DE29622549U1 - Wind power station - Google Patents

Description

· 1

Thomas Drabner
Bernard-Shaw-Str. 8
D-01259 Dresden

Updraft power plant

The invention relates to a solar updraft power plant for generating electrical energy from a warm air flow generated in particular by solar radiation, essentially consisting of a machine unit, a tubular chimney placed thereon and optionally held to the ground by means of a cable, and a surface roof enclosing the machine unit, spaced from the ground, under which there is a centrally flowing layer of warm air, the surface roof, the machine unit and the chimney being structurally connected to one another in the order mentioned, the machine unit having at least one turbine connected to at least one generator, through which the warm air flow is conducted, and power lines being laid from the generator to a designated power grid.

Such updraft power plants are described, for example, in the publications DE-OS 39 20 382, DE-OS 40 00 100 and DE-OS 41 04 770 and are intended for the generation of electrical energy in various areas on the earth's surface. Mainly in areas with high solar radiation, the surface roofing can consist of large-area copper plate, foil or glass roof panels, under which the heated air flow drives at least one turbine, which is arranged in the machine unit made of solid material and is connected to a generator. The chimney located above the machine unit, also solid, made of concrete and/or steel, can contain additional devices in addition to the warm air flow enclosure, e.g. vertical partition walls arranged centrally symmetrically to the chimney's longitudinal axis, as described in DE-OS 39 18 764. The concrete and/or steel chimneys can reach a maximum height of around 1000 m. The massive chimneys can also be optionally supported by means of cables. However, a massive and deep foundation is required so that the weight of the chimney can be held securely.

In the publication VDI report no. 704/1988, pages 145-173, an experimental updraft power plant built in Manzanares/Spain is described, which essentially combines the greenhouse effect, the updraft in the chimney and a power-generating turbine. The existing solar radiation heats the air under a collector-like roof. The temperature difference generated with the outside air creates a pressure gradient between the machine unit and the chimney outlet, which can be converted into kinetic energy, the updraft. The kinetic energy is converted into

mechanical and transformed into electrical energy via a generator and fed into the local power grid.

The effectiveness of the electrical energy generation in the solar updraft power plant is essentially determined by the parameters - chimney height, temperature of the warm air flow and average outside temperature - whereby the temperature of the warm air flow is a function of the energy conversion of the solar surface roof and the outside temperature is a function of the meteorological temperature stratification. It should be noted that the heat losses from the chimney should be kept as low as possible in order not to negatively influence the temperature of the warm air flow, which should be as high as possible.

However, the local conditions were also the reason why the chimney, which consisted of a sheet metal tube and was only 195 m high and had a diameter of 5 m, collapsed, which resulted in the experimental solar updraft power plant (StromBASISWISSEN brochure, No. 111/1996, page 7) being dismantled.

The VDI report no. 704 also describes that the construction of a chimney up to a maximum height of about 1000 m is technically possible in various designs. Depending on their height to diameter ratio, the chimneys are free-standing or guyed with retaining ropes, made of reinforced concrete or in a cable net or membrane construction. The membrane-constructed chimneys are said to have the advantage of being earthquake-proof and also have less mass than the solid chimneys built to date. A prefabricated, clad cable net on the ground is to be pulled up and stretched on a central pendulum rod stabilized with retaining ropes, which is to hold the cladding.

However, a disadvantage of the cladding constructed with the pendulum rod is the costly construction of the approximately 1000 m high vertical pendulum rod itself, which is intended to support the circumferentially stranded cladding like a lantern.

Based on the knowledge gained from the experimental updraft power plant, a planned updraft power plant is known from the Focus Magazine, No. 38/96, pages 151-153, which is to be built in large numbers for continuous operation in Indian desert areas. The planned updraft power plants therefore have a machine unit into which a glass collector roof opens, under whose glass-covered surface the sun heats the air and the ground. The hot air flows through the central machine unit, rises and is guided over the installed turbines. The glass roof is to have a diameter of 5400 m, for example. Because the ground absorbs the heat during the day and only slowly releases the stored heat, the turbines can also be operated at night. The chimneys above the machine unit are to rise to a height of approx. 1000 m and, despite the experience from the experimental updraft power plant in Manzanares, are to be made largely of reinforced concrete.

The chimneys made of reinforced concrete are, on the one hand, very expensive, and, on the other hand, both the machine unit and the tubular chimney as a warm air flow enclosure require high static stability, which can only be ensured by a costly, massive and deep foundation.

