Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition IMECE2011 November 11-17, 2011, Denver,

Colorado, USA

IMECE2011-65819
VIRTUAL HEIGHT AIDED SOLAR CHIMNEY: A NEW DESIGN
Khaled I.E. Ahmed Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha (2713), Qatar. kh.ahmed@qu.edu.qa Mahmoud Ahmed Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut (71516), Egypt. aminism@aun.edu.eg ABSTRACT Renewable energy source deployment is growing rapidly as it reduces CO2 emissions and increases diversity and security of supply. Solar chimney (SC) is a promising largescale power technology, which absorbs solar radiation and converts parts of solar energy into electric power free of CO2 emissions. A major problem of Solar Chimney Power Plant (SCPP) is its low conversion efficiency as determined by the thermal performance of the system. However, the conversion efficiency of SCPP significantly increases with the SC height increase. The current paper proposes a new design of a virtual height aided solar chimney. In this new system the solar chimney is aided with a passive cooling system at the top of the chimney and a passive solar heater at its base to virtually mimic larger heights of the chimney. The new design has been simulated numerically for development and optimization. The numerical study is done in two stages to examine this concept. In the first stage, numerical results are obtained for the effect of the chimney height on the inside air flow speed. Then, in the second stage, the effect of decreasing the temperature at the chimney exit and the effect of increasing the temperature at the chimney base on the air flow speed are examined separately for small chimney heights. Then the combined effect of the two actions is investigated at a wide range of chimney heights. The numerical results have shown that the localized base heating and exit cooling have significantly enhanced the chimney performance for chimney heights up to 500m. A chimney with height of 300m gains an increase in the air velocity more than 25% due to the heating and cooling actions. Virtual height aided Chimney with original height of 300m acts similarly to a conventional chimney with height of 500m due to the effect of Ali K. Abdel-Rahman Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut (71516), Egypt. nada_ali54@yahoo.com Wael M. Khairaldien Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut (71516), Egypt. waelmkh@ittu.org base heating and exit cooling actions. This air flow velocity increase reflects 100% increase in the expected generated electric power. Further detailed results are presented and discussed. INTRODUCTION In Qatar and despite of low average wind speed for onshore energy harvesting, off-shore can be a good alternative. The wind energy becomes visible if the solar power chimney concept is employed in Qatar. Qatar is blessed with more than 2200 kWh/m2 annual solar radiation as shown in Fig. 1. Solar chimney (SC) power technology is a promising large-scale power technology [1], which absorbs direct and diffused solar radiation and then converts parts of these solar energies into electric power free of emissions.

SR > 2200 1700 < SR < 2200 Fig 1. Annual global solar radiation [5]

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T solar chimn power plan (SCPP), as shown in Fig. 2, The ney nt s 2 comb bines three com mponents such as a solar collector, a SC h situat in the center of the coll ted lector, and power conversio on unit ( (PCU) which includes one or several turb o bine generator rs. The t technologies for the SCPP components are simple an f nd reliab The major problem of SCPP is its low conversio ble. r on efficiency as determ mined by the thermal perfo ormance of th he system However, the conversion efficiency of SCPP increase m. t es with t SC height. the

the ou utcome of the SCPP. Large heights (> 5 m) are no e 500 ot practic cally visible fo research wor or rk. T SC situated in the collecto center is the actual therma The d or e al engine of the SCPP, which drives the air to the collector to the e , SC b base by com mbining with the effect o temperature of differe ence. The ma flow of u ass updraft air is approximately y propor rtional to the c collector air te emperature rise and to the SC e C height The air cycl with losses for SCPP is sh t. le hown in Fig. 3 [23], w where 0203 p process denotes the heated ai entering from s ir m the co ollector inlet w when its tempe erature and en ntropy increase e. Proces 0303te de ss enotes the air flow at the c collector outle et throug the turbine when the tem gh e mperature dec creases slightly y. Proces 03te04 d ss denotes the ai behind the turbine flow ir ws throug the SC wh the tempe gh hen erature decreases due to the negati work of gr ive ravitational for Finally, th dynamic and rce. he therma energy of ai flow are relea al ir ased into the at tmosphere. The losses through the power system a also include in this cycle s are ed e. The a aerodynamic lo osses of PCU components a respectively are y includ in the colle ded ector and in the SC except tu e urbine losses, as a shown in Fig. 3. n

