiver. The goal is to contribute to reduced investment costs, reduced operating costs and increased efficiency for thermal solar power plants as well as increased availability of renewable thermal energy for industrial applications. A new concept has been developed that both lowers manufacturing and operating costs and provides higher operational reliability. The overall lower manufacturing cost also opens up the possibility of higher availability of renewable energy sources.

Approach and implementation

The project was divided into three parts. Part 1 aimed to identify suitable Ni-base alloy for deposition of the front panel of the sunlight receiver. Several materials were tested and the choice fell on an alloy that balances manufacturing cost and crack sensitivity for good manufacturability. Part 2 included several tests to arrive at the final manufacturing procedure and part 3 included a final deposition test to demonstrate the manufacturing concept.