Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Induced flow for ventilation and cooling by a solar chimney

Ahmed Abdulnabi Imran a, Jalal M. Jalil b, *, Sabah T. Ahmed a
a
Mechanical Engineering Dept., University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq
b
Electromechanical Eng. Dept., University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An experimental and numerical model of a solar chimney was proposed in order to predict its perfor-
Received 9 February 2014 mance under varying geometrical features in Iraqi environmental conditions. Steady, two dimensional,
Accepted 7 January 2015 turbulent flow was developed by natural convection inside an inclined solar chimney. This flow was
Available online 21 January 2015
investigated numerically at inclination angles 15
to 60
, solar heat flux 150e750 W/m2 and chimney
thickness (50, 100 and 150) mm. The experimental study was conducted using a single solar chimney
Keywords:
installed on the roof of a single room with a volume of 12 m3. The chimney was 2 m long; 2 m wide has
Solar chimney
three gap thicknesses namely: 50, 100 and 150 mm. The performance of the solar chimney was evaluated
Computational fluid dynamics
Natural ventilation
by measuring the temperature of its glass cover, the absorbing wall and the temperature and velocity of
Flow rate induced air. The results of numerical model showed that; the optimum chimney inclination angle was
60
to obtain the maximum rate of ventilation. At this inclination angle, the rate of ventilation was about
20% higher than 45
. Highest rate of ventilation induced with the help of solar energy was found to be 30
air changes per hour in a room of 12 m3 volumes, at a solar radiation of 750 W/m2, inclined surface angle
of 60
, aspect ratio of 13.3 and chimney length of 2 m. The maximum air velocity was 0.8 m/s for a
radiation intensity of 750 W/m2 at an air gap of 50 mm thickness. No reverse air flow circulation was
observed even at the largest gap of 150 mm. The induced air stream by solar chimney can be used for
ventilation and cooling in a natural way (passive), without any mechanical assistance.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Passive cooling plays an important role in providing a thermally
suitable environment for human comfort in under developed
countries by providing natural ventilation in dwellings. Solar
induced air ventilation could be provided by incorporating solar
chimneys in buildings. A solar chimney is a simple channel, glazed
on one side, with a collector wall on the other. During the day, solar
energy heats the chimney and the air within it creating an up draft
of air in the chimney. The induced air created in the chimney can be
used for ventilating, cooling and heating buildings. Numerous
theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted for the
performance of a solar chimney. It has been established that the
velocity and temperature magnitudes and profiles in the gap of a
solar chimney change considerably with ambient air temperature,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ahmed.abdulnabi@uotechnology.edu.iq, Ahmedabdulnabi2@
gmail.com (A.A. Imran), jalalmjalil@gmail.com (J.M. Jalil).
wall temperature, gap width and elevation above the inlet of
chimney.
Bansal et al. [1] studied solar chimney configuration and per-
formance. A numerical solution showed that for a solar collector
area of 2.25 m, the induced air flow ranged from 140 to 330 m3/h
for solar radiation from 200 to 1000 W/m2. Alfonso and Oliveira
[2] developed a thermal model with a computer program that
allows the quantification of solar chimney assisted natural venti-
lation flow rate. Model results were satisfactorily. Khedari et al. [3]
investigated experimentally a solar chimney. The study was con-
ducted using a single room school house of approximately 25 m3
volume. Three different solar chimney configurations of 2 m2 each
were composed on the southern wall, where as the roof southern
side included two similar units of 1.5 m2 each of another solar
chimney configuration. They found that there is a little comfort in
hot climates when using roof solar collectors alone. In order to
increase air speed in a test room, two roof solar collectors together
with three different types of solar chimneys were installed and
tested by Khedari et al. [4] in the same building. Although the
resulting air change rate per hour in the test room was high
(8e15), the air movement induced by these solar chimneys was

