Design modification and performance test of a solar chimney

Solar updraft tower (solar chimney) is one such source of renewable energy which works on the basic principle that hot air moves up. The tower acts as a giant chimney and generates necessary pressure drop to rotate a turbine at the entrance of the tower which is further converted to electrical energy. Roof top solar chimney is the subject of investigation in the present project. To make the system more efficient, enhancing heat resource is proposed to be utilized. This system was modeled and studied under various operational conditions and different geometries. The chimney operation was modeled under the assumption of solar operational mode by specifying the heat transfer and the fluid flow mechanism. From the result, it was revealed that after the 6 p.m. the performance of chimney is very low. Result also shows that, to develop the technique for small-scale power generation, there are two requirements. First is to enhance the solar energy conversion by better absorbing media. Secondly is the use of thermal backup to allow continuous operation of the system during night and cloudy days.