In the publication "Isobretatel i Rationalisator", Issue 3 and 5/1975, an updraft power plant for desert areas is described based on the generation of updrafts by a prevailing

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Temperature gradients between the desert floor and high altitudes have been pre-published, which contains a machine unit with a single-walled chimney made of flexible material on top. The upward-directed hot air flow during the day is able to rotate the turbine in the machine unit as it rises. After leaving the turbine area, the hot air flow in the chimney becomes a rotating updraft that keeps the light, conical chimney upright.

On the other hand, to erect and hold the erected chimney, parachutes attached to holding ropes should be placed inside the chimney, which should stretch the chimney during the updraft. The chimney has rings around it to which the parachutes floating on the holding ropes in the updraft are attached.

As the desert floor cools down at night, the force of the rising warm air flow decreases, allowing the flexible-walled chimney to collapse and be rebuilt the next day when the desert floor heats up.

A further problem is that the rotation of the updraft can also cause the chimney, which is made of flexible material, to begin to twist itself with the help of the floating, twisting parachutes and thus, when the machine unit is stationary, it spirals downwards in the direction of the parachute despite the holding ropes and constricts itself, reducing its diameter to such an extent that vertical warm air flow is no longer possible and the chimney, which has become unstable, can finally collapse.

In order to reduce the susceptibility to defects of the known updraft power plant with the flexible-walled chimney, an improved updraft power plant is described in the following publication DE-OS 39 18 764, in which a soft, flexible, single-walled, tube-like chimney is also proposed. However, the chimney has a solid, massive design in its lower part, which avoids the twisting of the chimney and only the flexible design in its upper part, which is supported by the solid part and is held upright by the vertically upward flowing, in particular axially rotating updraft, whereby a chimney height of approx. 1000 m cannot be achieved. In order to erect the chimney anyway, valve devices are arranged in the updraft chamber at the upper end area, which can, for example, be made of inflated gas/air balloons that close the chimney outlet and hold back the warm air flowing up until the flexible chimney has erected. After it has been erected, the valves open when there is a preset overpressure in the chimney's updraft space, i.e. the balloons inside are opened with a reduction in pressure in such a way that the warm air can slowly flow vertically out of the gradually opening conical chimney under pressure control. The chimney can therefore only exist as such through its own power due to the existing internal overpressure. The disadvantage is that if the warm air flow that develops on the ground during the day is interrupted, the chimney collapses or rotates when the strength of the warm air flow decreases at night, or it can only remain upright by blowing in expensive external warm air.

In order to remedy the constricting twisting, which also occurs here to a lesser extent in the higher areas of the chimney, the machine unit is mounted on a floating hollow ring in

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stored in a basin that also rotates when there is a flow of warm air rotating in the chimney. In desert areas, such a floating machine unit is too expensive.

Furthermore, the known fireplace is most likely not capable of a controllable continuous output, since the temperature gradient can often have different values that change from day to day.

The invention is based on the task of creating an updraft power plant in which the chimney height can be extended without any problems beyond the height of approx. 1000 m specified in the prior art and in which the chimney is not statically supported by components located below. In addition, the updraft power plant should be modularly assembled and disassembled from individual components and thus transportable. Finally, the heat loss of the updraft in the chimney should be reduced as much as possible.

The object is achieved in that in the updraft power plant according to the invention the chimney has a flexible-walled, gas-impermeable casing which is connected to at least one hollow body structure filled with a lifting gas, which keeps the chimney stretched upright in a self-supporting manner.

The updraft power plant essentially consists of a machine unit, a tubular chimney placed on top of it and optionally secured to the ground with a cable, and a surface roof covering the machine unit, spaced from the ground, under which there is a centrally directed warm air flow. The surface roof, the machine unit and the chimney are arranged in the order mentioned.

structurally connected to one another, with at least one turbine connected to at least one generator being installed in the machine unit, through which the warm air flow is directed. Power lines are laid from the generator to a designated power grid.

Because the chimney is designed to be self-supporting according to the invention, the chimney can be extended significantly in height compared to known chimneys.

There is no need for a foundation to support the weight of the chimney and the risk of collapse due to external weather-related forces as well as tectonic faults is thus eliminated.

The flexible-wall casing contains at least two circumferential walls that are spaced apart from one another and connected to one another at the end and form an intermediate space, whereby the warm air flow is guided in the updraft space located within the inner wall and the intermediate space between the walls is filled with air or gas, in particular with lifting gas, preferably with helium.

The hollow body structure filled with lifting gas can be arranged vertically above the chimney, in particular above the chimney exit, and can represent a balloon, a hollow ring and/or an aerodynamic, remote-controlled, controllable hollow body or the like.

