Dust and Pollution Deposition Impact on a Solar Chimney Performance

The solar chimney is used to generate electricity from solar energy and consists of a solar collector connected to a chimney to generate a flow of hot air that moves the electricity-generating turbines. In this study, the effect of dust and pollutants deposition on the solar chimney prototype was studied, considering that Iraq, like many countries in the world, is exposed to dust storms several times a year and its atmosphere is loaded with pollutants from power stations, factories, and traffic. The results of this study showed that the cleanliness and transparency solar collector plays an important role in the performance of the solar chimney system. As dust suspended in the atmosphere or accumulated on the surface of the solar collector reduces the intensity of radiation transient through the transparent surface; the chimney is, therefore, greatly affected by dust deposition. The process of cleaning the solar collector brings back some losses of efficiency due to dust. It is found that the closer the cleaning periods are, the higher the output of the solar chimney