Numerical investigation on performance of a solar chimney power plant with different absorber configurations

A solar tower system is a nonpolluting solar thermal power plant that utilizes acombination of a wind turbine and generator to convert thermal energy generatedfrom a solar collector into electrical energy. The study focuses on a system compris-ing a solar collector that transforms solar energy into thermal energy, a chimney thatconverts thermal energy into kinetic energy, and a wind turbine that further convertskinetic energy into electrical energy. The system's performance is evaluated throughthe implementation of a numerical model, which is validated by comparing it withexperimental data. Four different types of meshes are tested to determine the mostsuitable mesh for the system. The discrete ordinate radiation model is used to solvethe radiative transfer equation, and the RNG k-ε turbulence model is implemented tocalculate turbulence. In a subsequent study, the effect of absorber configuration onthe system's performance is investigated. Three different absorber configurations—sinusoidal, square, and triangular—are proposed, and the numerical results showed thatthe system's performance is affected by the absorber configuration. The velocity in thechimney inlet increases for all proposed configurations compared to the standard con-figuration, with the triangular configuration showing the highest velocity increase.Additionally, the newly proposed configurations enhance the thermal efficiency of thesystem, leading to a thermal efficiency of 12.18%, 12.2%, and 13.65% for the sinusoi-dal, triangular, and square configurations, respectively. Overall, the solar tower systemdemonstrates its potential as a clean and efficient source of electrical power.