Translate

Saturday, May 25, 2013

WHAT IS A SOLAR TOWER?




            A Solar Tower power plant- sometimes referred to as a “Solar Chimney” or ”Solar Updraft Tower” is a Solar Thermal Power Plant that combines the use of a solar air collector (canopy) and a central updraft tube to generate a solar induced convective flow which drives pressure staged turbines to generate electricity.


HOW IT WORKS:

The Technology is made up of three components.  The Tower.
The Tower is the thermal engine of the Solar Tower technology. In it, heat is transformed into mechanical energy. The up draft inside the tower, produced by the rising lighter, hot air, is essential for this. The greater the velocity of the Tower, the higher the column of air is and the stronger the up draft. Therefore, a high-capacity power plant should have the highest Tower possible.

The Canopy
The canopy converts a large percentage of the insulation into heat, which in turn, heats the air trapped under the canopy roof or is stored in the ground soil thermal storage system. One of the main objectives of the canopy is to lose as little heat as possible into the ambient.
The Turbines

The Turbines transform the energy from the heat and pressure of the air into mechanical energy and the generator converts it into electricity. They work like the well known Kaplan Turbines used in hydro-electric power plants.

No comments:

Post a Comment