Numerical investigation of a novel tower solar chimney concept

Abstract

Divergent tower solar chimney power plant is an attractive upgrading of the solar chimney system. However, boundary layer separation (BLS) phenomenon can appear when the divergence angle exceeds a specific value, inducing system performance degradation. The present paper proposes a novel solar chimney tower concept, named annular tower solar chimney power plant (ATSCPP), to deal with BLS phenomenon and improve the divergent tower system. Accordingly, the influence of exterior tower radius (ETR) and interior tower radius (ITR) were evaluated, using the Spanish prototype. Simulations were carried out using a 3D model. The results indicate that flow behavior, power output and thermal efficiency shows a strong sensitivity to the change of both ETR and ITR. The best case is obtained when (ETR = 17 m, ITR = 13 m). The new solar chimney tower concept allowed a significant increase in the driving potential. The total improvement in power output reaches 32%. An improved concept which allows a compromise between induced cost and performance gain of the system is also proposed.