CFD Study of a Sodium High-Flux Receiver Designed for Additive Manufacturing – Minimizing Overheating of the Fluid at High Heat Flux Conditions

It has been demonstrated that heat fluxes greater than 4 MW/m2 can occur at high-flux concentrated solar power (CSP) receivers. In the present paper, a receiver design for additive manufacturing processing is proposed using sodium as heat transfer medium. The proposed design incorporates helical structures within the ducts, which facilitate the swirling motion of the sodium and promote the transportation of the colder coolant towards the heated wall. The objective of this configuration is twofold: first, to enhance heat transfer, and second, to mitigate local overheating at the liquid-solid interface of the receiver. The effectiveness of design variations is substantiated by CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) investigations.