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.01.019
0960-1481/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244
Nomenclature
Gs kinetic energy generation by shear, J/m3 s
GB kinetic energy generation by buoyancy, J/m3 s
g gravitational acceleration, m/s2
k turbulent kinetic energy, m2/s3
p pressure, N/m2
q solar heat flux, W/m2
Ra Rayleigh number, -
ST source term for T, N s K/m4
T temperature, oC
Tin air temperature at inlet, oC
Tf mean temperature of air in channel, oC
u velocity component in the x-direction, m/s
still too low (average 0.04 m/s) for thermal comfort of occupants
with an indoor temperature of about 35e37
C. This conclusion
appears to be in agreement with the observations of Barozzi et al.
[5] who investigated a solar chimney based ventilation system for
buildings using a 1:12 small scale model in which the roof per-
forms as a solar chimney. Chen et al. [6] carried out an experi-
mental study using an experimental solar chimney model with
uniform heat flux on one chimney wall with a variable chimney
gap-to-length ratio between 1:15 and 2:5 using different heat
fluxes and inclination angles. Their results showed that the
maximum air flow rate was achieved at an inclination angle of 45

for a 200 mm gap and 1.5 m high chimney and air flow rate of 45%
higher than that for a vertical chimney. Ong and Chow [7] pro-
posed a mathematical model of a solar chimney to predict its
performance under varying ambient and geometrical features. The
experiments were conducted on a 2 m high  0.45 m wide
physical model with air gaps of 0.1, 0.23 and 0.3 m. Their results
showed that the air velocities were between 0.25 m/s and 0.39 m/
s for radiation intensities up to 650 W/m2. Wang and Li [8] have
carried out a numerical study to predict mass flow rate, temper-
ature field and velocity field for a vertical roof solar chimney. They
found that the optimum ratio of air gap width to chimney height
was nearly ½. In Bansal's et al. [9] work, a mathematical model for
predicting air flow velocity in a solar chimney with experimental
validation of the model has been done. Good agreement between
observed and calculated results was seen and the flow velocity up
to 0.24 m/s has been experimentally recorded. Mathur et al. [10]
studied the effect of absorber inclination on the air flow rate in
a solar induced ventilation system. Their results show that
Fig. 1. Experimental set-up. (a) Roomand chimney (b) Data acquisition system (c) Location of solar power meter.
237
v velocity component in the y-direction, m/s
x, y Cartesian coordinate, m
r fluid density, kg/m3
m dynamic viscosity, N s/m2
mt turbulent viscosity, N s/m2
meff effective kinematic viscosity, N s/m2
y kinematic viscosity, m2/s
G diffusion coefficient, N s/m2
Geff effective diffusion coefficient, N s/m2
b volume coefficient of expansion, 1/K
q inclination angle, -
dt turbulent Prandtl number, -
deff effective Prandtl number, -
ε rate of dissipation of kinetic energy m2/s3
optimum absorber inclination varied from 40
to 60
. The
maximum rate of ventilation was found at 45
in Indian climate
with rate of ventilation 10% higher compared to 60
and 30
in-
clinations. Gan G. [11] studied solar heated open cavities including
solar chimneys and double facades for enhancing natural venti-
lation of buildings. A numerical CFD package was used to predict
buoyant air flow and flow rats in the cavities. Mathur et al. [12]
reported an experimental investigation on four different configu-
rations of solar chimneys. The results showed that the rate of
ventilation increased linearly with solar radiation. The maximum
recorded ventilation rate was 5.6 air changes per hour for 0.3 m air
gap and 0.85 m stack height at a solar radiation of 700 W/m2 for a
typical room volume of 27 m3. Herrero and Celemin [13] proposed
a mathematical dynamical model to evaluate the energy perfor-
mance of a solar chimney. The results showed that for a 2 m high
and 14.5 cm wide air channel, a 0.011 kg/s air mass flow rate was
induced for 450 W/m2 solar radiations. Harris and Helwig [14]
investigated the performance of a solar chimney. They found
that an optimum chimney inclination angle of 67.5
from the
horizontal, gave an 11% greater efficiency than a vertical one.
Ramadan et al. [15] studied the effect of chimney inclination angle
on air change per hour and indoor flow pattern numerically and
analytically. Jalil and Zinah [16] investigated numerically a solar
chimney at different inclination angles ranging from 30
to 90