In another embodiment of the hollow body structure, in the casing formed with the multiple wall according to the invention, at least one double wall with the existing space is formed as a hollow body structure filled with lifting gas

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provided, which preferably consists of the same gas-tight material on the wall side as the inner wall that carries the warm air flow and, when filled with gas, provides thermal insulation protection against heat loss from the warm air flow.

In order to make the solar updraft power plant easy to assemble, the chimney can be segmented and conveniently composed of at least two segments stacked one above the other. The segments are each provided with a torus-like hollow ring filled with lifting gas, at least in the area of their frontal upper edge circumference, which can be separately connected to the upper part of the multiple walls and/or integrated into the circumference.

The segments are preferably provided with tire-like hollow rings on both ends, at the top and bottom, whereby the lower hollow ring is preferably filled with air and the upper hollow ring is filled with lifting gas.

In order to join the segments together on top of each other, the segments have locking elements on their top and bottom, front-side, peripheral edges, in particular insertion elements or receiving elements, of which preferably at least one opposite type of the corresponding locking elements is designed to be gas- or air-filled so that two adjacent segments can be firmly connected to each other when filled with gas, carrier gas or air. The two types of corresponding locking elements are inflatable and lock into one another as they become increasingly full, so that the segments of the chimney can be mounted one above the other in a holding manner, level by level.

By controlled opening of the gas-filled locking elements of two segments connected one above the other, at least one segment can be released, and in particular a defective segment can be replaced.

To make assembly easier, the segments are largely symmetrical in terms of material and shape. To ensure that the segments are stable in their longitudinal direction, gases of different densities are preferably present in the associated gaps or wall-related hollow body structures.

Consequently, given a connection between two structurally largely symmetrical segments with hollow rings on both ends, the upper hollow ring is filled with lifting gas and the lower hollow ring is filled with air.

For the gas/air supply of the hollow body structures, i.e. to the first of the free spaces between the spaced walls and to the second of the hollow rings, pneumatic supply lines are provided running from the floor or connected along the associated stranding.

Preferably, the base segment of the chimney in the area of the machine unit is a multi-wall or star-six reinforced segment.

The upper end segment of the chimney is preferably a thermally reinforced segment which has at least one more spaced wall, at least in the associated middle section, than the multiple walls of the segments located below it.

The chimney is constructed by arranging and fastening the segments one above the other in such a way that the end segment is mounted first and the base segment below is mounted last in the segment sequence.

Depending on local meteorological conditions, the middle part of the segments, which mainly contains the multiple walls, is largely parallel or elliptical or hyperbolic or similar in longitudinal section.

The optionally attached support cables, which run divergently from the chimney towards the ground, are equipped with tensioning elements with which the chimney height can be adjusted, especially when changing segments.

The invention opens up the possibility of creating a load-free design of the chimney by incorporating at least one supporting gas body stabilizing the vertical chimney axis on or in the structural design of the chimney.

Because the chimney can be dismantled and rebuilt at other locations at any time, it is possible to make the machine unit itself mobile or to transport it on a mobile base to another location with more usable solar radiation or, depending on economic needs, to a location with lower costs. With surface roofs that can be quickly assembled, dismantled and transported, a demand-oriented, cost-effective updraft power plant can be created. Soil concrete foundations are therefore no longer necessary, which leads to further cost savings.

It is expedient that a centering navigation system is attached to each hollow body structure provided, in particular to the hollow body (balloon) filled with lifting gas, which system fixes itself and the chimney and can preferably be supplied with energy by means of at least one solar and/or solar-rechargeable accumulator element attached to the hollow body structure and thus fixes the hollow body structure together with the remaining part of the chimney in a stationary position relative to the ground, preferably by means of an aeronautical control system.

Further developments and advantageous embodiments of the invention are set out in further subclaims.

The invention is explained in more detail using several embodiments and several drawings.

Show it:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a solar updraft power plant according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a schematic side view according to Fig.l,

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged section of the side view of the lower area connecting the machine unit and the chimney and the upper exit area of the chimney according to Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 a schematic representation of the chimney with an elongated multiple wall in side view,

Fig. 5 is a schematic side view of a stranded chimney consisting of several segments,

Fig. 6 an enlarged view of the locking area of two adjacent segments along the circular line I in Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 an approximately central cross-section through a segment according to Fig. 5 with additional air-filled longitudinal hollow ribs arranged on the outside wall and

Fig. 8 is an approximately central cross-section through a chimney or a segment with a double wall, which are additionally connected to one another by means of radially directed longitudinal intermediate walls, with air or lifting gas being filled into the spaces between them as required.

