Design and Development of Solar Chimney

The solar chimney, also known as solar updraft tower, is a proposed type of renewable-energy power plant that combines a solar air collector and a central high tube (chimney) to generate a solar induced convective flow which is used to generate electrical power using turbo-generator set. Natural convective air flow obtained can be used to drive the passive ventilation system. In this paper, the functional principle of the solar chimney has been described. Design of solar chimney is done by the energy balance and force balance of various components. Mathematical modelling of solar chimney is done through thermal analysis. Solar chimney is designed to provide ventilation for the room of two occupants. To get the accurate results absorber plate is divided into number of parts and thermal analysis is performed for each elements of the absorber plate. Solar chimney is designed to provide the mass flow rate for the room of dimensions 10m*5m*3m having two occupants. To validate the mathematical modelling developed, a small scale solar chimney is developed and two sets of experiments are performed to check the experimental results obtained against the theoretical value obtained.