and chimney thickness from 0.1 to 0.2 m. They found that the
maximum air temperature and maximum volume flow rate were
101.7
C and 306.3 m3/h respectively, at a heat flux of 500 W/m2
and chimney thickness of 0.2 m. Jalil and Rafah [17] numerically
studied the effect of induced air flow in the solar chimney to
238 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244
Fig. 2. Thermocouples location inside room and solar chimney.
enhance natural convection. The performance of the solar chim-
ney was examined by calculating the maximum air velocity in the
tower inlet and the maximum temperature on the ground floor.
Jongjit et al. [18] discussed the performance of a roof solar col-
lector to maximize the rate of induced natural ventilation, which
contributes to the improvement of indoor thermal comfort of
houses. Sakonidou et al. [19] developed a mathematical model to
determine the tilt that maximizes natural air flow inside a solar
chimney using daily solar irradiance data on a horizontal plane.
The model predicted the temperature and velocity of the air inside
the chimney as well as the temperatures of the glazing and the
black painted absorber. There was a good agreement between
theoretical predictions and experiments performed on a 1 m long
solar chimney at different tilt positions.
The present work is a full scale experimental and computational
study of a solar chimney under Iraqi climate conditions. A CFD
finite-volume (FORTRAN 90) program is developed for the
computational study. The parameters that affect the performance
of a chimney are; inclination angle of solar chimney, air gap
thickness and solar heat flux. The study investigates the effect of
incident solar radiation on air flow velocity and temperature dis-
tribution inside the chimney.
Fig. 3. Boundary conditions on solar chimney.
2. Experimental set up
The developed experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 1. A room of
2 m  3 m  2 m was built using sandwich panels 5 cm thick,
constructed on the fourth roof of the Mechanical Engineering
Department, University of Technology Baghdad. The solar chimney
was installed on the roof of this room to draw air from it. Atmo-
spheric air enters the room from a bottom opening through the
room and into the solar chimney. The chimney consists of a collector
wall of 1 mm-thickness aluminum sheet, glued and painted with a
matt black paint. The side of chimney is covered by a 4 mm thick
glass panel to be opaque for infrared radiation. The dimensions of
solar chimney are 2 m long, 2 m wide provided by three air gap
thicknesses, namely: 50 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm with variable
chimney tilt angles ranging between 15
and 60
. A total of 12
thermocouples type T were installed in the space of the room for
temperature measurement, see Fig. 2. Another 34 thermocouples
Fig. 4. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with solar heat flux at different
inclination angle and 50 mm gap thickness.
 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244
Fig. 5. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with solar heat flux at different
inclination angle and 100 mm gap thickness.
are installed on the chimney, 9 thermocouples to measure tem-
peratures of collector walls, 18 thermocouples to measure air tem-
peratures inside the solar chimney, 4 thermocouples to measure
glass temperatures and 3 thermocouples to measure exit air tem-
peratures. All thermocouples were connected to the Labjak U6-pro
data acquisition with Mux-80. Before experimental start-up, all
temperature probes were calibrated with a high accuracy and a
calibration thermometer. The exit velocity was measured with
anemometer at several exit positions, choosing the maximum value
of six velocities measured at the points shown in Fig. 2. During the
measurements of the exit velocity, the meteorological data for wind
indicate small value less than 0.5 m/s. Neglected the effect of wind
because small value, a hot wire anemometer (PCE-423 model) with
a resolution of 0.01 m/s and accuracy of ±0.05 to ±0.1 m/s was used.
The solar radiation was measured by a solar power meter having
least-count of 0.1 W/m2 and accuracy of ±1%. The solar power meter
was oriented parallel to the plane of solar chimney, to indicate ra-
diation on an inclined surface. Metrological weather stations are
installed near the room to measure ambient temperature, wind
velocity, wind direction etc. Data were collected from 7:00 am to
Fig. 6. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with solar heat flux at different
inclination angle and 150 mm gap thickness.
239
Fig. 7. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with solar heat flux at different
air gap thickness and 45
inclination angle.
2:00 pm during various days in September 2012. The experimental
set-up had twelve different combinations of air gaps and inclination
angles of solar chimney. Experiments were conducted for all the
twelve combinations that can be made using three values of air gap
thicknesses and four values of tilt angle. This velocity can be con-
verted to volume flow rate or mass flow rate using the cross
sectional area and density of air.
3. Mathematical modeling
3.1. The governing equations
The computational model of the solar chimney is a mathemat-
ical representation of the thermo-fluid phenomena governing its
operation. A numerical investigation of the natural buoyancy-
driven fluid flow and heat transfer in the inclined channel has
been modeled. The simulations were conducted using a FORTRAN
program. The program was developed to iteratively solve the
Fig. 8. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with inclination angle at
different solar heat flux and 50 mm gap thickness.
240 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244

