Solar Chimney Power Plant

ME 463 Senior Design Project

Design Review

May Lin Chang

Yu Jiang
Payton Lee
Katja Strohm
Katharina Schweigler
 Agenda
Background
Katja Strohm

Initial Design Concept

Katja Strohm

Preliminary Calculation
May Lin Chang

Proposed Innovation
Katharina Schweigler

Materials and Cost

Payton Lee

Conclusion
Yu Jiang

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Background
• What is a solar tower?
– Air heats up under greenhouse effect
– Hot air rises through chimney
– Updraft drives turbine

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Background
• Why solar tower?
– Greenhouse, chimney, and turbine are available
– Renewable energy

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Background
• Design Project Motivation
– Low cost energy generation
– Innovation for renewable energy

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Initial Design Concept
Chimney:
- Pressure tube
- Tall, hollow cylinder with small
diameter
- Realized with PE pipes and steal
pipes

Turbine:
- Located on the bottom of the
chimney
- Mounted through a case in chimney

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Initial Design Concept
Collector area:
- Large greenhoese
- Plastic film covering the ground
- App. diameter: 15m
- Installed 4 -10 above ground on
wooden support structure

Energy storage:
- Black tubes under collector area
filled with water
- Heat capacity of water much higher
than soil

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
Preliminary Calculation

Chimney/Tower
ηtow

Solar Energy, Turbine

Q_dotsolar ηtur Collector
ηcol

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Preliminary Calculation
Principle Equations Nomenclatures

• Power output of the • Solar Radiation Energy

plant, P [W]

• Component Efficiency
• Solar Energy

• Global Horizontal
Radiation
• Efficiency [W/m2]

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Preliminary Calculation

Averaged values
Monthly Global Horizontal Radiation at West
Gh 5000W/m2 Lafayette (April)
g 9.81m/s gravitational constant
To 288K ambient temperature/collector inlet temperature
Cp 1005J/kg.K specific heat capacity

Schlaich, Bergermann, Schiel and Weinrebe

P [W] Q [W] Acoll [m2] Htow [m] ηtow Dcoll[m] ηcoll ηturb
11.9788 883573 176.715 10 0.00034 15 0.1 0.4

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Proposed Innovation
• Mirrors to “enlarge”
greenhouse area

• Heat exchanger

• Black foil on the

ground

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Proposed Innovation
floating material (Styron foam)
Mirrors
• Increase the amount of
radiation on greenhouse Ring filled
with water
area
• Angle around horizontal Air

axis adjusted by electric

bubbles

motor
• Angle around vertical axis Shadow due

adjusted by bionic to blade

mechanism

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Proposed Innovation
Mirrors

Bionic mechanism
• Radiation heats gas in
bubbles
Ring filled
Air with water

• Bubbles expand and push bubbles Mirrors

ring of mirrors

-> Mirrors face sun

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Proposed Innovation
Heat exchanger
• Uses external heat to heat up the air additionally eg. from another
plant
• Can be oil which is heated between angled mirrors on the ground

Cold Oil

Hot Oil

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Proposed Innovation
Black foil
• Placed under oil pipes

• Heats up ground more

effectively

• Goal: Store heat for night

operation

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Materials & Cost
Collector
(Greenhouse Plastic Sheet)
• Requirements
– Opacity
– Durability
– Weight
• Cost
– Between $100 and
$600 depending on size
and quality
M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and
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K. Strohm
 Materials & Cost
Chimney
• Requirements:
– Weight
– Stability
– Manufacturability

• Supported by steel
beam or wire

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Materials & Cost
Computer fan as turbine
• Requirement
– Efficient
– Low noise

• Cost
– Between $5 and $40
(depending on
requirement)

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm
 Future Plans
• Determine the exact dimensions

• Finalize design – select improvement

method

• Material selection and Cost estimation

• Ordering and Construction

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and
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K. Strohm
 References:
Gannon, A. J., Backström, T.W. v. (2000). "Solar Chimney Cycle Analysis with System Loss and Solar Collector Performance", Journal of Solar
Energy Engineering, 122 (3), 133-137.
Schlaich, Bergermann, Schiel, and Weinrebe “Design and Commercialization of a Solar Updraft Tower”
Schlaich J. “The Solar Chimney: Electricity From Sun”, Edition Axel Menges, 1995.

THANK YOU

M. Chang, Y. Jiang, P. Lee, K. Schweigler, and

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K. Strohm