Modeling, energy and exergy analysis of solar chimney power plant-Tehran climate data case study

A three-dimensional (3D) model of solar chimney power plant (SCPP) is solved by componential fluid dynamic (CFD) method for Tehran climate data. The model geometry is derived from the prototype Manzanares SCPP's. The mathematical equations of the chimney, transparent roof, storage layer and others SCPP components are discussed by detail. To verify validity of the model, the main SCPP model parameters for Tehran city 216 climate data points are investigated. The performance analysis with variation of effective temperature of the surface and average conduction heat coefficient is done. Also, the Thermodynamic interpretation of entire SCPP model is investigated by the energy and exergy analysis methods. The results from the sensitivity analysis shows that, by variation of the solar radiation, the output electrical power changes from 180 W in the winter nights to 64.0 kW in the summer noon. In this case, the energy and exergy efficiencies changes from 3.50% to 93.3% and 2.00%-29.0%, respectively. Also, the net electrical power output varies considerably during a typical day.