In the following figures 1 to 8, the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, an updraft power plant 1 according to the invention is shown for generating electrical energy from a warm air flow (updraft) 15 generated in particular by solar radiation. It consists essentially of a machine unit 4 provided with at least one large vertical and several lateral openings 12, 11, a chimney 2 placed vertically on the machine unit 4 and a surface roof 3 surrounding the machine unit 4, spaced from the ground 20, under which there is a centrally flowing warm air layer 16 which forms the vertically rising warm air flow 15. The surface roof 3, the machine unit 4 and the chimney 2 are structurally connected to one another in the order mentioned, with at least one turbine 5 connected to at least one generator 6 being installed in the machine unit, through which the warm air flow 15 is guided. From the generator 6,

Power lines 17,18 are laid to a designated power grid 19.

According to the invention, the chimney 2 has a flexible-walled, gas-impermeable casing 51, which is connected to at least one hollow body structure 7 filled with a carrier gas TG, which keeps the chimney 2 stretched upright in a self-supporting manner.

The flexible-wall casing 51 comprises at least two walls 21, 22 which are spaced apart from one another and connected to one another at the end faces and form an intermediate space 23, the warm air flow 15 being guided in the updraft space 73 located within the inner wall 21 and the intermediate space 23 between the walls 21, 22 being filled with gas G, in particular with lifting gas TG, preferably with helium or with air L.

The hollow body structure 7 shown in Fig. 1 and filled with lifting gas TG is a balloon 7 which is arranged vertically above the chimney 2, in particular above the chimney outlet 13.

The balloon 7 can be designed as an aerodynamic, controllable, remote-controlled hollow body. A centering navigation system 74 that fixes itself and the chimney 2 can be attached to each hollow body structure 7 provided, in particular to the lifting gas-filled hollow body (balloon), which can preferably be supplied with energy by means of at least one solar and/or solar-rechargeable accumulator element attached to the hollow body structure 7 and fixes the hollow body structure 7 together with the remaining part of the chimney 2 in a stationary position relative to the ground area, preferably by means of an aeronautical control system (not shown).

Above the turbine area, a rectifier 75 for generating a pipe flow can be present in the machine unit 4 or in the chimney 2, whereby the rectifier 75 is preferably designed as an installation having longitudinal tubes. In addition, wall forces arising in the updraft chamber 73, which arise as secondary flows in rotationally symmetrical boundary layers, can be weakened or dissolved by internal longitudinal ribs or relief structures (not shown).

As shown in Fig. 3, a ring-shaped or disc-shaped mounting device 56, 57 is arranged on each of the two end faces of the chimney 2, which stably holds the chimney inlet 58 to the machine unit vertical opening 12 and the chimney outlet 13. The lower mounting device 56 is attached to the machine unit 4, the upper mounting device 57 is firmly connected to the balloon 7 that holds the chimney upright via the mounting elements 9 and holding cables 10.

In order to hold the mounting devices 56, 57 firmly to the chimney 2, a mounting ring 59 or 60 can be inserted, for example, within the double wall 21, 22 within the intermediate space 23 on the front sides of the chimney openings 13, 58, which are connected to the associated mounting devices 56, 57. A pneumatic supply line 61 is preferably connected to the double wall 21, 22 via the lower mounting device 56.

In the flexible casing 51 shown in Fig. 4 with the triple wall 24, there is at least one double wall 25 with the intermediate space 26 as a hollow body structure 25,26 filled with lifting gas TG, which on the wall side

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preferably consists of the same gas-tight material as the inner wall 21 and, when filled, represents additional thermal insulation for the warm air flow 15. The other intermediate space 27 of the double wall 62 is usually filled with air L.

The cylindrical or truncated cone-shaped walls of the triple wall 24 are, in the gas-filled state of the intermediate spaces 26,27, preferably in the area of the chimney inlet 58 in cross section Q1 less spaced apart from one another than in cross section Q2 in the area of the chimney outlet 13 remote from the floor.

In the area of the chimney inlet 58 and outlet 13, preferably ring-shaped mounting face plates 63,64 are attached to the front of the chimney 2, which support the mounting or attachment to the machine unit 4 or to the balloon 7.

However, the chimney 2 can also, as shown in Fig. 5, be composed of at least two segments 28, 29, 30 arranged one above the other in tiers.

In the following, only one example of the possible designs of usable segments is described, whereby here it is not necessarily necessary to have a balloon 7 located at a distance above the chimney outlet 13, e.g. containing helium as the lifting gas TG.

In order to achieve good standing conditions, the segments 28, 29, 30 of the chimney 2 are each provided with a toroidal hollow ring 31, 36, 32 filled with carrier gas in the area of their upper front edge circumference, which are each separately attached to the associated upper part of the double or triple walls 65; 66.

are comprehensively connected and/or comprehensively integrated.

