EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF SOLAR CHIMNEYS

conference paper

English

A solar chimney is a device that, in simple terms, converts solar energy into kinetic energy of air motion. The solar radiation induced airflow in a solar chimney represents a complex heat transfer problem, which involves conduction, convection, radiation and even a phase change when phase-change heat storage is used. The solar chimneys can be employed in many applications. The ever increasing consumption of energy for ventilation and air treatment in building has drawn attention to natural ventilation. Therefore, one of the areas where the solar chimneys could be employed is ventilation and passive cooling. The experimental and numerical investigations of the performance of solar chimneys for hybrid residential ventilation under the climatic conditions of the Czech Republic have been performed at the Brno University of Technology. The experimental investigations have been done on the experimental chimneys built on the roof of a laboratory and on the chimneys in an experimental house with hybrid ventilation. Two different constructions of the solar chimney were tested; a light-weight construction and a construction containing thermal mass. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been employed as a simulation tool for the analysis of the impact of the inclination angle of the solar collector on the solar chimney performance. The 3D models of the chimneys were created and the transient simulations carried out.

solar chimney, natural convection

CHARVÁT, P.; SCHOLLER, M.; JÍCHA, M.; ŠTĚTINA, J.

2006

13. 8. 2006

Begell House, Inc.

Sydney, Australia

1-56700-226-9

13th International Heat Transfer Conference

ENR-06

10