ABSTRACT

Solar vortex engine (SVE) is one of the novel alternative energy concepts which uses solar energy for creating artificial vortices. The working principle of SVE is the same as the solar updraft tower (SUT) plant. In the present study, a 3D computational model of SVE was studied to evaluate the flow parameters and power potential. The effect of the number of air entry slots (AESs) which is varied from 6 to 12 and the location of the turbine were studied and optimized. A turbulent, renormalization group (RNG) k-ɛ model was used to solve the governing equations. The flow parameters such as velocity, temperature and dynamic pressure for the optimum SVE with 8 AESs were 1.42 ms⁻¹, 311.1 K and 1.58 Pa, respectively. The optimum height for the turbine was 0.702 m from the base plate (0.1 m from the top plate) and so that the turbine can harness maximum energy. The theoretical and actual powers for the optimum case (AESs of 8 and the turbine at 0.702 m) were 3.45 and 2.3 W, respectively. The study proved that SVE is a potential choice to replace the chimney of a solar updraft tower (SUT) plant for electricity generation.

摘要

太阳能涡旋发动机（SVE）是新颖的替代能源概念之一，该概念使用太阳能来产生人造涡旋。SVE的工作原理与太阳能上升塔（SUT）装置相同。在本研究中，研究了SVE的3D计算模型以评估流量参数和功率潜力。研究并优化了进气口数量（AES）（从6到12）和涡轮机位置的影响。使用湍流，重归一化组（RNG）k-ɛ模型求解控制方程。带有8个AES的最佳SVE的流速，温度和动压等流量参数为1.42 ms ^-1分别为311.1 K和1.58 Pa。涡轮机的最佳高度为距底板0.702 m（距顶板0.1 m），因此涡轮机可利用最大能量。最佳情况下的理论功率和实际功率（AES为8，涡轮为0.702 m）分别为3.45 W和2.3W。这项研究证明，SVE是一种替代太阳能上流塔（SUT）电厂烟囱发电的潜在选择。