To improve the coupling conditions, there are also preferably torus-shaped hollow rings 52,35 attached to the segments 28,29,30 on the lower edge of the front side. The segments 28,29,30 are thus preferably provided with hollow rings 35,36 on both ends, top and bottom, whereby the lower ring 52,35 can be filled with air L and the upper ring 31,36,32 with lifting gas TG. Because the respective upper hollow rings 31,36,32 filled with lifting gas contribute to the stretching of the chimney 2 or, if the structure is sufficiently large, take over the stretching of the chimney 2 entirely and can thus ensure that it remains upright permanently, the balloon 7 only needs to be used selectively.

In the case of an optional additional or generally supporting cabling 41 of the chimney 2 with the support cables 47,48 of the segments 28,29,30 connected one above the other at the front, the pneumatic supply lines 39,40 for the gas/air supply for the hollow body structures - e.g. for the intermediate spaces 68 and hollow rings 52,31,35,36,32 - can be arranged along the associated cabling 41 running from the floor 20. The cabling 41 is preferably connected to segment-encompassing support rings 69,70, via which the pneumatic supply lines 39,40 are also preferably coupled.

The support cables 47, 48 running divergently from the chimney 2 towards the floor 20 are preferably provided with tensioning elements 49, 50 with which the chimney height H

flexible, especially when required, e.g. when changing segments can be adjusted.

The lower base segment 28 at the chimney inlet 58 can, with regard to its attachment to the machine unit 4, preferably represent a multi-wall and/or front wall reinforced segment.

At least the last end segment 30 in the area of the chimney outlet 13 can preferably have an additional thermal insulation reinforced segment, which has a spaced wall 46 more to form a central triple wall 66 than the double walls in the central parts 55 of the segments 29, 28 located below have, so that the additional intermediate space 68, which is preferably filled with carrier gas, reduces the heat loss occurring perpendicular to the chimney longitudinal axis 72 even further.

The segments 28, 29, 30 are arranged one above the other in such a way that the upper end segment 30 is mounted first and the lower base segment 28 is mounted last in the order 30-29-28.

In addition to air, other gases such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide or similar can also be used as a gaseous medium.

In order to connect the segments 28, 29, 30 one above the other and to the machine unit 4 or the mounting devices of the balloon 7, the segments 28, 29, 30 can be connected to one another by means of conventional mechanical locking elements, preferably fixedly attached to the front at the top and bottom, to form a locking mechanism 67 that can be locked and at the same time released in a controllable manner as required.

However, as shown in Fig. 6, the segments 28, 29, 30 can also have corresponding locking elements 33, 34, in particular insertion elements 33 or receiving elements 34, on their front, top and bottom peripheral edges, of which preferably at least one of the locking elements is designed to be gas- or air-filled so that two adjacent segments 28, 29 or 29, 30 can only be firmly connected to one another when gas G or air L is filled in.

The individual locking elements 33, 34 can be designed to be continuous on the front side, but can also be individually designed to be stationary.

The two corresponding locking elements 33,34 are expediently designed to be inflatable and lock into place as they are increasingly filled, so that the segments 28,29 or 29,30 of the chimney 2 can be mounted one above the other in tiers.

To improve the local support, at least one stiffening element 71 can be inserted into the insertion elements 33. The same can be done on the receiving elements 34.

By controlled opening of at least one of the gas-filled corresponding locking elements 33, 34, at least one segment 28 or 29 can be released from each of two segments 28, 29 connected one above the other, in particular if it is probable that a defective segment is present and must be replaced.

Depending on requirements, mechanical and pneumatic locking elements can be used in a combined manner for segment connection and fastening.

To simplify the assembly work, the segments 28, 29, 30 can be constructed largely symmetrically, whereby before a planned connection of two segments 28, 29 it only has to be decided which of the hollow rings 31, 52 or 35, 36 arranged on the front side should be filled with air L or lifting gas TG.

To improve the stability of the chimney 2, the unsegmented or segmented chimney 2 can be provided with longitudinal hollow ribs 42, 43, 44, 45 that are arranged preferably centrally symmetrically inside and/or outside the casing 51 and can be filled with gas G or air L, as shown in Fig. 7 in a cross section with longitudinal hollow ribs 42, 43, 44, 45 arranged outside.

In addition to the separate longitudinal hollow ribs 42 to 45, as shown in Fig. 8, the chimney 2 having the walls 21, 22 can be divided centrally symmetrically in the area of the intermediate space 23 by means of radially directed intermediate walls 53, 54, so that integrated longitudinal hollow ribs 42 to 45 are created, into which lifting gas TG and/or gas/air G/L are alternately filled, preferably at different pressures.

