Radial Turbine Design for Solar Chimney Power Plants

Paul Caicedo, David Wood and Craig Johansen
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Paul Caicedo: Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
David Wood: Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Craig Johansen: Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) collect air heated over a large area on the ground and exhaust it through a turbine or turbines located near the base of a tall chimney to produce renewable electricity. SCPP design in practice is likely to be specific to the site and of variable size, both of which require a purpose-built turbine. If SCPP turbines cannot be mass produced, unlike wind turbines, for example, they should be as cheap as possible to manufacture as their design changes. It is argued that a radial inflow turbine with blades made from metal sheets, or similar material, is likely to achieve this objective. This turbine type has not previously been considered for SCPPs. This article presents the design of a radial turbine to be placed hypothetically at the bottom of the Manzanares SCPP, the only large prototype to be built. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used to assess the turbine’s performance when installed in the SCPP. Multiple reference frames with the renormalization group k - ε turbulence model, and a discrete ordinates non-gray radiation model were used in the CFD simulations. Three radial turbines were designed and simulated. The largest power output was 77.7 kW at a shaft speed of 15 rpm for a solar radiation of 850 W/m 2 which exceeds by more than 40 kW the original axial turbine used in Manzanares. Further, the efficiency of this turbine matches the highest efficiency of competing turbine designs in the literature.

Keywords: solar chimney power plant; radial turbine; renewable energy (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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