A computational approach to estimate the flow and output parameters of various solar updraft tower plants and a proposed model for the best power output

ABSTRACT

Three different models were developed to examine the flow and thermodynamic characteristics of the solar updraft tower (SUT) power plant and the best model is proposed. A step is taken to find the location of the turbine to absorb maximum kinetic energy. It is found that the maximum and average air velocities inside model-I were higher (3.06 and 1.63 ms⁻¹, respectively) compared to model–II (2.4 and 1.34 ms⁻¹) and model-III (2.9 and 1.57 ms⁻¹). The maximum air temperature inside the model-II was higher (322 K). Turbulent kinetic energy, power produced and overall efficiency were the best in model–II than the other two models. The present outcomes were validated with the literature data and observed a good match.

KEYWORDS:

• Solar updraft tower
• radiation model
• turbulent model
• discrete ordinate method
• performance parameters

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. M.R. Vishwanathan, Asst. Prof., Department of Humanity and Social Science, NIT Warangal for possible English correction in the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Center of Excellence (CoE), TEQIP – II, NIT Warangal, Warangal, India: [Grant Number TEQIP-II/NITW/CoE/2016]; Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi - 110 070, India: [Grant Number EEQ/2016/000111].