A high-flux solar simulator system for investigating the influence of concentrated solar radiation on turbulent reacting flows

Abstract

Simulations of the output from a high flux solar simulator are presented for a low cost system, designed to assess the influence of Concentrated Solar Radiation (CSR) on turblent flows. This radiant heat source comprises 30 X 6 kW Metal Halide lamsp, each positioned at the focus of an ellipsoidal reflector (3m focal length) and arrayed to provide 54 kW of radiative power (180 kWe). The simulator will be used in combination with a water-cooled heat sink to avoid background radiation from walls. In contrast to previous simulator designs that focus only on a single point, these lamps can be configured to focus along a line to provide a nominally homogeneous radiant flux within the targeted volume. A model, programmed in Matlab, is used to assess and optimize the radiant heat flux profile for different arrangements of the lamp array. A comparison of costs with previous simulator designs is also presented.