Experimental Performance of A Solar Collector in

Solar Chimney Power Plant System

Huilan Huang
College of mechanical engineering
Guangxi University
Nanning, 530004,China
E-mail:huanghuilan@gxu.edu.cn
Gang Li
College of electrical engineering
Guangxi University
Nanning, 530004,China
E-mail:liganglyd@126.com
Hua Zhang
Institute of refrigeration technology
University of Shanghai for science and technology
Shanghai, 200093, China
E-mail:zhanghua3000@sohu.com


AbstractSolar chimney power plant has been proposed as a
device to economically generate electricity from solar energy in
large scale in the future. There are many factors to influence on
the performance of the solar collector. This paper describes
details of the experimental process on the thermal storage
material in solar collector. Two experimental modifications are
tried on the thermal storage material in collector: (1) Pebbles and
(2) introducing the water tubes with a black surface and
combining pebbles and the water tubes. The former modification
helped in enhancing the air temperature difference of the
collector, while the latter contributed to increasing the air
temperature as well as the collector efficiency. Changing the
packing height of the pebbles out of the water tubes, the height of
the pebbles has been tested and optimized. Experimental
performance results of this model is presented.
Keywords- generate electricity; thermal storage material;
pebbles; solar collector
I. INTRODUCTION
Solar chimney power plant has been proposed as a device
to economically generate electricity from solar energy in large
scale in the future. Solar collector is the power supply for the
solar energy chimney in generating electricity system, thus it is
of great significance for studying on the performance of the
solar collector.Thermal storage materials in the collector play
an important role in the energy conversion. The choice of the
thermal storage material in the collector is a key of assuring the
collector high-efficiency operation. Reference [1-4] have
performed the working principle of the solar energy chimney
for generating electricity. This paper describes details of the
experimental performance for the collector with difference
thermal storage materials.
Solar energy collector is special kind of heat exchanger that
transforms solar radiation energy to internal energy of the
transport medium. This is a device, which absorbs the
incoming solar radiation, converts it into heat, and transfers this
heat to air flowing through the collector. The ground of
collector can store thermal energy after warmed by solar
radiation. And overall energy of solar chimney system comes
from this energy. Therefore, the solar energy transfer can be
enhanced when the material of ground inside solar collector
uses high absorptivity substance near black body. The ways
raising the absorptivity of ground would make ground
temperature in the collector raise. This can also enhance the
solar energy conversion. The temperature difference between
ground and air of collector causes energy transfer. Modality of
heat transfer is coupling between radiation and convection.
This includes ground absorbing the solar radiation and
convection transfer between flowing air and ground. The warm
air is moving from the periphery of the solar collector to its
center, this process is very complex. Characteristic of flowing
is relevant to several factors discussed by Gannon and Von
Backstrom [5], Kalogirou [6], Taumoefolau [7], Ho [8,9].
Basing on similarity principle, a modeling experiment on
collector is designed and examined. There are various
influence factors in the system. Some conclusions drew from
experimental study are expected to disclose the correlations
between characteristic of collector and these complex
influencing factors.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The sketch of experimental setups for solar heat collector is
shown in figure 1. This setup consists of box of collector, solar
simulative radiation device, measurement system in air flow
rate, temperature and solar radiation intensity and Datataker
system[10].
Figure1. Diagram of experimental setup of solar heat collector
Solar radiation energy concentrates mainly in the range of
0.2 ~ 2m wavelength and zone of infrared ray and visible light
The scientific research foundation of Guangxi University(XBZ090789)
The scientific research foundation of Guangxi University(20090033)
2010 International Conference on Electrical and Control Engineering
978-0-7695-4031-3/10 $26.00 2010 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/iCECE.2010.907
3718
2010 International Conference on Electrical and Control Engineering
978-0-7695-4031-3/10 $26.00 2010 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/iCECE.2010.907
3718
water
tube wall
pebbles
a
b
occupy most proportion. So we simulate the sun radiation using
21 calix lamp HW200--250 and its irradiance can be adjusted
between 300~900 W/m
2
by a voltage regulator. Structure
dimension of collector is set at 2 m 1 m 0.5 m. In collector
bottom, some pebbless are put into as its thermal storage
material in order to enhance energy transfer in collector.
A fan is mounted in windpipe. It could be use as chimney
that air would be pumped to upper layers of troposphere at
outlet of solar chimney. In this condition, the fan could change
air flow rates in collector outlet , so it can be simulated heat air
changing in collector of which be transported to chimney under
various conditions in actual solar chimney power system.
The air, which comes from environment room, is warmed
in the collector. The warm air is moving from the inlet of the
collector to its outlet towards the entrance of the windpipe
finally vented out.
In measurement system, a TBQ-2 radiometer is used to
measure the irradiance of infrared radiation lamp. There are 15
chromel-constantan thermocouples that measure the air
temperatures of collectors section, plus 2 Pt100 platinum-
resistance thermometers that accuracy as A level measuring the
inlet and outlet air temperature of collector. The thermocouples
have been regulated in tank that accuracy is 0.1 zero degree.
A Veturi tube in windpipe is used to measure the airflow rate.
In datataker system, there are several ADAM-4018 A/D
modules and ADAM-4015 A/D modules that take signal from
the thermocouples and the Platinum-resistance thermometers
respectively, plus 2 ADAM-4017 A/D modules taking the
signal from pressure difference transmitter and air flow rate. A
host computer acquires various experiment parameters data
from the Datataker.
III. TEST CONDITIONS AND METHOD
Many factors influence on the performance of the solar
collector such as solar radiation, air volume flow, and
compound mode of thermal storage materials. The pebbles
(type) and the combination of the pebbles and the water
tubes (type ) were used for the thermal storage material. The
collectors with above the two heat accumulators were studied
respectively in this paper.
Under the same of radiant intensity, the temperature
diIIerence between the inlet and outlet oI the collector t and
the collector efficiency changed with air volume Ilow
increasing in the different the packing height of the pebbles out
of the water tubes. From then on the optimal packing height of
the pebbles was gotten and the effect of the heat storage was
improved. Once the water is filled in the water tubes, the water
tubes will be sealed. So the water in the collector could not
evaporate or leak, the principle of the heat storage has been
depicted [11].
The effect of air volume flow on the performance of the
collector was studied on through changing air volume flow
entering the collector. Though air volume flow is a constant
value and the solar collector is a huge device actually, the solar
collector may be separated into many different units, moreover
air volume flow of various units are different. Besides the time,
the season and the geographical location were different, even if
the same as system would produce different air volume flow.
So the operation of changing air volume flow is feasible in the
experiment.
The flow passage of the air in the collector trunk is 0.25m
in height. There were nineteen water tubes in the collector
trunk. The water tubes are set with in the vertical direction of
the main flow in the collector (Fig.2 and Fig.3).
Figure2. The solar collector layout
Figure3. profile chart of thermal storage material in the solar collector
a the dimension of water tube for thermal storage material

