Additive Aerodynamic and Thermal Effects of a Central Guide Post and Baffle Installed in a Solar Updraft Tower

Seungjin Lee, Saerom Kim, Jonghyun Chae and Joong Yull Park
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Seungjin Lee: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea
Saerom Kim: Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea
Jonghyun Chae: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea
Joong Yull Park: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: The solar updraft tower (SUT) is a renewable power generation system that uses natural air convection from the ground that is heated by solar radiation. Placing flow-guide structures within the collector of the SUT can enhance aerodynamic performance, and hence, increase the kinetic power. Here, we propose a central guide post (CGP) structure in the SUT that controls updraft flow. The effect of the CGP geometry on aerodynamic performance was investigated using computational fluid dynamics modeling (ANSYS Fluent 19.2) to show that a CGP can play a positive role by preventing stagnation of the airflow at the center of the collector, resulting in increased kinetic power output (up to ~2%). However, excessively long CGPs retarded airflow, resulting in a dramatic decrease in kinetic power output. We also investigated a system with both a CGP (to improve aerodynamic performance and minimize energy loss) and a heat-exchange baffle (to maximize thermal energy transfer). When installed with a proper distance between components, the CGP and baffle showed a combined effect of increasing the kinetic power output by up to 10%. We expect that our proposed method using the CGP and baffle system will contribute to the development of better future SUT technology.

Keywords: solar updraft tower; natural convection; central guide post; baffle; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); kinetic power; circulating flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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