Abstract

The main objective of this work is to study experimentally the thermal characteristics and performance of two-phase thermosyphons that operates with sodium as the working fluid, aiming their application to high temperature (700 to 1000 °C) solar receptor technologies. Two thermosyphons were fabricated and tested under eighteen different operation conditions, to verify the influence of the parameters: inclination angle, evaporator position, condenser geometry, and length of the adiabatic section. It was shown that the sodium thermosyphon can be used in hybrid applications, ie, for the integration of concentrated solar power systems to conventional fossil fuel power plants. For both heat sources and for different configurations studied, this device was able to transfer more than 1000 W.