In addition to the vertical partition walls 53, 54 directed radially to the chimney longitudinal axis 72, additional horizontal, disk-like or grid-forming, gas-permeable partition walls (not shown) can be incorporated in the chimney 2 between the spaced walls 21, 22; 24 supporting the chimney 2 in order to improve stability.

The longitudinal ribs can be connected to the inner wall 21 in the updraft chamber 73, parallel to the chimney longitudinal axis 72. The longitudinal ribs can also, as previously described, be designed as centrally symmetrical, longitudinally directed gas/air-filled hollow ribs, which can additionally contribute to the stiffening of the chimney 2 under a given pneumatic pressure.

Both the segmented and the unsegmented chimney 2 can be largely parallel in longitudinal section, but can also be elliptical, hyperbolic or similar.

Conveniently, the surface roof 3 has a slight rise in the direction of the machine unit 4.

If a chimney 2 without protruding hollow rings is present, a ring-shaped lift can be arranged that surrounds the chimney 2 and can preferably be controlled pneumatically with lifting gas, which in particular rests against the outer wall of the chimney 2 and can be adjusted in height depending on its lifting gas filling and the specified internal pressure.

The flexible material of the chimney 2 can also be transparent or partially transparent.

The chimney 2 does not necessarily have to be designed in the form of a hollow cylinder tube. In particular when using transparent or partially transparent flexible material, the inner wall 21 of the chimney 2 can preferably be designed to be reflective in such a way that the incident rays, which are refracted by the shape of the wall or even reflected at least once more, are reflected in a direction in the updraft space 73.

located focal point line, which lies largely in the area of the chimney's longitudinal axis 72.

The chimney 2 can then, for example, be essentially parabolic in cross-section along its height H, the wall vertex of which faces south, and the focal point line of the parabolic wall is preferably located in the area of the chimney's longitudinal axis 72. Opposite the longitudinal wall vertex, perpendicular to the vertex-focal point line, there can be an almost flat counter wall, which reflects any parallel radiation from the parabola into the parabola for repeated focusing. It is expedient for carrying out multiple reflections that the inner wall 21 of the casing 51 is provided with partially semi-permeable reflective layers. Multiple reflections within the inner wall 21 between the parabolic wall and the counter wall can counteract any possible heat loss of the warm air flow 15 in the event of solar radiation.

An elliptical or semi-elliptical cross-sectional shape of the chimney 2 can also meet the conditions that the focal rays in two or one focal line additionally heat the warm air flow 15.

It is expedient that the inner wall 21 of the chimney 2 delimiting the updraft space 73 is provided with reflective material in such a way that at least by means of further reflections within the chimney 2 the solar energy once radiated in can be largely bound to the rising warm air flow 15 in the updraft space 73 between the chimney inlet 58 and the chimney outlet 13.

In order to avoid accidents in the entire chimney 2 caused by a defective part in a segment, the segment can have, in addition to the primary hollow rings or the primary longitudinal hollow ribs stabilizing the multiple walls, additional secondary replacement or exchange hollow rings or secondary exchange longitudinal hollow ribs or the like without gas filling, which can be filled in a controlled manner in the event of a defect in a primary part and largely take over the place of the defective part and its function.

The invention can be installed not only in places with effective solar radiation, but also in places with hot or warm gas source fields that are currently not economically viable, which are covered at a distance from the surface roof 3 and, through the hot gas outflow, heat the air layers 16 located under the surface roof 3, close to the ground, which move towards the machine unit 4.

It is expedient that, in the presence of changing conditions of any kind, the machine unit 4 is designed to be transportable or mobile, so that the solar updraft power plant according to the invention can be brought to locations where there is preferably a high demand for electrical energy.

Because the chimney is self-supporting, it can be significantly longer in height than chimneys of known solar updraft power plants or can reach much greater heights, which significantly increases the efficiency of the solar updraft power plant according to the invention.

