Performance Evaluation of Solar Chimney Draft: Application to Ventilation

Ventilation is one of the factors contributing to energy consumption in buildings and food preservation. The solar chimney proves to be an alternative for reducing conventional energy consumption. Thus, in this study, the performance of a solar chimney with two active faces for thermally drawing air from a chamber for preserving agri-food products was evaluated. These performances were experimentally assessed through data measurements: temperatures and velocities within the chimney, and their analysis using Excel and MATLAB. The obtained results were compared with those from literature to verify their validity. From this study, it is found that the maximum temperature at the chimney outlet reaches 49.4˚C with an average value of 43.7˚C. Additionally, the heating evolution of the chimney air presents four (04) identical phases in pairs, reflecting the chimney’s operation throughout day. The temperature difference between the outlet and inlet of the chimney reaches a maximum of 17˚C with an average of 12.6˚C. Regarding airflow, the maximum air velocity at the chimney outlet is 0.8 m/s, and the average velocities have consistently been greater than or equal to 0.46 m/s. Thus, it can be concluded that the solar chimney is capable of providing ventilation for the preservation chamber through thermal draft.

Optimization of a Solar Chimney with a Horizontal Absorber for Building Ventilation:A Case Study

A study is conducted to optimize the geometry of a solar chimney equipped with a horizontal absorber in order to improve its performances in relation to the provision of ventilation.The problem is tackled through numerical solution of the governing equations for mass,momentum and energy in their complete three-dimensional and unsteady formulation.The numerical framework also includes a turbulence model(k-ε)and a radiant heat transfer(DO)model.Moreover,a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm(MOGA)is employed to derive the optimal configuration of the considered solar chimney.It is shown that an air velocity of 0.2 m/s can be obtained.This value is the minimum allowed air velocity according to the ASHRAE’s(American Society of Heating,Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)adaptive comfort approach.

Performance Investigation of the Solar Chimney Power Plants Heater Case Study in Aswan, Egypt

Solar collector is a thermal device that uses the heated air in the power generation and many engineering applications. The purpose of the present work is to study the performance and temperature distribution for the solar collector which uses heated air in solar chimney power generation that it consist of three parts, a turbine-generator unit which is used in the generation of electric energy, and cylindrical chimney is fixed vertically and finally a solar collector under the climatic conditions of Egypt-Aswan is studied. This site is specified as the hottest site because the nearest of this location from the Tropic of cancer. Experiments are performed in ten summer days of May and June 2015 with different solar radiations and clarity of the sky. Hourly values of global solar radiation and some meteorological data (temperature, pressure, velocity, etc.) for measuring days are obtained by measuring devices. Inlet and outlet temperatures of air from a solar collector and velocity at junction region. In this work, attempt has been made to present the effect of environmental factors such as ambient temperature, the clarity of the sky and solar radiation on the performance of solar collector. The temperature of the base and the cover of the solar collector, the variation of solar radiation, solar collector efficiency, heat transfer coefficient, the velocity at the junction region between the chimney base, the outlet of the solar collector and temperature distribution along the air heater are discussed. A prediction for the results of the solar collector were performed by using developed theoretical model was made by this study which is based on the previous works. The numerical study has used a commercial code CFX, ANSYS 16.1 to simulate the flow through the collector. The study show that the outlet air temperatures from the solar collector and the velocity at the junction are depending on the climate condition such as ambient temperature and solar radiation, the differences in air temperature at the solar collector ranging between 8° - 24°. It is concluded that the theoretical model is basically valid for the system under study, and theCFD simulation can be used conveniently to predict the performance of the system, the comparison between them and experimental result shows a good agreement.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Solar Chimney Power Plant’s Turbine

The solar chimney power plant is a relatively new electricity generation concept, based on renewable energy, combining the greenhouse effect with the chimney suction. The solar chimney powerplant consists of three parts, the solar collector, the chimney and the turbine generator unit, of which the study was focused on the later part. To evaluate the turbine performance inside the solar chimney powerplant, experimental system was constructed in Aswan, Egypt that has a metrological site (23°58'N and 32°47'E) occurs. The system was constructed to evaluate the performance of the solar chimney turbine and power generation characteristic in the hottest site where Aswan is located at the nearest of the Tropic of Cancer at the summer season. Velocity, electric power generation and the turbine efficiency are studying in this work. The numerical analyses were performed by using a commercial code CFX, ANSYS 16.1 to simulate the flow through the turbine and overall system. The study shows that the range of power generated (1.2 W - 4.4 W). It can be estimated, according to the results, the variation trend in pressure drops with the turbine rotation speed increase with small differences when the turbine rotation speed surpasses 1800 rpm with average efficiency of 57%. It is concluded that the theoretical model is basically valid for the system under study, and the CFD simulation can be used conveniently to predict the performance of the system, the comparison between them and experimental result shows a good agreement.

