SOLAR CHIMNEY

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. The Solar Chimney
a. Parts of the Solar Chimney
i. Collector
ii. Turbines
iii. Chimney
b. Working Principles of Solar Chimney
3. The Energy Storage In the Collector
4. The Mildura Solar Chimney
 Contents:
5. Advantages
6. Disadvantages
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography
 1.Introduction:
In many parts of the world,there is a
growing awareness that some
alternative energy sources could have
an important role to play in the
production of electricity.
However,only the solar energy
represents totally nonpolluting
inexhaustible energy resource that
can be utilized economically to
supply Man’s energy needs for all
time.
There are lots of methods of using the
solar energy , and the Solar Chimney
is one of them, which can be seen
below, in figure 1.

Fig. 1 The Prototype Manzanares Solar

Chimney.
 2.The Solar Chimney
In 1978, it was suggested by
Professor Schlaich of Stuttgart
University that power could be
produced by a hybrid solar system.

The solar chimney system consists of

three parts; The collector,turbines and
the chimney.
2.a. Parts of the Solar Chimney
2.a.i. The Collector
Collector is the
part,which is used Collector
to produce hot air
by green-house
effect. It is usually
5-6 meters high
and covers a very
large area about Fig. 2 The Collector.
thousands of m² as
seen in fıgure 2.
• There is no limitation for the surface area. The larger
the area, more the energy will be generated from the
chimney.
• There should be slightly increasing height towards to
the chimney in order to obtain minimum friction loss.
• Covering materials may be different, such as; glass,
plastic film or glazed collector.The most efficient one
is glazed collector.It can convert up to 70% of
irratiated solar energy into heat, A typical annual
average is 50%. Also, with proper maintenance, its life
span can easily be 60 years or more.
 2.a.ii. Turbines
Turbines, seen in figure 3, are used to convert
air current to the mechanical energy.

Fig. 3 Turbine for Solar Chimney Power Station.

Turbines are placed horizontally in
chimney, vertically in the collector.In
order to obtain maximum energy
from the warmed air,turbines blades
should cover all the cross-sectional
area of the chimney.
To do this,one big turbine or a few
small turbines should be used in
chimney, as can be seen from the
figure 4. and figure 5.
Fig. 4 Turbine with large diameter. Fig. 5 Small turbines.
 2.a.iii. The chimney
The most important
part of the plant is
the chimney,seen in Chimney

fıgure 6. It acts as a
thermal engine.
Since the friction
loss is minimum in
the chimney it is like Fig. 6 The chimney.
a pressure tube.
• Longer the chimneys height, more the
energy will be produced from the chimney.
• The efficiency of the chimney does not
depend on the amount of the temperature
rising, but depends on the outside
temperature.

Thus, efficiency is directly proportional to

the ratio between the height of the chimney
and the outside temperature.
 2.b. Working principles of
Solar Chimney
Transparent roof, which is
seen in fıgure 7, admits the
short wave solar radiation
component and retains long-
wave radiation from the heated
ground. Thus, when solar
radiations passed through the
transparent roof it is absorbed Fig. 7 Transparent
roof .
by the ground elements and it
is converted into heat energy.
 •Since air is heated, it starts to rise up
and move towards chimney, as seen
in fıgure 8. Also, it gains velocity.
•Heated air enters the
chimney placed at the
center of the roof and
creates an up draught
there.
•Inside the chimney,
Fig. 8 Schematic seen of
turbines with electric
the solar chimney generator produce
electricity.
Collector Efficiency
Heat Output

Collector Area Solar Radiation

Mass flow The temperature
differences between the
collector and out flow
Chimney cross-section area
Specific heat capacity
of the air
Air speed at collector outflow
Specific dendsity of air at temperature
To + ΔT at collector outflow
Comparing with the collector and
turbine, the chimney efficiency is
relativelly low. For example, at a
height of 1000 meters, chimney
efficiency is somewhat greater than
3%.

So, Why use a pipe or air channel to

enclose the turbines? Why not have a
large "wind farm," with turbines
mounted on towers in the open air?   ,
Answer:
Firstly the wind turbines enclosed in
a pipe can produce 8 times much
power for a given wind speed than a
turbine in the open air.
Secondly the wind farm concept
would require a much larger number
of turbines. Also, the wind speed in
the open air around the collector is
significantly less than the air velocity
through the air channel.
 3.The Energy Storage In the
Collector
Since collectors produce hot air by
green house effect, to produce
electric during the night, tight water-
filled tubes are placed under the roof,
as seen in fıgure 9.

Water tubes

Fig. 9 Principle of heat storage underneath the roof using water-filled black
tubes.
•The water heats up during the
daytime and emits its heat at night.
• These tubes are filled only once, no
further water is needed, because the
tubes remain closed after filling
process.
• The volume of water in the tubes is
selected to correspond to a water
layer with a depth of 5 to 20 cm
depending on the desired power
output.
4.The Mildura Solar Chimney
The 1000m Solar Chimney
in Mildura, Australia, will
be the highest man-made
structure on Earth, and can
produce 200MW of
electricity, providing power
to 200,000 homes.
Schematic seen of a
construction of a chimney
is in figure 10.
Fig. 10 Construction of a
chimney.
•The cost to build the tower is
estimated at $395 million. (About 14
percent more than an equivalent coal-
fired power station, and about 70
percent more per installed megawatt
than a comparable wind farm).
• The Australian government target of
producing 2% of energy from
renewable sources by 2010 (9500
GigaWatt hours) could be met easily.
Details of the solar chimney are as follows:

Location: Mildura, Australia

Type: Solar Tower power plant with steel-reinforced
concrete tower and steel/glass solar air collector
(alternatively with polymer glazing)
Features: The base of the tower will be between 170 to 200
metres. The chimney is basically a very simple tube
with wall thickness of 25cm, diameter of 150m and a
height of 1000m. The collector roof will be 5000m in
diameter.
Power: Up to 500 Gigawatt hours per year
Company: Enviromission Ltd
Construction time: About 18-24 months
 5.Advantages
Solar chimney power stations are
particularly suitable for generating
electricity in deserts and sun-rich
wasteland.
 It provides electricity 24 hour a
day from solar energy alone.
No fuel is needed. It needs no
cooling water and is suitable in
extreme drying regions.
It is particularly reliable and a little
trouble-prone compared with other
power plants.
The materials concrete, glass and
steel necessary for the building of
solar chimney power stations are
everywhere in sufficient quantities.
 No ecological harm and no
consumption of resources.
 6.Disadvantages
Some estimates say that the cost of
generating electricity from a solar
chimney is 5x more than from a gas
turbine. Although fuel is not required,
solar chimneys have a very high
capital cost.
 The structure itself is massive and
requires a lot of engineering expertise
and materials to construct.
 7.Conclusion
Solar chimney power stations could
make important contributions to the
energy supplies in Africa, Asia and
Australia, because there is plenty of
space and sunlight available there.

It is very important for the future,

because our resources are limited,
except our sun.
 8.Bibliography:
1. A brief history of solar chimney.
http://www.visionengineer.com
2. Solar Chimney-Technology.
http://www.sbp.de./de/html/projects
3. Solar Chimney Power Plant versus Wind
from the Sun Power Plant.
http://www.windfromthesun.com
THANK YOU
&
HAVE
A
NICE DAY.