Numerical investigation of natural convection in a solar chimney used for electrical energy production

The origins of energy sources, which are used in the world, originate from thesun. As a result of developing technologies and growing human population,fossil fuel consumption has increased. We need alternative energy sources tomeet the increasing energy demand. In this study, natural convection flow in asolar chimney was investigated numerically. The purpose of this study was toinvestigate effects of different heat flux, collector height, collector length andambient temperature values on heat transfer and performance of the solarchimney. For this purpose; momentum, mass and energy conservationequations are solved by using the PHOENICS computer program together withsuitable boundary conditions. According to numerical results air speed andtemperature increase with increasing ambient temperature, collector height,collector length and heat flux. It has been observed that mass flow rate andoutput power of the solar chimney increase with increasing air speed andtemperature.