Fig 2. Schematic overview of th solar chimne power plant o he ey princip ple S Solar collecto consists of support matrix, colum or o m mn struct ture, and transp parent roof. Th ground unde the roof heat he er ts up an transfers its heat to the air above it flowin radially from nd ng m the p periphery to th center drive by buoyan he en ncy. In order to t impro the opera ove ational perform mance of SCP during nigh PP ht time, several sugge estions were previously prop p posed by man ny resear rchers. These suggestions are including an intermediat a a te secon ndary roof und the first roo [2], to add thermal storag der of ge system such as clo m osed water-fill tanks on the natural so led t oil under the collector roof [3], an a use of solar ponds fo r r nd s or therm storage of SCPP [4]. mal S P PCU of a larg ge-scale SCPP consists of one or severa P al turbin generators, power electro ne onics, a grid interface and a horizo ontal-to-vertica transition se al ection (HTVTS i.e., the flow S), w passa from collec exit to SC inlet. Turbine generators ar age ctor C e re core c components of any SCPP. Th typical SC turbine is of th f he t he axial flow type. Th SC turbines are usually placed at the SC he base [5]. Mostly, the SC turbines were proposed to be placed at d a the S base mainly because of inconvenienc arising from SC f ce m instal llation and mai intenance of tu urbine generato at the SC to ors op [6] fo large-scale SCPP. or S S SCPP performance has been experimentally investigate n ed by m many researchers [7-12] us sing small to medium size ed prototypes. The main objectives of these studi are to find a m ies ence base for a theoretical work and to get a performanc w t ce refere measu that can be scaled up. Utilizing thes experimenta ure b se al mode many theor els, retical studies [12-22] have investigated th he visibi ility of buildin a large scal SCPP. The studies hav ng le ese ve shown that SC heig plays the most significant role in definin ght ng

Fig 3. Temperatu g ureentropy dia agram of air sta andard cycle anal lysis with syste losses [23] em
01: atmospher air at SC outlet ric t, 02: collector i inlet air, 03: col llector outlet air, 04: SC outlet air r.

T air flow in the solar chim The n mney is mainly driven by the y lower temperature, l lower pressure and higher wi speed at the ind exit o the solar ch of himney when compared to that under the collec ctor. It was re eported by NA ASA [24] that t atmosphere the tempe erature decreas by 6.5oC a 1000m heigh from the sea ses at ht level and the atmo ospheric pressu decreases 10Pa for each ure h meter over the sea level till 2750 0m. Furthermo wind speed ore increa ases gradually showing spe y eed of 60m/s at height of s o 5,000m These da show that solar chimney with highe m. ata ys er chimn heights wo ney ould deliver a flows with higher airflow air w speeds Artificially creating the driving fo s. y ese orces for such h chimn ney will enha ance its perfo ormance as if its height is f i increa ased. In the present a n article a novel concept of ad dding a cooling g unit a the top of th chimney an a solar heat at he nd ting unit at the base o chimney to v of virtually simula the tempera ate ature difference due to large chimney heights is pro o y oposed.

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW DESIGN W V Virtually incre easing the hei ight of a sola chimney by ar b decre easing the temp perature and pressure at its exit is a nove p el conce ept to be addressed in the current proposal. Th he tempe erature at the chimney exit could be red t duced using an a absor rption refrigeration solar dr riven system. This positiv ve coolin concept is not addressed before for solar chimneys. ng d s Howe ever, absorptio refrigeratio solar drive systems ar on on en re gener rally addressed for general co d ooling systems [25]. Also th s he pressu at the chim ure mney exit cou be reduced by heating th uld d he chimn ney base, just over the tu urbine section, using passiv , ve heatin system sim ng milar to that us in [26]. Fig. 4 shows a sed schem matic diagram for the new de esign of adding a cooling un g nit at the top of the chim e mney and heat ting unit at the chimney base.

release the stored en e nergy to the fl lowing air inle to the turbine et during non-sunshine periods (nig time and c g e ght cloudy interva al during day time). T g Thus, the temp perature of the ground unde e er the co ollector is assu umed to be 60oC constant all the time. The l pressu at the collec entrance is bounded by t atmospheric ure ctor s the pressu ure. The colle ector and the chimney walls are assumed to be adi iabatic. The b boundary cond dition at the c chimney exit is i model based on t chimney h led the height and the average heigh ht depen ndent pressure and temperatu given by NA ure ASA [24]. The atmos spheric pressur and tempera re ature at sea lev are assumed vel to be 101325Pa and 300oK respec d ctively. The m model is solved for com mpressible and turbulent ther d rmal fluid anal lysis.

Chimn ney Vertica al Turbin ne H Horizontal Turbines C Collector

Chimney

Location of Vertical n Tu urbine Location o Horizontal of Tur rbines

Fig 4. Schema overview of a solar chimn aided with atic o ney h passi cooling at chimney top an passive heat ive c nd ting at chimney y base e I the current paper a prelim In minary study is done in tw wo phase to examine this concept. In the first phase numerica es p al result are obtained as reference frame for th effect of th ts d e he he chimn height on the air flow speed. Then, in the secon ney n nd phase the effect of decreasing th temperature at the chimne e, f he ey exit a the effect of heating the chimney base on the air flow and o w speed is examined separately and combined. Th the study is d s hen i concl luded with rela ations between the chimney real height an n nd virtua height at the airflow speed. al . a The CFD Model aA CFD model is built for a pr i reliminary exam mination of this conce A solar ch ept. himney, Fig. 5, with 200m col llector diamete er, 10m c chimney diame eter, 3m collec largest heig and variou ctor ght, us chimn heights fro 50m to 100 ney om 00m is assumed for the curren d nt mode A 2-D axisy el. ymmetric mod is built usin ANSYS-CFD del ng D with mapped mesh to get the most accurate results. Th h e he eleme size is cont ent trolled to be le than 20cm and higher tha ess an 10cm m. U Under the colle ector a thick layer of highe heat capacit er ty rook bed that absor solar radiation during suns rb shine hours an nd

