Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Airflow change and exergy analysis due to the installation of various types of partitions in the collector of a solar chimney power plant

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 04 August 2023

This article has been updated

Abstract

Interest in renewable energy is rapidly growing due to the increase in energy demand, environmental pollution, and depletion of fossil fuels worldwide. One of these sources is solar chimney power plant, which utilizes solar energy to generate electrical energy at a relatively low operating cost. Solar chimneys also do not require cooling, indicating that water resources are not wasted, and they are expected to be widely used in developing countries with abundant solar radiation. This study involved installing a solar chimney with a height of 3 m and a diameter of 3 m for the collector. The experimental results were verified by performing numerical work using ANSYS Fluent, under the scenario that no partition was present in the collector. The exergy efficiencies with I- and C-type partitions were compared with the case without partition. The result showed that the exergy efficiencies were 7.05 % and 7.12 % for the I- and C-type partitions, respectively, and they were higher than the previous 6.44 % for no partition. This study confirmed that the power generation exergy efficiency can be increased by installing partitions in existing solar chimney power plants.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

Abbreviations

A abs :

Surface area of the absorbing plate (m2)

A chimney :

Cross-sectional area of the chimney (m2)

EX heat :

Exergy generated by the solar collector

EX rad :

Exergy for solar radiation

Gr :

Grashof number

g :

Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

h :

Enthalpy (J/kg)

I bλ :

Radiation intensity of the black body

ṁ :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

P :

Power (W)

Pr :

Prandtl number

q u :

Amount of heat

Ra :

Rayleigh number

S :

Entropy (J/K)

T ds :

Dead state temperature (K)

T h :

Average temperature in the collector (K)

T s :

Surface temperature of the absorber (K)

h out :

Enthalpy of the air (J/kg)

h DS :

Dead state enthalpy (J/kg)

S out :

Entropy of the air (J/K)

S ds :

Dead state entropy (J/K)

U air :

Air flow velocity at the chimney inlet (m/s)

X :

Characteristic length (m)

α :

Thermal diffusion coefficient

α λ :

Spectral absorption coefficient

β :

Coefficient of thermal expansion

ϑ :

Kinematic viscosity

λ :

Wavelength

μ :

Coefficient of dynamic viscosity

ρ air :

Air density at the chimney inlet

σ s :

Scattering coefficient

ψ chimney :

Efficiency of the chimney

ψ net :

Total efficiency of the system

ψsol :

