Effect of Tower Height and Collector Radius on Performance of Solar Updraft Tower Power Plant

Abstract

A renewable energy resource like solar energy that is abundant in nature and eco-friendly, is a better alternative for electricity generation. Solar energy is already being used to produce electricity with the help of photo-voltaic panels and among many other technologies solar updraft power plant is a noble promising technology which can be used to supply power to countries with large wastelands or unused desert lands. In this study, the temperature and velocity values that affect the performance of solar tower are analyzed for different chimney height and collector surface areas. The simulation of the Solar Updraft Tower was performed with Energy2D software based on computational physics. It was analyzed that the increase in tower height and collector surface area significantly increased the temperature and velocity values of the air flowing from the collector mouth inlet to the center. As a result, when different solar updraft tower models were compared, the most important factor affecting the performance of the solar chimney was the chimney length and the collector surface area.