C Collector

Fig 5. Schematic dra awing of a sola chimney wit its simulation ar th n CFD mo odel a- The regula chimney ar T The preliminary results for the first phas of the CFD ry se D model have shown t great effect of the chimne height on the l the t ey solar chimney perf formance, Fig 6. The average airflow g. w veloci ity significant tly increases with the in ncrease of the

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chimn height, Fig. 7. It is wo noting tha in the curren ney orth at nt mode for simplicity, the airflow speed of the atmospheric air el, w a at hig altitudes is not counted in the current model which wi gh n n m ill furthe decrease the pressure at th chimney exi due to ventu er e he it uri effect This effect will increase significantly at high chimne t. a ey heigh hts. Furthermo the curren study does not consider th ore, nt n he pressu drop afte the horizo ure er ontal turbines since it is a comp parative analysi is.

y s ed y Finally both effects are combine to compare the chimney perfor rmance under t these effects. T chimney e temperature The exit bound dary conditions have been red s duced with ran from 5oC to nge o 25 C to simulate d different cooling conditions for chimney y ts d w height of 50m and 100m. As shown in Fig. 8 the airflow e veloci entering the vertical and horizontal tur ity rbines increases by 1% for each 5K reduction in th chimney ex temperature % he xit e. Both chimney heig ghts experienc the same effect for the ce chimn exit cooling ney g. he c- Heating th chimney base T second tec The chnique which is heating the chimney base e moves the air up tow s wards the chim mney exit incre easing the effec ct of pre essure drop at t chimney ex This conce is examined the xit. ept for a c chimney heigh of 50m with/ ht /without coolin the chimney ng y exit. Fig. 9 shows the profile of the airflow velocity through f h the cro sections of the collector and chimney at the location oss f ns at also, shows tha heating the b of turb bines. Fig. 9, a base has highe er impac on increasin the airflow velocity than that of the exi ct ng it coolin ng.

Fig 6 The airflow pattern in m/s at the horizon and vertical 6. w s ntal turbine regions for chim mney height of 200 m 2

Fig 7 The effect of the chimney height on the airflow average 7. o a e velocity enter ring to vertical and horizonta turbines l al b Cooling th chimney exit bhe I the second phase, the conc of virtually increasing th In p cept y he chimn height by heating the chi ney h imney base and by cooling th d he chimn exit is con ney nsidered. The latter is examin first withou l ned ut heatin the chimne base. Then the concept of heating th ng ey n he chimn base is ex ney xamined witho cooling the chimney exi out e it.

Fig 8. The effect o cooling the chimney exit o the airflow of on entering t vertical and horizontal turb to bines

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d- Combined cooling and heating About a 25% increase in the airflow velocity is realized with the combined actions of heating the chimney base and cooling the chimney exit. Such increase in the air velocity results in a 95% increase in the harvested energy from such arrangement due to the cubic relation between the harvested energy and airflow velocity. The effects of the combined cooling and heating are examined for chimney heights ranging from 50 1000m. It is

worth noting that the cooling and heating is applied at the chimney cross sectional area within height less than 20cm. These localized heating and cooling have shown significant performance enhancement for chimney heights up to 500m, Fig. 10. Chimneys with heights up to 400m gain an increase in the air velocity more than 20% due to the heating and cooling actions, Fig. 11. Chimney with height 300m with heating and cooling actions acts similarly to a chimney with height 500m without these modifications, Fig. 10.

a) Entering to vertical turbine

b) Entering to horizontal turbines

Fig 9. Airflow velocity profile through the cross sections of the collector and chimney at the turbines locations

Fig 10. Airflow average velocities Vx entering horizontal turbines and Vy entering vertical turbine before and after applying heating chimney base and cooling chimney exit

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Fig 11. Percentage increase in the air flow velocity and in virtual height due to the action of heating the chimney base and cooling the chimney exit.

CONCLUSIONS Solar chimneys are significant source of clean electrical energy. The performance of the solar chimney power plant depends mainly on the height of its chimney. The chimney height has to be at least 500m to gain cost effective power. In the current work a new design concept of heating the chimney base and cooling the chimney exit has been presented. The new proposed design has worked as a chimney with virtual added height. This virtually added height has shown double the generated electrical power for a chimney with original height up to 400m. The current preliminary results of the current CFD model require few modifications to include all boundary and environmental conditions to confidently relay on. Moreover, comparisons with experimental results are required for the model to gain confidence in its achieved results and in the claimed enhancements. REFERENCES [1] Dennis C. Solar energy: radiation nation. Nature 2006; 443:2324. [2] Pretorius JP. Optimization and control of a large-scale solar chimney power plant. Ph.D. thesis. South Africa: University of Stellenbosch; 2007. [3] Schlaich J, Bergermann R, Schiel W, Weinrebe G. Design of commercial solar updraft tower systemsutilization of

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