List of reference symbols

1 Updraft power plant 2 Machine unit side breakthrough 14 18 Chimney 3 Surface roofing 4 Machine unit vertical breakthrough 20 Machine unit 5 turbine 6 Kami nau s gang Direction of warm air layer flow 22 generator 7 Hollow body structures 8th Warm air flow power line 24 Mounting elements 9 Support elements 10 power grid 26 Holding ropes 11 Wall 28 12 Intermediate space 30 13 Double wall 32 Air layer 15 Space 34 16 segment 36 17 Hollow ring 38 power line 19 Insertion element 40 Floor 21 Hollow ring 42 Wall 23 peripheral edge 44 Multiple walls 25 Supply line 46 Intermediate space 27 Stranding 48 Basic segment 29 Longitudinal hollow rib 50 End segment 31 Longitudinal hollow rib 52 Hollow ring 33 Holding rope 54 Receiving element 35 Clamping element 56 Hollow ring 37 Sheathing 58 Perimeter edge 39 partition wall 60 Supply line 41 Middle part 62 Longitudinal hollow rib 43 Holding device 64 Longitudinal hollow rib 45 Retaining ring 66 Wall 47 supply line 68 Support ropes 49 Mounting face plate 70 Clamping element 51 Double wall 72 Hollow ring 53 Locking 74 partition wall 55 Support retaining ring Mounting device 57 supply line Fireplace entrance 59 Updraft space Retaining ring 61 Rectifier Double wall 63 Lifting gas Mounting forehead 65 gas Three compartment walls 67 Air Intermediate space 69 Chimney height Support retaining ring 71 Chimney longitudinal axis 73 navigation system 75 TG G L H

Claims (32)

• · Protection claims 1. Updraft power plant (1) for generating electrical energy from a warm air flow generated in particular by solar radiation, essentially consisting of a machine unit (4), a chimney placed thereon and optionally held by a cable on the ground (20) (2) and a surface covering (3) which surrounds the machine unit (4) and is spaced from the ground, under which a centrally flowing layer of warm air (16) is present, wherein the surface covering (3), the machine unit (4) and the chimney (2) are structurally connected to each other in the order mentioned, whereby in the machine unit (4) at least one turbine (5) connected to at least one generator (6) is installed, through which the warm air flow (15) is guided, and wherein power lines (17, 18) are laid from the generator (6) to a designated power grid (19),
characterized by that the chimney (2) has a flexible-walled, gas-impermeable casing (51) which is connected to at least one hollow body structure (7; 25, 26; 31, 36, 35; 68) filled with a supporting gas (TG), which keeps the chimney (2) stretched upright in a self-supporting manner. · 2. Updraft power plant according to claim 1, characterized in that the chimney (2) can be extended significantly by the self-supporting chimney (2), so that its chimney outlet (13) can be installed at much greater heights (H) from the floor area. 3. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the flexible-wall casing (51) contains at least two circumferential walls (21, 22) that are spaced apart from one another and connected to one another at the end and form an intermediate space (23), the warm air flow (15) being guided in the updraft space (73) located within the inner wall (21) and the intermediate space (23) between the walls (21, 22) being filled with gas (G), in particular with lifting gas (TG), preferably with helium or with air (L). 4. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the hollow body structure (7) filled with lifting gas (TG) is arranged vertically above the chimney (2), in particular above the chimney outlet (13). 5. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the hollow body structure (7) located above the chimney (2) is a balloon, a hollow ring and/or an aerodynamic, remote-controlled, controllable hollow body. 6. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that in the multi-walled (24) formed Casing (51) at least one double wall (25) with its existing intermediate space (26) is present as a hollow body structure (25,26) filled with carrier gas (TG), which preferably consists on the wall side of the same gas-tight material as the inner wall (21) of the chimney (2) and represents thermal insulation when filled. 7. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the cylindrical and/or truncated cone-like walls of the multiple wall (24) in the gas-filled state are less spaced apart from one another in the area of the chimney inlet (58) close to the floor than in the area of the chimney outlet (13) remote from the floor. 8. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the chimney (2) is composed of at least two segments (28,29,30) arranged one above the other in tiers. 9. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the segments (28, 29, 30) are each provided with a torus-like hollow body structure (31, 36, 32) that can be filled with carrier gas, at least in the area of their front upper edge circumference, which is separately and comprehensively connected to the upper part of the multiple walls (24) and/or is peripherally integrated therein. 10. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the segments (28,29,30) preferably on both sides are provided with hollow rings (31,52;36,35;32) at the top and bottom, wherein the lower hollow ring (35,52) is preferably filled with air (L) and the upper hollow ring (31,36,32) is filled with lifting gas (TG). 11. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the segments (28, 29, 30) have corresponding locking elements (33, 34) on their top and bottom peripheral edges, in particular insertion elements (33) or receiving elements (34), of which preferably at least one type of locking element is designed to be gas- or air-filled so that two adjacent segments (28, 29 or 29, 30) can be firmly connected to one another when gas (G, TG) or air (L) is filled in. 12. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that by controlled opening of at least one of the gas-filled locking elements (33, 34) of two segments (28, 29 or 29, 30) connected one above the other, at least one segment can be released, in particular a defective segment can be replaced. 13. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the segments (28,29,30) are largely symmetrical. 14. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that for the gas/air supply for the gaps · · (23,26) between the spaced walls (21,22,-25) and for the hollow body structures or hollow rings (52,31,35,36,32,68) along the associated stranding (41) pneumatic supply lines (39,40) are provided running from the floor (20). 15. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the segments (28,29,30) are provided with longitudinal hollow ribs (42,43,44,45) which are arranged preferably centrally symmetrically inside and/or outside the chimney (2) and can be filled with gas (G, TG) and/or air (L). 16. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the chimney (2) having a wall with an annular cross-section is divided centrally symmetrically radially by intermediate walls (53, 54) in the area of the multiple walls, in particular the double walls, so that existing integrated longitudinal hollow ribs (42 to 45) are alternately filled with lifting gas (TG) and/or air (L), preferably at different pressures. 17. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the base segment (28) of the chimney (2) on the machine unit (4) is a multi-wall reinforced segment. 18. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that at least the end segment (30) in the area of the chimney outlet (13) has a heat-insulated reinforced segment which has at least one further spaced-apart wall (46) as which have multiple walls of underlying segments (29,28). 19. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the segments (28,29,30) are arranged one above the other in such a way that the end segment (30) is mounted first and the base segment (28) located below is mounted last in the segment sequence (30-29-28). 20. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the middle part (55) of the segments (28,29,30) which mainly contains the multiple walls (24) is largely parallel or elliptical or hyperbolic or similar in longitudinal section. 21. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the support cables (47,48) running divergently from the chimney (2) towards the floor (20) are provided with tensioning elements (49,50) with which the chimney height (H) can be variably adjusted, in particular when changing segments. 22. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that outside the chimney (2) there is arranged an annular lift which surrounds the chimney (2) and can be controlled pneumatically with lifting gas (TG), which in particular rests against the chimney (2) and can be adjusted in height depending on its lifting gas filling and the internal pressure. 23. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that above the turbine area in the machine unit (4) or in the chimney (2) there is at least one rectifier (75) for generating a pipe flow above the turbine (5), wherein the rectifier (75) is preferably designed as an installation having longitudinal tubes. 24. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that in order to avoid accidents in the chimney (2) due to at least one defective part in a segment, the segment has, in addition to the primary hollow rings or the primary longitudinal hollow ribs stabilizing the multiple walls, additional secondary exchange or replacement hollow bodies or secondary exchange longitudinal hollow ribs or the like without gas filling, which can be filled in a controlled manner in the event of a defect in a primary part and largely take over the place of the defective part and its function. 25. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the flexible material of the chimney (2) is preferably transparent or partially transparent. 26. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that when using transparent or partially transparent flexible material, preferably the inner wall (21) of the chimney (2) comprising the updraft space (73) is designed to be reflective in such a way that the incident rays refracted on the inner wall or even reflected at least once more in at least one focal line which lies largely in the region of the chimney longitudinal axis (72). 27. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the chimney (2) is essentially parabolic in cross-section along its height, the vertical longitudinal wall apex of the inner wall (21) is directed towards the south, and the focal line of the parabolic wall is preferably located in the area of the chimney longitudinal axis (72). 28. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that opposite the longitudinal wall apex wall there is an almost flat counter wall arranged perpendicular to the apex focal point line, which reflects a possible parallel radiation from the parabola present in the cross section into the parabola for repeated focusing, wherein preferably the inner wall (21) of the casing (51) is provided with partially semi-permeable reflective layers. 29. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the chimney (2) has an elliptical or semi-elliptical cross-sectional shape of its inner wall (21), so that the focal rays in two or in one focal line additionally heat the warm air flow (15). 30. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that at least the inner wall (21) is provided with reflective material so that at least by means of further reflections within the chimney (2) the solar energy once radiated can be absorbed largely in the updraft space (73) between the lower chimney inlet (58) and the upper chimney outlet (13) by the rising warm air flow (15). 31. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the machine unit (4) is designed as a transportable or mobile system. 32. Updraft power plant according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that on each hollow body structure (7; 25, 26; 31, 36, 32; 68), in particular on the hollow body filled with lifting gas (balloon), a centering navigation system (74) is attached, which fixes itself and the chimney (2), which can be supplied with energy preferably by means of at least one solar and/or solar-rechargeable accumulator element attached to the hollow body structure (7; 25, 26; 31, 36, 32; 68) and fixes the hollow body structure (7; 25, 26; 31, 36, 32; 68) together with the remaining part of the chimney (2) in a stationary position relative to the ground area preferably by means of an aeronautical control system.