Fig. 9. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with inclination angle at Fig. 10. Variation of calculated maximum exit velocity with inclination angle at
different solar heat flux and 100 mm gap thickness. different solar heat flux and 150 mm gap thickness.

conservation equations [20]. The equations were solved for the meff mt
Geff ¼ þ (7)
fluid flow in a channel using the Boussinesq approximation [21]. deff dt
The latter imposes constant values for all thermo physical proper-
where deff is the effective Prandtl number including the turbulent
ties except for the density in the buoyancy force term of the mo-
dynamic viscosity and turbulent diffusion coefficient. The standard
mentum equation. Viscous dissipation was neglected. For a steady
two-equation k  ε turbulence model partial differential equations
flow, the equations of continuity, momentum and energy take the
have the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and dissipation rate (ε) [22].
following form [20]:
This model relates the turbulent viscosity to the local values of
r; k and ε by the expression.
i Continuity equation (mass conservation)
rCm k2
mt ¼ (8)
ε
The values of constantsCm ; C1 ; C2 ; dk ; dε and dt are 0.09, 1.44,
vðruÞ vðrvÞ 1.92, 1.0, 1.3and 0.9 respectively [22]. The modeled forms of these
þ ¼0 (1)
vx vy equations are as follows:

i Turbulent kinetic energy (k):

ii Momentum equations

x-momentum:





vðruuÞ vðrvuÞ vP v vu 2 vu vv vðrukÞ vðrvkÞ v vk v vk
þ ¼ þ 2meff  meff þ þ ¼ Gk þ Gk þ Gs  rε þ GB (9)
vx vy vx vx vx 3 vx vy vx vy vx vx vy vy


  
v vu vv
þ meff þ þ rgb Tf  Tin sinq
vy vy vx
y-momentum: (2)



vðruvÞ vðrvvÞ vP v vu vv
þ ¼ þ meff þ
vx vy vy vx vy vx



v vv 2 vu vv (3)
þ 2meff  meff þ
vy vy 3 vx vy
 
þ rgb Tf  Tin cosq

iii Energy equation



vðruTÞ vðrvTÞ v vT v vT
þ ¼ Geff þ Geff þ ST (4)
vx vy vx vx vy vy
where:
ST ¼ 0 (5)
Fig. 11. Velocity profile for cavity thickness 50 mm at different inclination angles and
meff ¼ m þ mt (6) solar heat flux 750 W/m2. Position 0 mm ¼ absorber. Position 50 mm ¼ glass cover.
 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244 241

Fig. 12. Velocity profiles for cavity thickness 100 mm at different inclination angles Fig. 13. Velocity profiles for cavity thickness 150 mm at different inclination angles
and solar heat flux 750 W/m2. Position 0 mm ¼ absorber. Position 100 mm ¼ glass and solar heat flux 750 W/m2. Position 0 mm ¼ absorber. Position 150 mm ¼ glass
cover. cover.

meff There are three nodes for conduction in the upper glass and
Gk ¼ (10) three nodes in the lower collector wall in the y-direction, while the
dk
same number of nodes is used in the x-direction (199) as in the
fluid.

ii Dissipation rate (ε): 3.3. Boundary and internal conditions

Boundary conditions must be specified at the inlet, outlet and


 walls. Details on their specification are given below.
vðruεÞ vðrvεÞ v vε v vε ε
þ ¼ Gε þ Gε þ ð C1 Gs  C2 rε þ GB Þ
vx vy vx vx vy vy k 3.3.1. Inlet boundary conditions
(11) At inlets to computation domains, the distribution of all vari-
ables (i.e.; u, v, T, k and ε) is specified or estimated. The inlet
meff boundary condition can be written as:
Gε ¼ (12)
dε
vuð0; yÞ
"
uð0; yÞ ¼ uin ; ¼ 0; vð0; yÞ ¼ 0; Tð0; yÞ ¼ Tin
2
2 #
2 ! vx
vu vv vu vv
Gs ¼ mt 2 þ þ þ (13)
vx vy vy vx

3.3.2. Outlet boundary conditions

¼ kinetic energy generation by shear
At the outlet section, and at large Rayleigh number, the usual
mt vT practice is to set normal gradients to zero. The outlet boundary
GB ¼ bg sin q (14) condition can be written as:
dt vy

¼ kinetic energy generation by buoyancy.

v∅ðx; yÞ
¼ 0; ∅ ðu; v; k; ε; TÞ
vx
1 Boundary condition and definitions used in our investigation are
b¼ (15)
Tf shown in Fig. 3.

¼ coefficient of volumetric expansion, assume constant value in the 3.3.3. Walls boundary conditions
calculation. For turbulent flow at Ra > 109 and in the region near solid
The conservation equation of mass, momentum and energy are surfaces, the local Reynolds number is extremely small and the
solved by the SIMPLE algorithm with hybrid difference scheme. turbulent viscosity is no longer dominant. The k-ε model is not valid
Uniform grids were employed with 199  36 mesh. in this region and a special treatment is required to describe the
flow properties [23].
3.2. Heat conduction
4. Typical results and discussion
Conduction equation in two dimensions in the solid wall is
A FORTRAN computer program was build and used to apply
v2 T v2 T finite volume for fluid calculation, and finite difference for wall
þ ¼0 (16)
vx2 vy2 conduction. Conduction subroutine was inserted in main program
242 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244
Fig. 14. Variation of volume flow rate with solar heat flux at different inclination angles and gap thickness.
to exchange data between wall and fluid. Solar energy transmission
through the chimney will certainly create a significant temperature
difference between upper and lower chimney walls; this difference
is the driving force for chimney theory of operation.
Figs. 4e6 shows the computational results of maximum exit
velocity with solar heat flux at different inclination angles from 15

to 60
and different cavity thicknesses 50, 100 and 150 mm. The
maximum exit velocity raises with solar heat flux and incidence
angle in the range of 150e750 W/m2 and 15
e 60
, respectively.
The maximum exit velocity decreases with cavity thickness
increases.
Fig. 7 exhibits comparison of maximum exit velocity with solar
heat flux at inclined angle 45
and different cavity thicknesses 50,
100, 150 mm. The conclusion is clear that the high velocity leads to
high volume air flow rate, also large cross section area leads to high
volume air flow rate.
Figures 8e10 shows the variation in the maximum exit velocity
with the inclination angle at different solar heat fluxes from 150 to
Fig. 15. Comparison between experimental and numerical maximum exit velocity
with solar heat flux at 50 mm gap thickness.
750 W/m2 with a step of 200 W/m2 and three chimney thicknesses
50, 100 and 150 mm respectively. The figures show that the velocity
increases continuously with the increase in the inclination angle,
solar heat fluxes and decreases with increases of chimney
thickness.
Figs. 11e13 illustrate the exit velocity profile through the lateral
section of the solar chimney at different cavity thicknesses 50, 100
and 150 mm, different inclination angles 15
, 30
, 45
and 60
and
solar heat flux 750 W/m2. The air velocity reaches a maximum
value at a distance near the absorber wall since the heat accumu-
lated by the absorber tends to accelerate the air over it, and then
decreases until reaches minimum value near the glass cover. The
maximum air velocity is 0.79 m/s at incline angle 60
and 750 W/
m2 solar heat flux. While the maximum velocity is 0.76 m/s and
0.58 m/s at the same condition but with air gap thickness 100 and
150 mm respectively.
Fig. 14 reveals the volume air flow rate with solar heat flux at
different air gap thicknesses and inclination angles. It is seen that
the volume air flow rate increased with the cavity width increase
up to 150 mm. The maximum air flow rate is 425 m3/h at a solar
Fig. 16. Comparison between experimental and numerical temperature at height 1 m
from inlet of chimney, solar heat flux 750 W/m2 and inclination angle 60
.
 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244 243

