EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF SOLAR VORTEX POWER GENERATION SYSTEM INTEGRATED WITH SENSIBLE THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE

Abstract

Solar updraft power technologies suffer low efficiency and require a large collection area. Enhancement techniques are essential to overcome these setbacks. This paper investigates and discusses the effect of extended Sensible Thermal Energy Storage (STES) outside the canopy of the Solar Vortex Power Generation (SVPG) system. The extended sensible thermal energy storage integration is evaluated experimentally utilizing an SVPG model installed in the solar research site in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. The system consists of an (8-m-Dia). solar collector and a vortex generator. The selected material of the STES is black-painted pebbles that covered the ground underneath the canopy of the solar collector and then extended by 1 m outside the canopy. The variables considered for the performance evaluation are ambient, air inlet and outlet of the collector temperatures, incident solar irradiance, and air outlet velocity. Two cases have been studied, one with black painted pebbles covering the ground up to the outer diameter of the canopy (8-m-Dia) and the second is 1.0 m extended coverage outside the canopy (10-m-Dia). The performance of the SVPG is proven to enhance by the extension of the STES beyond the collector area. The extension of STES increased the mean thermal efficiency value by 0.85% and increased the mass flow rate by 0.01 kg/s. The performance indicator is increased by around 19.3%. It could be concluded that the extension of pebbles outside the canopy increases the amount of solar photothermic conversion, leading to improved efficiency of the SVPG system.

Keywords

• natural convection
• photothermic conversion
• sensible thermal energy storage
• solar vortex engine
• solar updraft power