Enhanced performance analysis of solar chimney power plant aided with reflectors

Solar Chimney Power Plant (SCPP) is guided through natural draft utilizing solar radiant energy to impart ascending thrust to the flow of air and therefore, transforming the radiant energy to run the turbine. A simplified model for a solar chimney power plant aided with reflectors is developed and a comparative study is conducted with an SCPP model without reflectors. This paper presents the enhanced performance analysis of the SCPP model with the aid of reflectors by increasing the radiant energy incident onto the floor and presents its performance for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. For solar radiation data of 2016, the reflector aided SCPP model can produce on average, around 331kW during daytime and has an average air mass flow rate of around 432 kg/s, when compared with traditional SCPP of same geometry which produces 123kW. The energetic efficiency and power output are found to increase by 40% and 167%, respectively. Moreover, power produced, energy efficiency, the variation of temperature for the floor, the variation of mass flow rate and inlet velocity of the turbine for each month of the year are reported.