Efficiency of the solar collector

References

  1. W. Haaf, K. Friedrich, G. Mayr and J. Schlaich, Solar chimneys part I: principle and construction of the pilot plant in Manzanares, International Journal of Solar Energy, 2 (1) (1983) 3–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J. Schlaich, R. Bergermann, W. Schiel and G. Weinrebe, Design of commercial solar updraft tower systems- utilization of solar induced convective flows for power generation, Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 127 (2005) 117–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. G. Xu, T. Ming, Y. Pan, F. Meng and C. Zhou, Numerical analysis on the performance of solar chimney power plant system, Energy Conversion and Management, 52 (2011) 876–883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. R. Sangi, Performance evaluation of solar chimney power plants in Iran, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16 (2012) 704–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. H. F. Fasel, F. Meng, E. Shams and A. Gross, CFD analysis for solar chimney power plants, Solar Energy, 98 (2013) 12–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. A. Kasaeian, M. Chalamchi and M. Ghalamchi, Simulation and optimization of geometric parameters of a solar chimney in Tehran, Energy Conversion and Management, 83 (2014) 28–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. P. Guo, J. Li, Y. Wang and Y. Wang, Numerical study on the performance of a solar chimney power plant, Energy Conversion and Management, 105 (2015) 197–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. M. Mehrpooya, M. Shahsavan and M. M. M. Sharifzadeh, Modeling, energy and exergy analysis of solar chimney power plant-Tehran climate data case study, Energy, 115 (2016) 257–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. E. Gholamalizadeh and J. D. Chung, A comparative study of CFD models of a real wind turbine in solar chimney power plants, Energies, 10 (2017) 1673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. S. Hu, D. Leung and J. Chan, Impact of the geometry of divergent chimneys on the power output of a solar chimney power plant, Energy, 120 (2017) 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. O. K. Ahmed and A. S. Hussein, New design of solar chimney (case study), Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, 11 (2018) 105–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. O. A. Najm and S. Shaaban, Numerical investigation and optimization of the solar chimney collector performance and power density, Energy Conversion and Management, 168 (2018) 150–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. M. Aligholami, S. Khosroshahi and A. R. Khosroshahi, Hydrodynamic and thermodynamic enhancement of a solar chimney power plant, Solar Energy, 191 (2019) 180–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. P. Das and V. P. Chandramohan, Computational study on the effect of collector cover inclination angle, absorber plate diameter and chimney height on flow and performance parameters of solar updraft tower (SUT) plant, Energy, 172 (2019) 366–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. A. Habibollahzade, Employing photovoltaic/thermal panels as a solar chimney roof: 3E analyses and multi-objective optimization, Energy, 166 (2019) 118–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. A. A. Sedighi, Z. Deldoost and B. M. Karambasti, Effect of thermal energy storage layer porosity on performance of solar chimney power plant considering turbine pressure drop, Energy, 194 (2020) 116859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. H. Nasraoui, Z. Driss and H. Kchaou, Novel collector design for enhancing the performance of solar chimney power plant, Renewable Energy, 145 (2020) 1658–1671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. H. S. Mann and P. K. Singh, Conceptual development of an energy recovery from the chimney flue gases using ducted turbine system, Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 33 (2016) 448–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. H. S. Mann and P. K. Singh, Effect number of blades in ducted turbine system on kinetic energy extraction from chimney flue gases - benchmarking with wind energy system, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 32 (11) (2018) 5443–5455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. H. S. Mann and P. K. Singh, Energy recovery ducted turbine (ERDT) system for chimney flue gases - A CFD based analysis to study the effect of number of blade and diffuser angle, Energy, 213 (2020) 118501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. M. H. Guzel, R. E. Unal, A. Onder, M. A. Sen and F. Kose, The fuzzy logic-based modeling of a micro-scale sloped solar chimney power plant, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 35 (3) (2021) 1301–1308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. M. H. Guzel, R. E. Unal and F. Kose, Experimental study of a micro-scale sloped solar chimney power plant, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 35 (12) (2021) 5773–5779.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. M. Pandey, B. N. Padhi and I. Mishra, Performance analysis of a waste heat recovery solar chimney for nocturnal use, Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal, 24 (1) (2021) 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. B. N. Padhi, M. Pandey and I. Mishra, Relation of change in geometrical parameters in the thermal performance of aolar chimney, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 35 (10) (2021) 4737–4746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. H. Pastohr, O. Kornadt and K. Gürlebeck, Numerical and analytical calculations of the temperature and flow field in the upwind power plant, International Journal of Energy Research, 28 (6) (2004) 495–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. S. K. Dewangan, Effect of collector roof cum chimney divergence and exhaust fan on solar chimney power plant performance, International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering, 13 (2022) 911–928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. R. Petela, Exergy of undiluted thermal radiation, Solar Energy, 74 (2003) 469–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. R. Petela, Thermodynamic study of a simplified model of the solar chimney power plant, Solar Energy, 83 (2009) 94–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. C. B. Maia, J. Silva, L. Cabezas-Gomez, S. M. Hanriot and A. G. Ferreira, Energy and exergy analysis of the airflow inside a solar chimney, Renewable Sustainable Energy Reviews, 27 (2013) 350–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. P. Dashora, G. Gupta and J. Dashora, Thermal conductivity diffusivity and heat capacity of plasticized polyvinyl chloride, Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Physics, 43 (2005) 132–136.

    Google Scholar 

  31. N. S. Saxena, P. Pradeep, G. Mathew, S. Thomas, M. Gustafsson and S. E. Gustafsson, Thermal conductivity of styrene butadiene rubber compounds with natural rubber prophylactics waste as filler, European Polymer Journal, 35 (9) (1999) 1687–1693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIT) (Nos. 2021R1F1A1061409 and 2021M3H4A3A02099204).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and System Design Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul, 04066, Korea

    Ho Gyun Kang, Hyun Su So, Han Wool Lee, Subin Park, Jeong-Heon Shin & Jung Hwan Seo

Authors
  1. Ho Gyun Kang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hyun Su So
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Han Wool Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Subin Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jeong-Heon Shin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jung Hwan Seo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jeong-Heon Shin or Jung Hwan Seo.

Additional information

Jeong-Heon Shin is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical and System Design Engineering, Hongik University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin. His research interest fields are heat and fluid flow in nano- and micro-channels and renewable energy systems.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kang, H.G., So, H.S., Lee, H.W. et al. Airflow change and exergy analysis due to the installation of various types of partitions in the collector of a solar chimney power plant. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 3807–3816 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0643-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0643-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation