scholarly journals Performance assessment of solar chimney power plants with the impacts of divergent and convergent chimney geometry

Author(s):  
Erdem Cuce ◽  
Abhishek Saxena ◽  
Pinar Mert Cuce ◽  
Harun Sen ◽  
Shaopeng Guo ◽  
...  

Abstract Influence of area ratio (AR) on main performance parameters of solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) is investigated through a justified 3D axisymmetric CFD model. Geometric characteristics of Manzanares pilot plant (MPP) are taken into consideration for the numerical model. AR is varied from 0.5 to 10 to cover both concave and convex (convergent and divergent) solar chimney designs. Following the accuracy verification of the CFD results and proving mesh-independent solution, main performance oriented parameters are assessed as a function of AR such as velocity, temperature and pressure distribution within MPP, temperature rise of air in collector, mass flow rate of air around the turbine area, dynamic pressure difference across the turbine, minimum static pressure in the entire plant, power output and system efficiency. The results reveal that AR plays a vital role in performance figures of MPP. Mass flow rate of air ($\dot{m}$) is found to be 1122.1 kg/s for the reference geometry (AR = 1), whereas it is 1629.1 kg/s for the optimum AR value of 4. System efficiency (η) is determined to be 0.29% for the reference case; however, it is enhanced to 0.83% for the AR of 4.1. MPP can generate 54.3 kW electrical power in its current design while it is possible to improve this figure to 168.5 kW with the optimal AR value.

Author(s):  
Mohamad Modrek ◽  
Ali Al-Alili

Photovoltaic thermal collectors (PVT) combines technologies of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors into a hybrid system by attaching an absorber to the back surface of a PV panel. PVT collectors have gained a lot of attention recently due to the high energy output per unit area compared to a standalone system of PV panels and solar thermal collectors. In this study, performance of a liquid cooled flat PVT collector under the climatic conditions of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was experimentally investigated. The electrical performances of the PVT collector was compared to that of a standalone PV panel. Moreover, effect of sand accumulation on performance of PVT collectors was examined. Additionally, effect of mass flow rate on thermal and electrical output of PVT collector was studied. Electrical power output is slightly affected by changes in mass flow rate. However, thermal energy increased by 22% with increasing flow rate. Electrical power output of a PV panel was found to be 38% lower compared to electrical output of PVT collectors. Dust accumulation on PVT surface reduced electrical power output up to 7% compared with a reference PVT collector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 10003
Author(s):  
Simone Ghettini ◽  
Alessandro Sorce ◽  
Roberto Sacile

This paper presents a data–driven model for the estimation of the performance of an aircooled steam condenser (ACC) with the aim to develop an efficient online monitoring, summarized by the condenser pressure (or vacuum) as Key Performance Indicator. The estimation of the ACC performance model was based on different dataset from three different combined cycle power plants with a gross power of above 380 MWe each, focusing on stationary condition of the steam turbine. The datasets include both boundary (e.g. Ambient Temperature, Wind Speed) and operative parameters (e.g. steam mass flow rate, Steam turbine power, electrical load of the ACC fans) acquired from the power plants and some derived variable as the incondensable fraction, which calculation is here proposed as additional parameter. After a preliminary sensitivity analysis on data correlation, the paper focuses on the evaluation of different ACC Condenser models: Semi-Empirical model is described trough curves typically based on steam mass flow rate (or condenser load) and the ambient temperature as main parameters. Since monitoring based on ACC design curves Semi-Empirical models, provides biased poor results, with an error of about 15%, the curves parameters were estimated basing on training data set. Other two data driven models were presented, basing on a neural network modelling and multi linear regression technique and compared on the base of the reduced number of input at first and then including aldo the other process variables in the prediction of the condenser back pressure. Estimate the parameters of the Semi-Empirical model, results in a better prediction if just steam mass flow rate and ambient temperature are available, with an error of the 7%, thanks to the knowledge contained within the “curves shapes”, with respect to linear regression (8.3%) and Neural Network models (7.6%). Higher accuracy can be then obtained by considering a larger number of operative parameters and exploiting more complex data-driven model. With a higher number of features, the neural network model has proved a higher accuracy than the linear regression model. In fact, the mean percentage error of the NN model (2.6%), in all plant operating conditions, is slightly lower than the error of the linear regression model, but presents and much lower than the mean error of the Semi-Empirical model thanks to the additional data-based knowledge.


Author(s):  
Nikhil M. Rao ◽  
Cengiz Camci

An experimental study of a turbine tip desensitization method based on tip coolant injection was conducted in a large-scale rotating turbine rig. One of twenty-nine rotor blades was modified and instrumented to have a tip trench with discrete injection holes directed towards the pressure side. Time accurate absolute total pressure was measured 0.3 chord lengths downstream of the rotor exit plane using a fast response dynamic pressure sensor in a phase-locked manner. The test cases presented include results for tip gap heights of 1.40% and 0.72% of the blade height, and coolant injection rates of 0.41%, 0.52%, 0.63%, and 0.72% core mass flow rate. At a gap height of 1.40% the leakage vortex is large, occupying about 15% blade span. A reduction in gap height causes the leakage vortex to reduce in size and move towards the blade suction side. The minimum total pressure measured, for the reduced gap, in the leakage vortex is about 4% greater. Coolant injection from the tip trench is successful in filling in the total pressure defect originally resulting from the leakage vortex without injection. At the higher tip injection rates the leakage vortex is also seen to have moved towards the blade tip. The high momentum associated with the tip jets affects the total pressure distributions in the neighboring passages.


2016 ◽  
Vol 836 ◽  
pp. 102-108
Author(s):  
Mirmanto ◽  
Emmy Dyah Sulistyowati ◽  
I Ketut Okariawan

In the rainy season, in tropical countries, to dry stuffs is difficult. Using electrical power or fossil energy is an expensive way. Therefore, it is wise to utilize heat waste. A device that can be used for this purpose is called radiator. The effect of mass flow rate on pressure drop and heat transfer for a dryer room radiator have been experimentally investigated. The room model size was 1000 mm x 1000 mm x 1000 mm made of plywood and the overall radiator dimension was 360 mm x 220 mm x 50 mm made of copper pipes with aluminium fins. Three mass flow rates were investigated namely 12.5 g/s, 14 g/s and 16.5 g/s. The water temperature at the entrance was increased gradually and then kept at 80°C. The maximum temperature reached in the dryer room was 50°C which was at the point just above the radiator. The effect of the mass flow rate on the room temperature was insignificant, while the effect on the pressure drop was significant. Moreover, the pressure drop decreased as the inlet temperature increased. In general, the radiator is recommended to be used as the heat source in a dryer room.


Author(s):  
Souheyla Khaldi ◽  
A. Nabil Korti ◽  
Said Abboudi

AbstractThis article provides numerical study of the solar chimney (SC) assembled with a reversed absorber and packed bed for the indirect-mode solar dryer. The present study was designed to determine the effects of using the SC in three configuration and physical proprieties of the packed (thickness and porosity) on the dynamic and thermal behavior of airflow. The results reveal that (1) using SC without storage material can increase the maximum mass flow rate up to 5%. However, integrating a storage material in the SC can improve the mass flow rate up to 32% during nighttime; (2) the use of a packed bed can decrease the crops temperature fluctuation until about 76% and increase the operating time of the solar dryer up to 12.5 hours rather than 10 hours in the case without packed bed; (3) increasing the porosity from 0.1 to 0.8 can increase the maximum temperature by about 10°C.


Author(s):  
Diab W. Abueidda ◽  
Mohamed Gadalla

Worldwide concern about the scarcity of global water resources is increasing day by day. In Gulf countries, most power plants are co-generation power desalting plants (CPDP) that generate electric energy and also produce fresh water through the desalination of seawater. Nowadays, renewable energy provides a viable solution to the scarcity of energy resources and an environmental friendly option of global economy. In this paper, thermodynamic analyses have been performed on an integrated solar-based multi-stage flash desalination/Rankine cycle system. The respective losses as well as the first-law and second-law efficiencies for the system have been evaluated. The first-law and second-law efficiencies of the solar field were found to be 61.70% and 31.74%, respectively. The solar thermal field is based on direct steam generation method. Moreover, the mass flow rate through the Rankine cycle has been optimized to produce the maximum power. The optimal mass flow rate through the Rankine cycle found to be 51 kg/s. Furthermore, this paper presents and investigates a model of distillation plant that can use the heat rejected from the condenser of the Rankine cycle. The model is analyzed and validated with other results gained from literature. It found that the highest exergy destruction through the distillation unit occurs within the stages of the MSF unit. The percentage of exergy destruction in the MSF stages was found to be 75.41% of the total exergy destruction in the distillation unit. Additionally, this study verifies that increasing number of MSF stages decreases the percentage of exergy destruction.


Author(s):  
B. Facchini ◽  
M. Surace ◽  
S. Zecchi

Significant improvements in gas turbine cooling technology are becoming harder as progress goes over and over. Several impingement cooling solutions have been extensively studied in past literature. An accurate and extensive numerical 1D simulation on a new concept of sequential impingement was performed, showing good results. Instead of having a single impingement plate, we used several perforated plates, connecting the inlet of each one with the outlet of the previous one. Main advantages are: absence of the negative interaction between transverse flow and last rows impinging jets (reduced deflection); better distribution of pressure losses and heat transfer coefficients among the different plates, especially when pressure drops are significant and available coolant mass flow rate is low (lean premixed combustion chamber and LP turbine stages). Practical applications can have a positive influence on both cooled nozzles and combustion chambers, in terms of increased cooling efficiency and coolant mass flow rate reduction. Calculated effects are used to analyze main influences of such a cooling system on global performances of power plants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Erdem Cuce ◽  
Pinar Mert Cuce ◽  
Harun Sen ◽  
K. Sudhakar ◽  
Umberto Berardi ◽  
...  

Geometric parameters in solar chimney power plants are numerically optimised for the purpose of better power output figures. Several parameters have been investigated in the pilot plant such as chimney height and diameter, collector diameter and slope, and slenderness. However, ground slope has not been studied to date despite its perspicuous impact on turbulent flow. In this study, the impacts of the different slope angles of the ground, where the solar radiation is absorbed through the collector, on the main performance parameters of the system are numerically analysed through a reliable CFD software ANSYS FLUENT. By considering the actual geometric figures of the pilot plant, a 3D model is constructed through DO (discrete ordinates) solar ray tracing algorithm and RNG k-ε turbulence model. For the solar intensity of 1000 W/m2, the maximum velocity inside the system is found to be 14.2 m/s, which is in good accordance with the experimental data of 15.0 m/s. Starting from 5 m inside the collector, the chimney inlet heights are reconfigured 0.209, 0.419, 0.625, 0.838, and 1.04 m, respectively, and when the ground slope is 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5°, the changes in the performance output of the system are investigated. For the reference case which refers to the horizontal ground, the maximum air velocity is determined to be 14.2 m/s and the power output is 54.3 kW. However, when the ground slope is made 0.5°, it is observed that the maximum velocity increases by 37% to 19.51 m/s, and the power output is enhanced to 63.95 kW with a rise of 17.7%. Sloping ground is found a key solution to improve the turbulent effects inside the plant, thus to enhance the electrical power output.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (7A) ◽  
pp. 1001-1015
Author(s):  
Jalal M. Jalil ◽  
Ahmed A. Hussein ◽  
Anwar J. Faisal

The solar energy system is environmentally friendly and the utilization of photovoltaic thermal collectors, (PV/T) has attracted more attention, which directly converts solar radiation into electricity and thermal energy simultaneously. This study investigated the air biased Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collectors, (PV/T) trend for two cases, denominate case one (PV/T system fully covered with PV modules), and case tow (PV/T system partially covered with glass). The studied parameters were solar irradiance and the air mass flow rate. The investigation has been performed in terms of outlet air temperature, electrical power, thermal and electrical efficiencies. A numerical model was developed using the computational fluid dynamic program (CFD) and the results were compared with the experimental measurements that carried out from indoor conditions using a solar simulator. A good agreement has been achieved between experimental and numerical results. The performance of both cases one and case two concluded that the PV/T system should be operating at a moderate air flow rate of 0.013 kg/s, which is the best mass flow rate. In addition, it has been observed that for case tow the maximum outlet air temperature and electric powers were 44.3 oC and 26.6 W, respectively. For case one, thermal and electrical efficiencies were found 34% and 10%, respectively, based on the experimental data, while for case 2, the maximum thermal and electrical efficiencies were found to be 48.9 and 9.1%, respectively.


2013 ◽  
Vol 341-342 ◽  
pp. 1342-1345
Author(s):  
Xing Sen Yang ◽  
Jing Yin

Uniform velocity of primary air is very important in the operation of utility boilers. Regulation of the resistance of each pipe was done without pulverized coal to achieve equal flow velocity. The mass flow rate of pulverized coal and the length difference of pipes would lead to velocity variation of primary air. By the research of primary air flow and the regulation process, model of the velocity variation was built to calculate the velocity of each pipe and their difference. The arrangement of pipes and the operation parameters were taken into consideration. With the experimental data, calculation of velocity under different states was made. The velocity difference of different pipes was estimated. The length difference between pipes and the variation of the mass flow rate of pulverized coal play the most important role that affects the velocity of primary air.


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