Numerical methodology for analyzing the performance of a solar updraft tower in various environmental conditions
Abstract
This paper investigates a simplified and fast numerical model of a solar updraft tower. The model applies a novel approach to the calculation of heat transfer from the outside environment to a collector in the tower. Complex calculations of heat transfer are replaced by a properly defined heat flux boundary condition - the value of which depends on the time of day and meteorological conditions. The model was validated by experimental results from a pilot plant in Manzanares, Spain. Calculations were performed in order to investigate the effects of the chimney's height and the density of the solar radiation. Both of these dependencies were found to be logarithmic. The requirements for a 250~kW plant in various locations with different meteorological conditions were analyzed.References
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tal and theoretical performance of a demonstration
solar chimney modelPart I: mathematical model de-
velopment. International Journal of Energy Research,
22 (3), 277288.
2.Haaf, W., Friedrich, K., Mayr, G., and Schlaich, J.
(1983) Solar Chimneys Part I: Principle and Construc-
tion of the Pilot Plant in Manzanares. International
Journal of Solar Energy, 2 (1), 320.
3.Haaf, W. (1984) Solar chimneys part II: preliminary
test results from Manzanares Pilot Plant. Interna-
tional Journal of Solar Energy, 2 (2), 141161.
4.Cao, F., Li, H., Zhao, L., Bao, T., and Guo, L.
(2013) Design and simulation of the solar chimney
power plants with TRNSYS. Solar Energy, 98, Part
A, 2333.
5.Fasel, H.F., Meng, F., Shams, E., and Gross, A.
(2013) CFD analysis for solar chimney power plants.
Solar Energy, 98, Part A, 1222.
6.Guo, P., Li, J., Wang, Y., and Liu, Y. (2013) Nu-
merical analysis of the optimal turbine pressure drop
ratio in a solar chimney power plant. Solar Energy,
98, Part A, 4248.
7.Koonsrisuk, A. (2013) Comparison of conventional
solar chimney power plants and sloped solar chimney
power plants using second law analysis. Solar Energy,
98, Part A, 7884.
8.Gong, T., Ming, T., Huang, X., Richter, R.K. de,
Wu, Y., and Liu, W. (2017) Numerical analysis on a
solar chimney with an inverted U-type cooling tower
to mitigate urban air pollution. Solar Energy, 147,
6882.
9.Guo, P., Li, J., Wang, Y., and Wang, Y. (2015) Nu-
merical study on the performance of a solar chimney
power plant. Energy Conversion and Management,
105, 197205.
10.Zhou, X., Yang, J., Xiao, B., and Hou, G. (2007)
Simulation of a pilot solar chimney thermal power
generating equipment. Renewable Energy, 32 (10),
16371644.
11.Zhou, X., Yang, J., Xiao, B., Hou, G., and Xing, F.
(2009) Analysis of chimney height for solar chimney
power plant. Applied Thermal Engineering, 29 (1),
178185.
12. (2014) The Open Source CFD Toolbox User
Guide.
13.Weller, H.G., Tabor, G., Jasak, H., and Fureby, C.
(1998) A Tensorial Approach to Computational Con-
tinuum Mechanics Using Object-oriented Techniques.
Comput. Phys., 12 (6), 620631.
14.Bozza, G., Malecha, Z.M., and Weelderen, R.V.
(2016) Development and application of a generic
fCFDg toolkit covering the heat
ows in combined
solidliquid systems with emphasis on the thermal de-
sign of HiLumi superconducting magnets. Cryogenics,
80, 253264.
15.Malecha, Z.M., Jedrusyna, A., Grabowski, M.,
Chorowski, M., and Weelderen, R. van (2016) Exper-
imental and numerical investigation of the emergency
helium release into the LHC tunnel. Cryogenics, 80,
1732.
16.Chini, G., Malecha, Z., and Dreeben, T. (2014)
Large-amplitude acoustic streaming. J. Fluid Mech.,
744, 329351.
17.Ferziger, J.H., and Peric, M. (1999) Computa-
tional Methods for Fluid Dynamics, Springer, Berlin.
18.Issa, R.I., Gosman, A.D., andWatkins, A.P. (1986)
The computation of compressible and incompressible
recirculating
ows by a non-iterative implicit scheme.
Journal of Computational Physics, 62 (1), 6682.
19.Chung, T.J. (2002) Computational Fluid Dynam-
ics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
20.Batchelor G.K (2000) An introduction to
uid dy-
namics, Cambridge University Press.
21.Fasel, H.F., Meng, F., Shams, E., and Gross, A.
(2013) CFD analysis for solar chimney power plants.
Solar Energy, 98, 1222.
22.Aurelio, M., and Bernardes, S. (2017) Preliminary
stability analysis of the convective symmetric converg-
ing
ow between two nearly parallel stationary disks
similar to a Solar Updraft Power Plant collector. Solar
Energy, 141, 297302.
23.Fox, B (2014) Wind power integration: connection
and system operational aspects, IET.
24.Kalogirou S.A (2013) Solar energy engineering:
processes and systems, Academic Press.
25. (2003) Grid convergence error analysis for mixed-
order numerical schemes.
Published
2020-06-05
How to Cite
BRENK, Arkadiusz Patryk; MALECHA, Ziemowit Miłosz; TOMKÓW, Łukasz Tadeusz.
Numerical methodology for analyzing the performance of a solar updraft tower in various environmental conditions .
Journal of Power Technologies, [S.l.], v. 100, n. 2, p. 144-151, june 2020.
ISSN 2083-4195.
Available at: <https://papers.itc.pw.edu.pl/index.php/JPT/article/view/1353>. Date accessed: 20 apr. 2024.
Issue
Section
Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Keywords
Solar updraft tower; meteorological conditions; OpenFOAM; heat transfer
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