Thermal Analyses of Combined Utilization Process of Seawater by Solar Chimney

It is promising to simultaneously develop multiple products through the combined utilization of seawater by solar chimney technology. A small scale experimental system was set up. The collector temperature, the seawater temperature, and the temperature and humidity of the airflow under the collector were measured. Thermal network analysis of the system was carried out. The results show that the airflow is nearly saturated at the entrance of the chimney, and the mean dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures of the airflow have increased by 8.4 ℃ and 9.6 ℃, respectively. The radiation heat transfer between the collector and the sky is the biggest heat loss in the system, which is up to 29.1% on average of the solar energy. However, the water evaporation heat is about 23.6% on average of the solar energy. To reduce the heat loss and enhance the water evaporation, it is necessary to reduce the emissivity and thermal conductivity of the collector and increase the evaporation areas.

Effect of chimney shadow on the performance of wind supercharged solar chimney power plants:A numerical case study for the Spanish prototype

Three-dimensional numerical simulations for a solar chimney power plant(SCPP)and wind supercharged solar chimney power plant(WSSCPP)based on the Spanish prototype using the solar ray-tracing algorithm were performed to study the shadow effect of the chimney.The area of the shadow region increases with an increase in the incident angle of the solar rays.A parametric study was performed by varying the incident angle from 0°to 30°.The temperature and velocity distributions at different incident angles were analyzed.In addition,we investigated the chimney shadow effect in several comprehensive SCPP systems.The findings show that the turbine shaft powers of the SCPP and WSSCPP were reduced by 22.4%and 13.7%,respectively,when the incident angle increased from 0°to 30°.In conclusion,it is important to consider the chimney shadow effect when estimating the performance in the design and cost analysis of SCPP systems.

Exhaust Ventilation through a Solar Chimney： A Response to High Hermeticity in Welfare Housing

This research reports on potentiality in the solar chimney as an exhaust ventilation device through a hypothetical statement that convenient weather conditions exist on sub-humid warm climate to enhance the performance ofa SC （solar chimney）, in order to increase ventilation to dissipate metabolic heat from inhabitants of airtight buildings. The methodology used in this research integrates the use of simplified mathematical models that predict in a semi-empirical way a potential volume flow through estimation of kinetic power generation, by natural circulation and stack effect in a typical covered-plate air solar collector. The study was carried out during the warm month of April, an important warm season for Colima, where the prevailing wind is about 6.8 m/s, the average temperature of maximums and minimums oscillates between 15.4℃and 34.4 ℃ with average relative humidity of 65% according to national weather service. A scale model of the SC was installed on environmental chambers. The results showed that this device is capable of generating ventilation conditions around light breeze parameters near between 0.6 m/s and 1.5 m/s width, a better performance at day in 45% approximately than the night values, making ventilation rates up 0.24 ACH （air changes per hour） as average air change rate.

Experimental Investigation of Solar Chimney Power Plant

The paper investigated the performance of a solar chimney, by measuring the chimney air temperature and velocity. A short solar chimney prototype was designed and constructed at Botswana Technology Center. A wind turbine was installed to rotate a small DC generator. Temperatures and velocities were measured at different times of the day with thermocouples and hotwire anemometer, respectively. Irradiance was measured with pyranometer. A Delta-T data logger was used to store data at intervals of 30 s. Various graphs depicting the influence of irradiance on temperature, velocity and power have been plotted. Irradiance was found to affect the chimney temperature and subsequently affects chimney air velocity and power produced. Ambient air （wind） velocity was found to have influence on the performance of the solar chimney by increasing chimney air velocity.

Estimate the Ventilation Effect from Wire Mesh Screen Assisted Solar Chimney

In 1750s European houses, chimneys are used to remove smoke and dust particle from the fire place to the ambient. At present the applications of chimneys are extended for house ventilation, which is known as solar chimney assisted ventilation system. In this paper, the effect of wire mesh screen on chimney assisted ventilation system is studied and presented. Natural draft chimney integrated with solar heating system that is known as solar chimney, can be used for building ventilation. Number of research works had been conducted on different types of solar chimney to enhance the building ventilation performance. In this study a solar chimney model is designed and modified with wire mesh screens. An electric heating system is installed in the models to replace the solar absorber in the solar chimney. The airflow rates and the exit air temperatures are also measured and compared for normal chimney and modified chimneys under different heat loads. The performances of the chimneys are evaluated to determine the effects of wire mesh screen on the solar chimney. Experimental results indicated the solar chimney model with 0.64 mm × 0.64 mm pore size wire mesh screen at the exit is able to enhance velocity and the exit air temperature are about 54% and 41%, respectively. It has been concluded that the wire mesh screen has significant effect of model solar chimney and is able to enhance the performance.

