Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Analysis of the heat transfer and airflow in solar chimney drying

system with porous absorber
Wei Chen*, Man Qu
School of Merchant Marine, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, the chimney is assembled with porous absorber for the indirect-mode solar dryer. Local
Received 21 March 2013 thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) exists in the porous absorber, so the double energy equations and
Accepted 1 October 2013 BrinkmaneForchheimer extended Darcy model are employed to analyze the heat transfer and flow in the
Available online
solar porous absorber, and the k-ε turbulent model coupled with the above equations are also used to
investigate the influences of the porous absorber inclination and the height of drying system on the heat
Keywords:
transfer in the solar dryer. The specific heat capacities (rc) and thermal conductivity ks have remarkable
Porous absorber
effects on the average temperature of solar porous absorber in the drying system. The mean temperature
Heat transfer and airflow
Solar chimney
of the higher (rc) Aluminous solar absorber is lower and the top temperature of porous absorber delays
Numerical analysis due to lower thermal conductivity ks. The inclined angle of porous absorber influences the airflow and
temperature field in the solar dryer greatly. With the height of solar dryer changing from 1.41 m to
1.81 m, the higher airflow velocity and the lower temperature at chimney exit can be achieved. The
simulations agree with the published experimental data. All these results should be taken into account
for the promotion and application of the solar chimney dryer with porous absorber.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Solar dryers used for food and crop drying are very useful de-
vices. They not only save energy but also occupy less area, improve
quality of the product, make the process more efficient, and also
protect the environment. Solar drying can be used for the entire
drying process reducing the total amount of fuel energy required.
Natural convection solar crop dryers are normally reported to
perform inefficiently [1,2]. This is attributed to poor ventilation,
which results in excessively high temperatures in the drying
chamber. The use of solar dryers with improperly designed airflow
mechanism leads to the crops being partially cooked rather than
dried. So far, the natural ventilation enhanced by chimney has been
put into application in solar drying system. A chimney operates by
increasing the buoyancy force to aid the airflow through a struc-
ture. This buoyancy force is directly proportional to the difference
between the mean air density within the chimney and the density
of outside air.
The solar dryers can be classified in three forms [3], based on
their mode of operation. The indirect-mode dryer is equipped
with a separate absorber to absorb solar irradiation and preheat
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 21 38282900.
E-mail address: weichen96@sina.com (W. Chen).
the drying air [4]. The dryer has opaque drying-chamber walls,
thus the dryer contents have no contact with irradiation. A new
specific prototype of an indirect active hybrid solareelectrical
dryer for agricultural products was constructed at LENREZA
Laboratory, University of Ouargla (Algerian Sahara) by Boughali
et al. [5]. An indirect type natural convection solar dryer was
designed and the various storage materials were inserted under
the absorber plate to improve the drying process, which were
constructed and investigated experimentally by El-Sebaii et al.,
under Tanta prevailing weather conditions. It was also found that
the storage and chemical pretreatment caused significant
decrease in the drying time for all the investigated crops [6]. In
the direct-mode dryer, the walls of drying chamber are trans-
parent and the contents serve as the main absorber, and there is
no air pre-heater. A direct-type natural convection solar dryer
and a simple biomass burner were combined by Benon Bena and
Fuller to demonstrate a drying technology suitable for small-
scale processors of dried fruits and vegetables in non-
electrified areas of developing countries [7]. A direct type natu-
ral convection solar dryer was designed, constructed using local
materials (wood, blades of glass, and metals) and then tested
experimentally in foodstuffs drying (cassava, bananas, and
mango) by Gbaha et al. [8]. The mixed-mode dryer has a device
for preheating the air and also transparent walls of chamber for

0960-1481/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2013.10.006
512 W. Chen, M. Qu / Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518

