A solar chimney power plant consists of a large greenhouse-type collector surrounding a tall chimney. The air, heated within the collector, passes through an inlet guide vane (IGV)cascade and then through a transition section to a turbine that powers a generator. The transition section contains the turbine inlet guide vanes that support the whole chimney and guides the flow entering the turbine. The primary objective of the study was to determine the loss coefficient and mean exit swirl angle of the flow passing through the collector-to-chimney transition section of a full-scale solar chimney power plant as dependent on IGV stagger angle and collector roof height. Very good agreement was found between experimental values measured in a scaled model and commercial CFD code predictions of flow angles, velocity components, and internal and wall static pressures. The agreement between measured and predicted total pressure loss coefficient was reasonable when considering how small it is. The CFD code served to extend the predictions to a proposed full-scale geometry. Semi-empirical equations were developed to predict the loss coefficient and turbine mean inlet flow angles of solar chimney power plants as dependent on collector deck height and inlet guide vane setting angle. The two empirical equations may be useful in solar chimney plant optimization studies.
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e-mail: twvb@sun.ac.za
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August 2006
Research Papers
Flow Through a Solar Chimney Power Plant Collector-to-Chimney Transition Section
Carl F. Kirstein,
Carl F. Kirstein
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Stellenbosch
, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
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Theodor W. von Backström
Theodor W. von Backström
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: twvb@sun.ac.za
University of Stellenbosch
, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
Search for other works by this author on:
Carl F. Kirstein
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Stellenbosch
, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
Theodor W. von Backström
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Stellenbosch
, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africae-mail: twvb@sun.ac.za
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Aug 2006, 128(3): 312-317 (6 pages)
Published Online: January 27, 2006
Article history
Received:
June 1, 2005
Revised:
January 27, 2006
Citation
Kirstein, C. F., and von Backström, T. W. (January 27, 2006). "Flow Through a Solar Chimney Power Plant Collector-to-Chimney Transition Section." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. August 2006; 128(3): 312–317. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2210502
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