UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Effect of canopy profile on solar thermal chimney performance

Cottam, PJ; Duffour, P; Lindstrand, P; Fromme, P; (2016) Effect of canopy profile on solar thermal chimney performance. Solar Energy , 129 pp. 286-296. 10.1016/j.solener.2016.01.052. Green open access

[thumbnail of Cottam_1-s2.0-S0038092X16000761-main.pdf]
Preview
Text
Cottam_1-s2.0-S0038092X16000761-main.pdf

Download (739kB) | Preview

Abstract

Solar thermal chimneys (STCs) are renewable energy power plants that require large-scale deployment to be economically competitive. This paper presents a steady-state analytical model developed to describe accurately the thermodynamics of the solar collector. The impact of different collector canopy designs on the performance is assessed. Results show that the height of the canopy has a significant effect on plant performance and that the canopy must be sufficiently high at the junction with the chimney to ensure maximum kinetic energy in the flow at the chimney inlet can be reached. A new collector profile with a partially sloped canopy is proposed. It was found to perform at similar levels of maximum power output to the best-performing existing canopy designs, and to be robust under varying environmental conditions. For ease of construction and reduction of associated costs this canopy can be built in stepped annular flat sections with only a minor loss in performance.

Type: Article
Title: Effect of canopy profile on solar thermal chimney performance
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2016.01.052
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2016.01.052
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Solar updraft tower; Solar collector; SCPP; SUPP
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1485816
Downloads since deposit
193Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item