Nomenclature t time, s
u velocity component in x-direction, m s1
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
asf specific surface area, m1 j!v dj mean velocity(¼ u2d þ v2d ) m s1
c specific heat,J kg1 K1 v velocity component in y-direction, m s1
c1 constant for the turbulence model x horizontal coordinate, m
c2 constant for the turbulence model y vertical coordinate, m
cm constant for the turbulence model
C inertia coefficient, see Eq. (3) Greek symbols
d diameter, m b thermal expansion coefficient, K1
D diameter of chimney, m ε dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic
f friction coefficient sε constant for the turbulence model
g gravitational acceleration vector m s2 sk constant for the turbulence model
Gk turbulence model coefficient sT constant for the turbulence model
Gsun rate of solar flux, W m2 m dynamic viscosity, kg (m s)1
hsf fluid-to-solid heat transfer coefficient, W m2 K1 mefft effective dynamic viscosity for the turbulence model,
H height of drying system, m kg (m s)1
k turbulence kinetic energy r density, kg m3
K permeability of porous media, m2 4 porosity of the porous medium,
keff,f effective thermal conductivity of fluid, W m1 K1 s transmittance
keff,s effective thermal conductivity of solid, W m1 K1 h absorptivity
kf fluid thermal conductivity, W m1 K1
Ki local losses coefficient of chimney inlet Subscripts
Ko local losses coefficient of chimney outlet c cold wall
ks solid thermal conductivity, W m1 K1 d Darcy
L Length of dryer wall from the inlet to outlet, m eff effective property
P pressure, Pa f fluid
Pr Prandtl number i inlet of dryer
qw rate of solar flux absorbed by the absorber surface, o outlet of dryer
W m2 p porous
qf heat transfer from the absorber surface to airflow, W m s solid
2
t turbulent
qs heat transfer from the absorber surface to porous solid T temperature
matrix, W m2
S source term Superscripts
T temperature, K / vector

maximum radiant energy absorption. A mixed mode natural dryer influence each other. The drying chamber has different
convection solar crop dryer was analyzed and experimental airflow and temperature fields with the change of chimney height
studied by Forson FK [9,10]. However, the large size of the air and the inclined angle of porous absorber. There are great different
heater makes the mixed-mode dryer too expensive for the characteristics of the solar collection and heat transfer within
normal rural farmer in a developing country. A direct-mode dryer porous absorber while the absorber has various materials and po-
depends on the contents of the drying chamber for air heating rosities. So, the influences of the material, porosity, and inclination
and airflow. The air circulation is normally poor. Some reports on of absorber and the height of dryer on the performance of heat
chimneys have also shown that properly designed chimneys can transfer and airflow within the drying system have been analyzed
boost the flow of air through an enclosure [11e13]. Compared in this paper. The simulations agree with the published experi-
with flat plate absorber, the more interface area and higher co- mental data. All these results should be taken into account for the
efficients of heat transfer can be achieved in the porous absorber design and optimization of the solar chimney drying with porous
while airflow passes through the absorber. As a result, more heat absorber.
can be supplied for the drying chamber by the airflow and the
heat flux in the absorber is dispersed rapidly. The uses of solar
chimney in building to enhance natural ventilation and the
porous absorber for solar collection have been studied by re-
searchers [14,15].
The temperature, relative humidity and airflow velocity are the
main influencing factors on the drying performance in the system.
The temperature also affects the relative humidity of airflow. The
relative humidity of airflow decreases with an increase in tem-
perature under the same absolute humidity of airflow in dryer,
which facilitates the drying process. In this paper, the chimney is
assembled with solar porous absorber for the indirect-mode dryer.
Due to the natural ventilation enhanced by the chimney with solar
porous absorber, the temperature and the airflow velocity in the Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of solar chimney dryer with porous absorber.
 W. Chen, M. Qu / Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518 513

2. System description and mathematical analysis Fluid phase energy equation in the porous medium
     
2.1. System description vTf vT vT v vT v vT
fðrcÞf þ ðrcÞf ud f þ vd f ¼ keff ;f f þ keff;f f
vt vx vy vx vx vy vy
The solar chimney dryer with porous absorber under investi-  
gation is schematically shown in Fig. 1. The system of 1.41 m high þ hsf asf Ts  Tf ð4Þ
consists of a chimney, a drying chamber of 0.6 m wide and 0.64 m
Solid phase energy equation in the porous medium
high, and a solar collector with porous absorber at a horizontal
inclination of 15 . The solar porous absorber of 0.8 m wide and    
vTs v vTs v vTs
0.03 m thick is laid between the glazing and the thermal insulation ð1  fÞðrcÞs ¼ keff;s þ keff;s
plate, and the airflow channels exist in the upper and the lower vt vx vx vy vy
 
sides of the porous absorber. The thermal insulation is place in the þ hsf asf Tf  Ts (5)
enclosure except for the glazing.
Airflows into the dryer through the bottom inlet of 0.1 m high,
All constants and variables in the above equations are defined
absorbs energy from the inclined solar porous absorber, enters the
in the nomenclature. Eqs. (1)e(5) form the full set of equations
drying chamber and outflows from the chimney top exit of 0.1 m wide
used to model convective flows in porous media. Eq. (2) or (3)
into the environment. The current modeling process examines the
contains the usual balance of forces between viscosity and
structure under no-load conditions (i.e. without any food in the dryer)
pressure gradient known as Darcy’s law (viz. the 3rd and 6th
to investigate the dependence of ventilation on the external design
terms), which is extended by the further inclusion of terms
features of the solar chimney dryer with porous absorber. The in-
modeling in turn advective inertia (1st and 2nd terms), boundary
clinations of 15 , 30 and 45 are selected to investigate the effects of
effects (the 4th and 5th terms: the Brinkman term), form-drag
the solar absorber inclination in the drying system of H ¼ 1.61 m, and
(Forchheimer inertia, the 7th term) and Eq. (3) contain buoy-
the heights of 1.41 m, 1.61 m and 1.81 m are chosen to analyze the
ancy (the 8th term). The values for the permeability K and the
influences of the dryer height in the drying system.
inertia coefficient C in the momentum equations for the porous
layer were given by Vafai [18] for packed beds of rock diameters
2.2. Theoretical modeling dP and porosity 4.

