Hydrodynamic study of a solar chimney power plant for better power production

Abstract

Solar chimney power plants consist of three main parts: collector, chimney, and turbine. The biggest flow losses of these stations are in the entrance area of the chimney. In this study, three different shapes of the chimney entrance area were proposed in order to reduce the flow losses. The simulation process was done using the FLUENT 2020. The change of the radius of the shapes in the chimney entrance was studied on the percentage of increase in the energy available in the chimney for Cases 1-3 compared to the available energy for Case 0. The results showed that the highest percentage of energy increase available in the chimney was 55%, 54%, and 4% for Cases 1-3, respectively. Case 3 is the optimal case while Case 2 is weak and unhelpful compared to the rest of the cases.