Fig. 19. Variation of temperature for cavity thickness 100 mm at different heights and
inclination angle 60
.
Fig. 17. Validation between numerical present study and experimental [18] for air
volume flow rate with inclination angle at solar radiation intensity 550 W/m2 and air 2 Ignoring the radiation heat transfer between the absorber plate
gap thickness 150 mm.
and the glass cover.
3 May be due to ignoring the effects of wind.
heat flux of 750 W/m2, an air gap thickness of 150 mm, and an
4 May be due to the simplified boundary conditions chosen for
inclination angle of 60
. The minimum air flow rate value is 50 m3/h
chimney exit.
at a solar heat flux 150 W/m2, air gap thickness 50 mm and incli-
nation angle 15
. The chimney was designed for ventilation cooling
Fig. 16 illustrates a comparison between the experimental and
in summer. The optimum cavity width can be defined as the width
numerical temperatures at a height of 1 m from inlet of chimney,
at which the buoyancy induced maximum ventilation rate. The
solar heat flux 750 W/m2 and inclination angle 60
. The figure
optimum cavity width for 2 m length chimney is 150 mm. When
shows good agreement between numerical and experimental
the gap exceeds 150 mm, the volume flow rate decreased due to the
temperatures; it was found that the predicted results are greater
reverse flow near the top of the chimney.
than the experimental results. The difference is about 8
C and can
Fig. 15 depicts the comparison between experimental and nu-
be attributed to the heat losses due to radiation from chimney to
merical exit air velocity with solar heat flux at air gap thicknesses
the surroundings.
50 mm and inclination angle 60
. The figure shows a good agree-
Fig. 17 shows a comparison between the present numerical,
ment between numerical and experimental exit air velocities, it
experimental and the results of Ref. [18]. The comparison shows the
was found that the predicted results are greater than the experi-
same behavior and good agreement for the present predictions for
mental results. The difference is about14% and can be attributed to
the case of air gap thickness equals to 150 mm, solar chimney
the following reasons:
inclination angles equal to 15
, 30
, 45
and 60
and solar radiation
1 Ignoring the heat lost by radiation from the outside surface of intensity equals to 550 W/m2.
solar chimney to the atmosphere. Figs. 18e20 manifest the change of temperatures inside the solar
chimney with the cavity thickness 50, 100 and 150 mm

Fig. 18. Variation of temperature for cavity thickness 50 mm at different heights and Fig. 20. Variation of temperature for cavity thickness 150 mm at different heights and
inclination angle 60
. inclination angle 60
.
244 A.A. Imran et al. / Renewable Energy 78 (2015) 236e244
Fig. 21. Flow pattern in the room and chimney at 100 mm air gap thickness, solar heat
flux 750 W/m2 and inclination angle 60
.
respectively, at different locations along the heights of the solar
chimney, solar heat flux 750 W/m2 and inclination angles 45
. It can
be seen that the air temperature inside the solar chimney increases
along the chimney height and is non-uniform along the cavity
thickness. The temperature reaches its maximum value at the
absorbing wall, since the absorbing wall absorbs heat, its temper-
ature will increase along the chimney cavity thickness but, it de-
creases until reaches minimum value near the glass cover.
Fig. 21 shows the flow pattern in the room and the chimney at
60
inclination angle of chimney, 150 mm thickness of air gap and
750 W/m2 solar heat flux. From the results, the volume flow rate
increases with increases of inclination angle, solar heat flux and air
gap thickness. Air velocity increases with increases in solar heat
flux and inclination angle but decreases with the increases in the
air gap thickness.
5. Conclusions
A good agreement is observed between numerical and experi-
mental values of air velocity. It is concluded that the model can
predict the performance of such system well. There is a potential of
inducing ventilation corresponding to 50e425 m3/h air flow rate
for 150e750 W/m2 solar radiation incident on inclined chimney.
This rate is corresponding to (4e35) air changes per hour for a
typical room of 12 m3 volume. Air flow increases linearly with in-
creases in solar radiation. It has also been found that the air flow
also increases with increases in the gap thickness between absorber
and glass cover.
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