Analysis and Optimization of Passive Wall Solar Chimney through Taguchi’s Technique

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of the geometrical parameters of a solar chimney on mass flow rate has been studied through numerical simulation. Also, Taguchi based design of experiment method has been applied to maximize the mass flow rate on the solar chimney. Chimney entry shape, bottom opening height, chimney exit width, cornered fillet radius, absorber wall material, absorber wall inclination, the height of the absorber wall are the geometrical parameters considered in this optimization. These parameters are varied through three levels of values. L18 orthogonal array is employed with a quality objective function of bigger is the better. The eighteen cases are analyzed for the solar radiation of 1000 and 300 W/m2 through the numerical simulation technique. The results have been analyzed for the optimum conditions using the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio). Finally, ANOVA calculation is performed and reported that the exit chimney width, absorber wall height influences more on mass flow rate and the remaining parameters influence is less than 10%. The optimum value of the identified parameters enhance the mass flow rate as 0.54634 kg/s and reduce the indoor temperature by 2.1°C.