Performance analysis of a solar chimney power plant design aided with reflectors

A new design of a solar chimney power plant (SCPP) with enhanced incident solar radiation, realised using reflectors, was developed and validated. A detailed thermodynamic analysis was performed to access the performance of the new SCPP design, and its performance was compared with a conventional SCPP. All the formulated energy and exergy balance equations were solved simultaneously using engineering equation solver software. Study reveals that the increase in incident solar radiation using reflectors enhances the efficiency and power output by 22.61% and 133%, respectively. The improvement in power output is due to the higher mass flow rate. Furthermore, a laboratory scale working model of an SCPP aided with reflectors was built to determine how well the empirical results agree with the results obtained using the analytical model developed in the present study. The model developed predicts the empirical values of temperature with an accuracy of 5%. The proposed model was evaluated in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to be used as an illustrative example. For solar irradiation data of 2017, the average energetic efficiency and the power output for the SCPP design aided with reflectors are 0.641% and 230 kW, respectively. Moreover, the power output, energy efficiency, variation of the temperature of the floor and air, variation of the mass flow rate and inlet velocity of the turbine, and the density variation of air in the collector for each month of the year are reported. Also, the results of the comparative study with a conventional SCPP are presented.