CSP for heat process

Hello,

I'm trying to develop a parabolic through model to generate steam for a thermal process. Steam has to be produced at fixed pressure and temperature for the downstream operations.
I modeled a plant trying to focus just on the field and not on the power block, employing the empirical system.
To understand the heat that can be transferred to the steam is it correct to consider the Cycle thermal input?
Is it possible to maintain fixed the outlet temperature of the field at 340°C properly regulating the hot oil flow rate, diminishing it down to a miminum flow condition? I tried but I do no understand why in certain cases it reduces the outlet temperature instead of the flow rate.
I hope to have described the problem in a clear way.
Thanks in advance

Hello,

Please refer to the 2015 paper by Craig "Parabolic Trough Solar-Thermal Output Model Decoupled from SAM Power Block Assumptions" for a discussion of how to use SAM's physical trough model for a process heat application.

For the next version of SAM, tentatively scheduled for release in January 2017, we are adding a modified version of the physical trough model for thermal applications.

You mention that you are "employing the empirical system," so I assume you are using the empirical trough model instead of the physical trough model. For that model, the "Cycle thermal power input (MWt)" variable represents the thermal energy delivered to the power cycle, so, yes, that is the correct variable to consider for your analysis.

Did you remove storage from your system? (To remove storage, on the Thermal Storage input page, set "Equivalent Full Load Hours of TES" to zero. It may be that the HTF flow rate at the field outlet is decreasing because energy is available from the storage system.

Best regards,
Paul.