Numerical Investigation of Effective Parameters on Efficiency of Solar Chimney

Authors

Abstract

The environmental pollution crisis caused by the excessive use of fossil fuels and the risk of the destruction of natural resources and reserves, as well as the excessive production of greenhouse gases and, consequently, global warming, led many energy researchers to use renewable energy As a fossil fuel alternative. Solar chimneys are one of the types of renewable energies that have been taken into consideration by researchers over the past decade. Solar chimney power plants are such plants which include solar collectors, chimney and turbines that are placed at the entrance of the chimney. The aim of this study is numerical modeling of a solar chimney power plant prototype model built in Tehran University and investigation of the affecting parameters on enhancement the air velocity within it. The two dimensional numerical modeling based on finite volume method is conducted using  standard wall function turbulence modeling through an optimum mesh. The numerical results show good agreement with experimental data with maximum 6 percent difference in magnitude. Comparing with similar studies, modeling the power plant without using the energy storage properties of the earth by using constant heat flux on the collector regardless of the environmental radiation conditions has been conducted in the present research. The results show that increasing the chimney height, collector radius and collector height and decreasing the radius of the  chimney would result in increasing 76 percent in air velocity through the chimney (from 1.7 m/s in the experimental model to 3m/s) and consequently improving the model efficiency. Furthermore, among the effective parameters, collector and chimney radius play greater roll on increasing the air velocity through the chimney. The results of this research may play significant role on optimizing the constructed solar chimney power plant model.

Keywords

References

[1] Fluri, T.P., and Von Backstrom, T. W., "Comparison of Modeling Approaches and Layouts for Solar Chimney Turbines", Solar Energy, Vol. 82, pp.239–246, 2008. [2] Schlaich, J., The Solar Chimney, Electricity from the Sun, Edition Axel Menges. Stuttgart, Germany, 1995. [3] Bansal, N.K., Mathur, R., and Bhandari, M.S. ,"A Study of Solar Chimney Assisted Wind Tower System for Natural Ventilation in Buildings", Building and Enviroment, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 495-500, 1994. [4] Schlaich, J., Bergermann, R., Schiel, W., and Weinrebe, G., "Design of Commercial Solar Updraft Tower Systems–Utilization of Solar Induced Convective Flows for Power Generation", Sol. Energy Eng., Vol. 127, No. 1, pp. 117-124, 2005. [5] Cao, F., Zhao, L. Li, H., and Guo, L., "Performance Analysis of Conventional and Sloped Solar Chimney Power Plants in China", Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 50, pp. 582–592, 2013. [6] Haaf, W., Friedrich, K., Mayr, G., and Schlaich, J., "Solar Chimneys, part I: Principle and Construction of the Pilot Plant in Manzanares", Int. Journal of Solar Energy, Vol. 2, pp. 3-20, 1983. [7] Haaf, W., "Solar Chimneys: Part Ii: Preliminary Test Results From The Manzanares Pilot Plant", Int. Journal of Solar Energy, Vol. 2, pp. 141–16, 1984. [8] Kulunk, H., "A Prototype Solar Convection Chimney Operated under Izmit Conditions", Proceedings of the 7th Miami Int. Conf. on Alternative Energy Sources, Veiroglu, TN, Vol. 162. 1985 [9] Sampayo, E., Solar-Wind Power System, Spirit of Enterprise: the. 1986: 3-5. [10] Gannon, A.J. and Von Backström, T.W., "Controlling and Maximizing Solar Chimney Power Output", Proceedings of the 1st Int. Conf. on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Kruger Park, South, Africa, 2002. [11] Gannon, A.J. and Von Backström, T.W., "Solar Chimney Turbine Performance", J. Solar Energy Eng., Vol. 125, pp. 101-106, 2003. [12] Yan, M.Q., Sherif, S.A., Kridli, G.T., Lee, S.S., and Padki, M.M., "Thermo-Fluid Analysis of Solar Chimneys, Industrial Applications of Fluid Mechanics", Proceedings of the 112th ASME winter annual meeting, Atlanta, GA. Vol. 132, pp. 125–30, 1991. [13] Von Backström, T.W. and Fluri, T.P., "Maximum Fluid Power Condition in Solar Chimney Power Plants-An Analytical Approach", Solar Energy. Vol. 80, pp. 1417-1423, 2006. [14] Daba, R., Modeling and Simulation of Solar Chimney Power Plant with and without the Effect of Thermal Energy Storage Systems, Diss., Addis Abeba Institure of Technology, 2011. [15] Tingzhen, M., Wei, L., Guoling, X, , Yanbin, X., Xuhu, G., and Yuan, P., "Numerical Simulation of the Solar Chimney Power Plant Systems Coupled with Turbine", Renewable Energy, Vol. 33, pp. 897-905, 2008. [16] Ghalamchi, M., Kasaeian A., and Ghalamchi, M., "Experimental Study of Geometrical and Climate Effects on the Performance of a Small Solar Chimney", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 43, pp. 425-431, 2015. [17] Ghalamchi, M., Kasaeian, A., Ghalamchi, M., Mirzahosseini, A.H., "An Experimental Study on the Thermal Performance of a Solar Chimney with Different Dimensional Parameters", Renewable energy, Vol.91, pp. 477-483, 2016. [18] Ayadi, A., Bouabidi, A., Driss, Z., Abid, M. S., "Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Collector Roof Height Effect on the Solar Chimney Performance", Renewable energy, Vol.115, pp.649-662, 2018. [19] Toghraie, D., Karami, A., Afrand, M., Karimipour, A. "Effects of Geometric Parameters on the Performance of Solar Chimney Power Plants", Energy, Vol. 162, pp. 1052-1061, 2018. [20] Najm, O.A., Shaaban, S., "Numerical Investigation and Optimization of the Solar Chimney Collector Performance and Power Density", Energy Conversion and Management, Vol.168, pp. 150, 2018. [21] Muhammed, H.A., Atrooshi, S.A., Modeling Solar Chimney for Geometry Optimization. Renewable Energy, 2019. [22] Ayadi, A., Nasraoui, H., Bouabidi, A., Driss, Z., Bsisa, M., Abid, M.S., "Effect of the Turbulence Model on the Simulation of the Air Flow in a Solar Chimney", International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Vol. 130, pp. 423-434, 2018. [23] Ayadi, A., Driss, Z., Bouabidi, A., Nasraoui, H., Bsisa M., and Abid, M.S., "A computational and an Experimental Study on the Effect of the Chimney Height on the Thermal Characteristics of a Solar Chimney Power Plant", Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part E: Journal of Process Mechanical Engineering, Vol 232, No. 4, pp. 503-516, 2018. [24] Sangi, R., Amidpour, M., Hosseinizadeh, B. "Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Solar Chimney Power Plants", Solar Energy, Vol. 85, No. 5, pp. 829-838, 2011. [25] Guo, P., Li, J., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., "Numerical Study on the Performance of a Solar Chimney Power Plant", Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 105, pp. 197-205, 2015.
Energy Engineering and Management
Volume 9, Issue 4
January 2020
Pages 74-81

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics