WO2015023239A2

WO2015023239A2 - Airstream chimney system

Info

Publication number: WO2015023239A2
Application number: PCT/TR2014/000280
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mehmet Sami KORUR
Original assignee: Korur Mehmet Sami
Priority date: 2013-08-15
Filing date: 2014-08-15
Publication date: 2015-02-19
Also published as: WO2015023239A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a chimney system, wherein high pipes with narrow diameter made of small and plastic canvas are connected in a parallel manner; the upper parts of these narrow pipes have larger diameters compared to the body; and electric energy is obtained with the help of the power of the airstream that is obtained with the mass flow changing with pressure and temperature differences.

Description

DESCRIPTION

AIRSTREAM CHIMNEY SYSTEM

Related Technical Feild

State of the Art

Energy is one of the fundamental driving forces in the improvement of civilization and in accordance with the improvement of the civilization, the need for energy continue to increase. However, the World energy generation technologies are greatly dependent on fossil-based energy resources. These resources have some disadvantages that firstly these reserves are limited and that they impose many contaminating effects to the environment when they are used especially in greenhouse gas emission. Because of these disadvantages, the countries have headed for the renewable energy resources in order to meet the demand for energy. The renewable energy resources comprises sustainable resources such as solar, wind, wave, geothermal, biomass energy, etc. which, can continuously renew itself. Withi these resources, solar energy occupies certainly the biggest part with its big potential. Solar energy transformation technologies can be classified as thermal and photovoltaic (pv) systems. Moreover, the thermal systems can be classified as low temperature, middle temperature and high temperature systems. Accordingly, it is also possible to classify the thermal systems as systems generating process thermal energy and electric energy, and hybrid systems. The thermal-electric generation with the solar towers, the thermal-electric generation with solar fields and the solar chimneys can be given as an example to high- temperature systems, middle temperature systems and low- temperature application systems, respectively.

In application, the high and middle temperature systems require advanced industrial technology and high first investment costs. However, the solar chimneys do not require an advanced technology and the first investment cost in these systems is much lower.

Airstream chimney is a thermal system which is developed to obtain electric energy from solar energy. It has a very different working principle compared to the conventional thermal systems. In this system, three basic physical principals are as follows: greenhouse effect, chimney draught and kinetic energy transformation. The air under the circular glass collector is heated thanks to the solar radiation on the collector surface. Because of the density difference between this heated air and the cold air outside, the air is horizontally moved towards the center of the collector. The vertical chimney available in the center of the collector, on the other hand, speeds up the draught, and air is taken to the outer medium by the chimney, the upper end of which is open. The air which is speeded up and headed to the chimney rotates the turbine located at the inlet of the chimney and the generator connected thereto, and therefore electric energy is obtained. The bigger the solar radiation is the faster the circulation is conducted. As the chimney simultaneously absorbs the air under the collector, air comes in again through the side parts of the collector which are open. Therefore a continuous operation is provided.

A solar chimney system essentially comprises the following parts:

- Collector (covered with glass or transparent foil) ,

- Chimney,

- One or more turbines,

- Generator

Collector

The collector which is the most important component of the solar chimney transfers the beams coming from the sun to the air in the medium. Its surface can be glass or a highly- transparent foil material. The height of the collector from the ground is less on the side inlet part, but it increases towards the center of the solar chimney, namely, the chimney. Therefore, as the speed of air flow increases to a great extent, the friction losses are prevented from increasing. On the other hand, the air is made to be directed towards the chimney with minimum loss. The collector surface is required to provide solar light transmission to a great extent. However, the solar beam passing from the collector and arriving to the ground heats the ground as well and some of the beams are reflected again on the collector surface. The collector should not transmit this reflected solar beam as much as possible. The collector cannot transform the entire received beam into useful energy. Because of reflection and convection, there emerge some losses. A small part of the solar beam coming to the collector during the day reflects, and again a small amount is absorbed by the collector and the bigger part passes through the collector. Some part of the solar beam which arrives to the ground by passing through the collector reflects again, and the remaining part is absorbed or stored by the ground. At night, on the other hand, as the temperature of the medium is lower than that of the ground, the thermal energy available on the ground or in the storage is transferred to the medium.

Chimney

It is the main part of the solar chimney system which generates power. The fact that the air heated inside the collector rises up is in direct proportion with firstly the temperature increase ΔΤ inside the collector and the volume of the chimney, in other words with the chimney diameter and chimney height. The chimney part can be manufactured in many different constructions such as concrete or steel. In big solar chimney systems, the concrete structure reinforced with steel irons is preferred. Moreover, the membrane-structure type is also available.

Turbine

It is the part where the kinetic energy is transformed into mechanical energy, and therefore to the electric energy. The turbines used in the solar chimney operate not like wind turbines with speed-stage, on the contrary they operate like wind turbo -generators with pressure-stage. The power density in such types of turbines (power received for each rotor surface area) is quite high compared to the speed-stage turbine. In the case that it has the same diameter, there is a power difference of almost 10 times. The air speed at the inlet and outlet of the turbine is almost equal. The obtained power is dependent on the amount of air passing through the turbine and the amount of pressure reduction. Normally, turbines are located under the chimney, that is, at the bottom part of the chimney bend. The turbines with vertical-axis operate strongly and quietly. The number of turbines to be located can be one or more than one depending on the size of the solar chimney. For instance, if it is desired to locate six turbines, the wing diameter of each turbine should be almost one sixth of the chimney diameter. In the case that more than one turbine is used, the turbines can be located in a scattered way on the passage part between the front roof and the chimney.

The embodiment disclosed in the state of the art numbered WO2005/103581 is described as follows: "It is a structure which looks like a pyramid consisting of one base and 3 or more side frames, each side frame forms an angle to the base, there is an enclosed space inside this structure looking like a pyramid in order to collect the solar energy and to collect and transfer the thermal energy coming from the sun; there is an air-suction system which provides the air inside the medium to be taken to the closed are; there are a plurality of wind turbines; there is a main thermal reservoir which receives the heat transfer medium and to store it in the middle, the heat transfer medium is heated there and then this heating is pumped into the daily tank located on the upper part, the heat transfer medium is heated by means of the system of taking air from the outside and the transfer layer with the help of a pipe connection from the side frame at the rear part of the main thermal reservoir where the thermal energy is collected, sucked and transferred in the enclosed space of the pyramid, and a temperature difference emerges between the air that is heated inside the enclosed space of the pyramid in order to heat and absorb the air inside the closed are and to rotate the air and wind turbines in the medium".

While there is only one chimney in the air suction system described in the above-mentioned state of the art; there is a pyramid structure that is located around the chimney in order to suck the solar energy. While this structure in the state of the art cannot provide a high efficient absorption of solar energy, the amount of electric energy is lower as there is only one single chimney which sucks the air.

The invention according to another state of the art numbered WO 2005/008065 relates to generation of electricity and the ventilation of urban areas with the use of waste heat from air-conditioning systems, waste organic matter, fuel cells and wind. A first phase relates to the creation of a column of rising air in a pipe to drive electricity-generating turbines. A second phase relates to the use of wind energy to create a helix shape upward flow of air that may preferably augment the functioning of the first phase.

As the solar chimney that is used in the system according to the state of the art numbered WO 2005/008065 is. single and has a wide diameter, the desired air flow speed is low and it is not possible to generate energy as much as necessary.

The amount of energy that is generated in the solar chimneys that have been used in the state of the art, is guite low and the amount of first investment costs are quite high. This case causes great problems in terms of cost and it does not meet the investment cost of the generated energy.

Objective of the Invention The objective of the present invention is to create more pressure difference by parallel connecting more than one capillary chimney with small diameters and in desired numbers instead of one airstream chimney.

Another objective of the present invention is to minimize the cost by prolonging the material life with the parallel capillary chimneys made of elastic chimney materials such as plastic canvas and to reduce the friction coefficient inside the chimney.

Another objective of the present invention is to obtain the most suitable homogeneous airstream which is possible in any kind of atmosphere conditions by preventing the disadvantages such as undesired raining, condensation and frosting inside the chimney by operating with dry air.

A further objective of the invention is to reach the desired chimney height with less first investment cost by fixing the pipes with small diameter, which will be connected in a parallel manner, to the mountain slope or canyons.

A further objective of the present invention is to increase the pressure difference by reducing the outer pressure by expanding the outlets of parallel chimneys.

A further objective of the present invention is to obtain high amount of energy production by increasing the airstream flow rate by connecting more than one chimney with small diameter in a parallel manner.

Description of the Figures

Figure 1: The general view of the airstream chimney

The parts that are shown in the above-mentioned figure are numerated one by one, and the part names corresponding to these numbers are provided in the following: 1. connection chimney outlet

2. turbine

3. pipes with small diameters

4. dehumidification element

5. sun collector

Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to an airstream chimney system comprising an airstream chimney extending from the ground to the top and providing the air to be moved, a turbine (1) integrated to the airstream chimney, and generators providing to obtain energy from the movement of the turbine (1), characterized in that the system further comprises more than one pipe (3) with very small diameters made of elastic textile material, and a dehumidification element (4) which is located at the inlet of the small-diameter pipes (3) and provides the air to be dried.

The airstream chimney system according to the present invention is installed by stretching with the help of steel ropes that are swung from the suitable mountain slopes or canyons. By installing on the mountain slopes or canyons, the desired chimney height is reached with less cost.

In order to keep the friction on the inner surface of said small-diameter pipes (3) at the minimum level, elastic canvas materials which have the function to reduce friction are preferred as the chimney material. As a result of the height that is reached by locating small-diameter pipes (3) on the mountain slopes, a temperature difference of 20 °C is created without any need to locate a solar collector on the ground. Therefore, the air can be moved upward from the chimney group. For the cases where it is needed to create much bigger difference of temperature and pressure, the airstream chimney system has been designed as appropriate to locate a solar collector (5) or geothermal pools on the ground. The solar collector (5) can heat the available air with the heat coming from the sun in order to heat the air to. be coming from the bottom point of the small-diameter pipes (3), and therefore with a temperature difference of more than 20 °C, the air can be moved upward. Another different function of the airstream chimney system is that it makes possible to use geothermal pools on the ground instead of solar collector (5) . In the case that geothermal pools are used, the small-diameter pipes (3) are fitted on the pool ground, and therefore the available air is heated with the heating of the geothermal heat.

The small-diameter high pipes (3) available in the airstream chimney system according to the present invention can be installed in a way to create thermos effect when desired. In order not to have any temperature loss during the air passage through the pipes, an insulation layer can be formed inside the pipes.

In the airstream chimney system shown in Figure 1, there are more than one chimney group with small-diameter that are parallelly connected instead of one single chimney with a big- diameter. While the air flow rate that is passing through one chimney is near 94.4 m³/s; the total air flow rate is around 467.37 when more than one pipe (3) are connected in a parallel manner and united at one single outlet. Therefore, the rotational speed of turbines (2) that are located on the connection pipe where small-diameter pipes are united and form one single chimney, and therefore the rotational speed of the generator is increased almost five times compared to the previous techniques; and the obtained electric energy reaches to near 312.72 MW, and is increased almost 10 times.

The small-diameter pipes (3) that extend upward and are parallelly connected are united so as to form one single pipe on the upper point. By expanding the diameter of the outlet point of the connection pipe (1) of the chimneys, it is made possible to create more pressure difference.

In the airstream chimney system according to the present invention, in order to use dry air, the air in the ground is moved upward through the small-diameter pipes (3) by using humectants such as salt inside the dehumidification element (4), or by means of cooling equipment.

The inner material of the small-diameter pipes (3) is made of elastic canvas which will provide the friction coefficient to be low. Therefore, the friction inside the pipes is minimized, the possible vibrations are prevented and therefore it becomes more beneficial in terms of cost.

Claims

1. The present invention relates to an airstream chimney system comprising an airstream chimney extending upward and providing the air to be moved, turbine (2) integrated to the airstream chimney and generators providing to obtain energy from the turbine (2) movement; characterized in that said · system comprises more than one small-diameter pipe (3) made of elastic material, and a dehumidification member (4) located at the inlet of the small-diameter pipes (3) and providing the air to be dried.

2. Small-diameter pipes (3) according to Claim 1, characterized in that they are connected in a parallel way so as to unite at the upper point.

3. Dehumidification element (4) according to Claim 1, characterized in comprising humectants which will provide the moisture in the air to be absorbed.

4. Humectants according to Claim 3, characterized in being salt.

5. Small-diameter pipes (3) according to Claim 1, characterized in that they are made of materials, the specific gravity of which is low so as to make it possible ^; to be located on high locations.

6. Materials having a low specific gravity according to Claim 5, characterized in being polymer.

7. The turbine (2) according to Claim 1, characterized in being located inside the connection pipe of the capillary chimneys .