Numerical Analysis for Optimizing Solar Updraft Tower Design using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Abstract

This paper presents and explains the working principle of solar updraft tower system. It also describes the major components of the system. The system utilizes solar thermal technology by heating up the air below the solar collector through solar radiation, convection and greenhouse effect. The heated up air tends to travel to the bottom of the tower and rises up the chimney due to differential temperature. The upward velocity is used to turn a turbine
installed at the bottom end of the tower either vertical or horizontal to generate power. A parametric study on the geometry of the solar updraft tower is carried out by inclining the solar collector, studying the effects of an inclined chimney and also the effects of different solar radiation for 400 W/m2, 600 W/m2, 800 W/m2 and 1000 W/m2. A validated model is compared with the experimental prototype constructed by the University of Zanjan, Iran. The study is to maximize the power generation of the existing utilized land for optimum power generation by sloping the collector and updraft tower angle to evaluate the performance in terms of updraft tower velocity and estimated power generation improvement. The result shows a remarkable improvement in the power generated by just sloping the collector and without inclining the updraft tower. The findings and results are discussed and suggested for future works.