b Cross-section of water tube in radial direction and the pebbles
IV. TEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
In order to obtain the influence of air volume flow, radiant
intensity and the packing height of the pebbles on the
performance of the collector, several teams of experiments
were used for comparing to the temperature difference between
the inlet and outlet of the collector t and collector eIIiciency
under different working conditions. Reference[12,13] has given
the formula for the collector efficiency.
A. Effect on air volume flow
When the combination of the pebbles and the water tubes is
used as the heat accumulator, radiant intensity I
0
=715W/m
2
,
ambient temperature t
0
=14.5t and change with air
volume flow increasing in two different conditions. (Fig.4 and
Fig.5)
Fig.4 and Fig.5 show that when Q
v
<120m
3
/h, t and oI
typeare higher than that of type. When Q
v
_120m
3
/h, t
and oI typeare smaller than that of type distinctly.
When air volume flow increases, the air in the collector carries
away more heat quantity. But the heat quantity obtained by the
unit volume air becomes small. So t would gradually reduce
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0
?
+
b
8
!0
80 !0 !30 ! !80 ?0
O
\
m
3
h)

~
m

0.!
0.!
0.?
0.?
0.3
0.3
80 !0 !30 ! !80 ?0
O
\
m
3
h)

!0
!
?0
0 !00 ?00 300 +00 00 b00 00
'o "m
?
)

0
0.!
0.?
0.3
0.+
0.
0.b

0.0
0.!
0.!
0.?
0.?
0.3
0.3
!0 ! ?0
O\m
3
h)

8
9
!0
80 !0 !30 ! !80 ?0
O\m
3
h)

with air volume flow increasing. When air volume flow is low,
t oI type is smaller than that of type (Fig. 4).




