Experimental Studies on an Inclined Collector Divergent Chimney Pilot Plant

Abstract

Renewable energy sources become suitable valid options to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels or petroleum products. The International Renewable Energy Agency reports that the world will harvest 40% of energy from renewable energy sources by 2030. Conventional technologies such as solar PV technology, consumes higher capital per unit (kWh) of electricity generation cost significantly higher than the traditional sources. Hence, solar chimney power generation system can be suitable option for generating low cost energy. Solar chimneys are developed and tested by different researchers in enhancing the performance of the system. Studies on the geometric modifications of the collector, and chimney are limited. The aim of this paper is to analyse the experimental data obtained from a divergent solar chimney. Experimentation is carried under sunlight in an open atmosphere. The airflow rates in the chimneys are tested under different collector outlet height. The experimental results showed that a chimney with higher collector openings was performed well than other models. The computational analysis is also carried out using ANSYS Fluent software package which shows that the collector opening of 2.5m is recommended for higher high mass flow rate and system efficiency.