the range of 1550 K due to the smaller receiver dimensions. These peak temperatures are unacceptable when using metal PCM containment and heat exchanger tubes. The solar flux inside the receiver - for a given receiver size and design - is directly proportional to the collector area and hence depends on the relative eclipse time. According to Figure 7 an increase of the orbit altitude from 500 km to 5000 km would decrease the flux inside the receiver in the order of 30 %, moderating the peak temperatures on the absorber walls. In the other case for lower orbits the peak temperature would rise drastically if the absorber areas have not been increased or the receiver design hasn't changed. A receiver/storage design which is less sensitive with regard to the acceptable maximum flux is shown in Figure 12 and is described in detail in [4], [10]. Its main advantage is that the absorber tubes are not surrounded by storage canisters and hence the flux is not limited by the high heat resistant of the storage medium.
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