Investigation of the flowability and the thermal behavior of sand/basalt-mixture in moving bed heat exchanger (MBHX) as heat transfer medium for concentrating solar tower plants

The present study investigates experimentally heat recovery from particle-based thermal energy storage (tes) by using different bulk material (sand,basalt,and mixture). a newly developed moving bed heat exchanger (mbhx) was used for this purpose. the present work focuses on solar thermal power plants applications to find economic and efficient heat transfer and heat storage medium. in the experimental investigations,the performance assessment of a prototype was carried out with a detailed look on the granular flow behavior as well as its overall thermal efficiency. the tested heat transfer mediums are only sand,only basalt and a sand/basalt mixture. the results showed that the mixture has best thermal performance among other tested materials within the heat exchanger. the effectiveness of the mbhx and the overall heat transfer coefficients of the heat exchanger are measured and documented. the test results showed that the mbhx effectiveness was improved when using the sand/basalt mixture by 45. 5% and 33. 3% than using only sand and basalt as heat transfer fluid,respectively. moreover,the powder flow test results show that the mixture has a better flowability than having only sand or basalt. © 2016 jordan journal of mechanical and industrial engineering.