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IMPACT OF A DIFFUSER ON SOLAR CHIMNEY POWER PLANT OUTPUT

  • SUNY Buffalo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The increasing demand for renewable energy has promoted interest in using solar chimney power plants for generating electricity. Due to the large construction and maintenance requirements, solar chimney power plants have a high power generation cost. It is essential to improve the efficiency of solar chimney power plants to make it an affordable means of clean energy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a diffuser at the chimney inlet on performance of the power plant using computational fluid dynamics. The solar chimney system was modeled with the ground as an energy storage medium and was inspired the power plant in Manzanares, Spain. Different diffuser geometries were tested for the same chimney height by varying the ratio of diffuser inlet-to-outlet radii and diffuser height. The results indicated that the updraft velocity increased and the power plant energy output increased by 26% for a diffuser with optimized parameters.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication5th-6th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference, TFEC 2021
PublisherBegell House Inc.
Pages423-432
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781567005172
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Event5th-6th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference, TFEC 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: May 26 2021May 28 2021

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Thermal and Fluids Engineering Summer Conference
Volume2021-May
ISSN (Electronic)2379-1748

Conference

Conference5th-6th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference, TFEC 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period05/26/2105/28/21

Keywords

  • Computational fluid dynamics
  • diffuser
  • energy storage medium
  • solar chimney
  • solar updraft tower

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