Design of Wind Turbine Blade for Solar Chimney Power Plant

Aiming at the global efficiency of solar chimney power plant(SCPP), we design a wind turbine generation device to elevate its electricity generating efficiency. Based on wind power utilization theory, a new method is proposed to design a type of wind turbine blade for SCPP. The lift and resistance coefficients on different Reynolds numbers of NACA4418 airfoil, which is suitable for experimental solar electricity generation system, are determined by Profili-V2.0 airfoil design software, a program written in Matlab to calculate chord length of the airfoil. The optimization is conducted by class-shape-transformation(CST) parameterization method and Xfoil software. An airfoil design program is designed on the basis of blade element theory and attack angle with the highest lift coefficient to iteratively determine the inflow angle and setting angle. Prandtl's tip-loss factor is applied to correct the setting angle, after the airfoil data are input into AutoCAD to build an airfoil model which is then imported into Solidworks to draw blades. A new way is put forward to design wind turbine blades in SCPP.

Book review:Solar chimney power generating technology

Since Prof. Jorg SCHLAICH from the University of Stuttgart in Germany built the first solar chimney power plant （SCPP） prototype in the early 1980s, research on SCPP technology has aroused worldwide attention from experiment, to theory and then feasibility studies for large-scale commercial application.

Experimental investigation on solar-flue gas chimney

Flue gases exhausted from thermal power plants contain more than 50% of the fuel thermal energy. In the present work, experimental investigation was carried out to study the utilization of thermal energy in flue gases to enhance the performance of modified solar chimney consisting of Savonius wind rotor. A modified solar chimney model was designed and fabricated to carry out experimental measurement. The model consists of thermal energy conversion unit; Savonius wind rotor and a chimney. The thermal energy in the flue gas transfers to the air particles in the air channel across the absorber plate and results in upward air stream due to the buoyancy effect. With an 9 absorber area of 2.36 re＇and flue gas mass flow rate of0.18 kg/s, air velocity＇ of 4.1 m/s was achieved at the top of the thermal unit. Increasing the mass flow rate of the flue gas to 0.24 kg/s enhances the air velocity to be 4.6 m/s. The results have demonstrated the possibility＇ of utilizing the thermal energy in the waste flue gas to enhance the performance of a solar chimney and facilitate the continuous operation during the absence of the sun.

Effect of Impeller Solidity on the Generating Performance for Solar Power Generation

According to current solar power research,both the generating unit’s minimum start-up speed and power generation system’s minimum flow rate for operation decrease with the increase in the impeller solidity.Ideally,a high solidity should be achieved,as this translates more power for a solar power system in the start-up and shut-down cycles.However,increasing the number of blades does not increase the impeller solidity;therefore,there is an optimal number of blades needed to achieve the preferred solidity.This paper begins by selecting the blade airfoil and then performs a theoretical analysis based on the relationship between the blade number and chord length.Experiments are conducted to measure the starting and stopping wind speeds and power characteristics for different numbers of blades.The results show that a maximum impeller solidity of 0.2862 is achieved,as well as the minimum flow speed at the start-up,and the maintenance of the solar chimney power generation system is optimized when there are four blades.

Wind-Thermal Environmental Characteristic of Multi-Variable Passive Enhanced Natural Ventilation System for High and Large Space Building

Natural ventilation effects in high and large space buildings of tropical areas greatlya ffect the air conditioning energy consumption.Aiming at nearly zero energy building design,thisp aper mainly contributes to provide theoretical basis and reference for thermal comfortable air conditioning system design of high and large space buildings.Taking a theatre in Hainan as study object,a newly composite enhanced natural ventilation system is proposed by integrating theu nderground tunnel-based earth to air heat exchange system and the solar chimney.Ventilationq uantity,air velocity and air temperature field,human vertical temperature gradient differenceu nder24simulation working conditions are considered and analyzed by using ANSYS Fluent.Fort he underground tunnel,results show that Group Two with double underground tunnels and side airs upply location shows its advantages in cooling effects and air supply uniformity.Then for the solar chimney,results show that the solar radiation intensity contributes to larger difference int ransmission power and leads to different cooling effects.On the whole,the system under workingc ondition No.7with120m long,side air supply,double underground tunnel and20m high,1mw ide,0.6°absorber plate angle solar chimney shows its priority in better comprehensive performance.