Experimental study of a micro-scale sloped solar chimney power plant

Abstract

Solar chimney power plants (SCPP) are structures that have the potential to generate a significant amount of electrical energy without harming the nature. Within the scope of this study, a micro-scale sloped solar chimney power plant (MSSCPP) experimental setup with a chimney of 8 m height and a sloped collector of 6.4 m diameter was designed and constructed. The air temperature in the collector and the velocity of the air in the chimney were recorded and analyzed in detail. The results obtained from the experiments show that the effect of solar radiation on the temperature and velocity of the air is remarkable. The effect of solar radiation on the efficiency of sloped collector found to be 14.2 %. In addition, although the dimensions of the experimental setup are small, the difference between temperatures at the inlet and outlet of sloped collector are increasing up to 2.4 degrees C and air velocity at the inlet of the chimney reaches 2.2 m/s. Large-scale sloped solar chimney power plants (SSCPP) can be used to help meet the electricity demand, especially in rural areas with natural slopes.