Figure4. Comparison oI t in diIIerent conditions
Figure5. Effect of Qv on and comparison oI oI type and type for
various volume flows
This is because that the specific heat of the water is much
bigger than that of the pebbles. The heat quantity stored in the
collector with type becomes more, on account of less heat
quantity was carried away by the air. So the change rate oI t
of type became smaller than that of type with air volume
flow increasing.
Owing to the more heat quantity is stored in the collector
with type , the change rate oI t oI type was smaller than
that of type when air volume Ilow increased. t oI type
stayed in the high value for a long time. So the effect of
thermal storage in the collector with type was better, t
changed little because of the change of air volume flow. In this
way the collector with type operated steadily.
increases Iirstly then reduces slightly with air volume
Ilow increasing(Fig .5). can not be boosted effectively, when
only t is high. When air volume Ilow, Q
v
, become 80m
3
/h, t
oI both conditions are the largest(Fig.4). But oI both
conditions are lower as shown in Fig.5. The bigger the product
oI t and air volume Ilow is, the higher would become
evidently.
B. Effect on solar radiation intensity
When air volume flow is 55m
3
/h, the pebbles acts as the
thermal storage material and radiant intensity I
0
changes from 0
to 800W/m
2
, t and change as shown in Fig.6. t increases
lineally with radiant intensity increasing. However, increased
gradually then reduced slightly with radiant intensity increasing.
When solar radiation intensity increased, heat exchange of
the air in the collector was enhanced; the air acquired more
heat quantity, and so t will move up as shown in Fig.6. When
I
0
is 300W/m
2
, has gotten maximum; I
0
becomes much bigger,
the collector acquires the heat quantity smaller, the thermal loss
rises, so the bigger radiant intensity is, the higher the collector
efficiency does not always become.
Figure6. The influence of I0 on t and
C. Effect on the packing height of the pebbles
From the experiment above known, the collector with the
water tubes may obtain higher t and . In order to acquire
much bigger , two teams oI experiments were done Ior
studying on the packing height of the pebbles out of the water
tubes. One is water tubes on the pebbles; the other is that the
packing height of the pebbles out of the water tubes is r. The
change oI t was displayed through changing air volume Ilow,
Fig.7. And the collector efficiency of all points was calculated,
Fig.8.
Figure7. The inIluence oI the packing height on t
Figure8. The inIluence oI the packing height on
When I
0
is 720W/m
2
and the ambient temperature is 12,
nineteen water tubes were placed evenly on the pebbles in the
collector. When the packing height of the pebbles was changed,
the additional pebbles would not be added in the collector;
otherwise the flow passage height would be changed. The flow
passage height was a factor of effecting on the performance of
the collector yet.
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It is show that t without packing pebbles is 1 higher
than that of packing pebbles under the same as volume flow
rate (Fig.7). This is because that the specific heat of water is
further larger than that of the pebbles, packing the pebbles
reduced the heat exchange area of the water tubes, this made
heat exchange in the collector weakening and the heat quantity
stored in the water tubes reducing. The heat quantity was
carried off by the air in the collector decreasing, so t in
packing pebbles collector would be decreased. On account of
the heat quantity stored in collector with packing pebbles was
decreasing, the change rate oI t was larger than that oI no
packing pebbles with the air volume flow increasing.
Fig.8 indicates that of collector without packing pebbles
is higher than that of collector with packing pebbles under the
same as volume flow. Moreover, when air volume flow rate
becomes larger, the change rate oI of collector with packing
pebbles changes little.
V. CONCLUSION
There are many factors to influence on the performance of
the solar collector. It is analyzed in the effect of air volume
flow rate, solar radiation intensity and the packing height of the
pebbles out of the water tubes. The pebbles and the
combination of the pebbles and nineteen water tubes act as the
heat accumulator in solar collector. The experiment studied on
the effect of volume flow rate on t and , besides the causes
oI change oI t and oI the collector with water tubes have
been analyzed.
x t changes gradually and increases Iirstly then
reduces slightly with volume flow rate increasing.
Moreover, the larger the product oI t and volume
flow rate is, the higher becomes.
x Solar radiation intensity effects on the performance of
the collector evidently. t increases lineally and
increases gradually then decreases slightly with solar
radiation intensity increasing. So the larger radiation
intensity is, the higher the collector efficiency is not
always following.
x The water tubes bare completely on the pebbles, t and
of collector are the larger than that of collector with
packing pebbles .
NOMENCLATURE
t, temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of
the collector,
I
0
, solar radiant intensity, W/m
2

Q
v
, air volume flow rate, m
3
/h
r , outer radius of the water tube, m
Greek symbols
, collector efficiency
Subscripts
0, packing height of the pebbles, m
r , packing height of the pebbles, m
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This authors would like to render thankfulness to project
sponsored by the scientific research foundation of Guangxi
University(XBZ090789) and the scientific research foundation
of Guangxi University(20090033) for their support of the
research work.
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