Design of a cyclone separator for cleaning of dust from volumetric air receiver

Arid regions, like Rajasthan, receive abundant solar energy and are prone to dust/sand storms. Line and point focusing technologies are used for harnessing this energy. At IIT Jodhpur, open porous volumetric air receiver based point focusing technology is considered for process heat application. This system uses air as heat transfer fluid and is expected to achieve a temperature as high as 800 °C. This receiver on account of volumetric heating, is exposed to a high heat flux, even, up-to 1000 suns (1sun = 1 kW/m2). As this receiver is open to atmosphere, the dust storms in these regions can block the absorber pores and enter the system. Due to lower thermal conductivity of sand in comparison to absorber material, high temperature gradients and thermal stresses are expected on the absorber. It can result in failure of the system. In view of this the current activity aims at cleaning and collection of the removed dust from pores of receiver. A 2D2D geometry of cyclone separator is proposed for deposited dust collection. The experiments on collection efficiency and pressure drop are performed and compared with empirical model. Pressure drop is estimated using CFD and experimentally validated for an improved relation for pressure drop coefficient.