Radial Turbine Design for Solar Chimney Power Plants

Solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) collect air heated over a large area on the ground and exhaust it through turbine or turbines located near base of tall to produce renewable electricity. SCPP design in practice is likely be specific site variable size, both which require purpose-built turbine. If cannot mass produced, unlike wind turbines, for example, they should as cheap possible manufacture their changes. It argued that radial inflow with blades made from metal sheets, similar material, achieve this objective. This type has not previously been considered SCPPs. article presents placed hypothetically at bottom Manzanares SCPP, only prototype built. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used assess turbine’s performance when installed SCPP. Multiple reference frames renormalization group k-? turbulence model, discrete ordinates non-gray radiation model CFD simulations. Three designed simulated. The largest output was 77.7 kW shaft speed 15 rpm solar 850 W/m2 exceeds by more than 40 original axial Manzanares. Further, efficiency matches highest competing designs literature.