The mathematical model and the computational method are d2p f3

K ¼ (6)
developed to study the natural ventilation enhanced by the chimney 150ð1  fÞ2
in the drying system where a porous plate serves as solar absorber.
The flow is assumed to be two-dimensional and the Boussinesq
1:75
approximation is used to account for the air density variation. C ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffif3=2 (7)
It is assumed that the porous absorber is considered as a fluid- 150
saturated porous medium and the form-drag and boundary effects
are significant. The rate of heat transfer between the solid and fluid All physical properties of the porous medium are needed in the
may not be fast enough for the two phases to achieve local thermal calculation. It has been found that taking meff ¼ mf in Brinkman’s
equilibrium at the microscopic level. The solid and fluid phases will extension provides good agreement with experimental data [19]
undergo different temperature variations. Two different energy and is adopted in the present work. In addition, hsf and asf are
equations for the porous solid and for the saturating fluid are present calculated by hsf ¼ ðks =dp Þ½2 þ 1:1Pr 1=3 ðrf udp =mf Þ0:6  [20] and
to model the LTNE. Under the circumstances, the governing equa- asf ¼ ð6ð1  fÞ=dp Þ [21]; keff,s and keff,f are calculated by
tions for airflow and heat transfer in the porous absorber are [16,17]: keff,s ¼ (14)ks, keff,f ¼ 4kf [17].
Continuity equation For the flow in the drying system except the porous absorber,
the airflow is considered as turbulence convection and the kε
vr vðrud Þ vðrvd Þ model of turbulence is used. The equations for continuity, velocity
þ þ ¼ 0 (1)
vt vx vy components and temperature take the form [22]:
Continuity equation
Momentum equations
    vr vðruÞ vðrvÞ
r vud r vud vu vp v vu þ þ ¼ 0 (8)
þ u þ vd d ¼  þ meff d vt vx vy
f vt f2 d vx vy vx vx vx
  Momentum equations
v vud mu
þ meff  d    
vy vy K vðruÞ vðruuÞ vðrvuÞ v vu v vu
rC f þ þ ¼ mefft þ mefft þ Su
þ pffiffiffiffi j!
v d jud (2) vt vx vy vx vx vy vy
K (9)
       
r vvd r vv vv vp v vv vðrvÞ vðruvÞ vðrvvÞ v vv v vv
þ u d þ vd d ¼  þ meff d þ þ ¼ mefft þ mefft þ Sv
f vt f2 d vx vy vx vx vx vt vx vy vx vx vy vy
 
v vvd mv (10)
þ meff  d
vy vy K
The source terms in momentum equation
rC f
þ pffiffiffiffi j!
v d jvd þ rg bðT  Tc Þ    
K vp v vu v vv
Su ¼  þ mefft þ mefft (11)
(3) vx vx vx vy vx
514 W. Chen, M. Qu / Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518

   
vp v vu v vv
Sv ¼  þ mefft þ mefft þ rgbðT  TC Þ (12) 350
vy vx vy vy vy
Energy equation 340

Temperature(K)
  2 !
vðrTÞ vðruTÞ vðrvTÞ 1 m m v T v2 T 330
þ þ ¼ þ t þ (13)
vt vx vy r Pr sT vx2 vy2 Aluminum

320 Tuff
Turbulence kinetic energy k equation
  ! 310
vðrkÞ vðrukÞ vðrvkÞ m v2 k v2 k
þ þ ¼ mþ t þ þ rGk  rε
vt vx vy sk vx2 vy2
300
(14) 10000 20000 30000
Time(s)
Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic ε equation
  ! Fig. 2. Airflow temperature in porous absorbers of different material changes versus
vðrεÞ vðruεÞ vðrvεÞ m v2 ε v2 ε ε time.
þ þ ¼ mþ t þ þ ðc1 rGk  c2 rεÞ
vt vx vy sk vx2 vy2 k
(15)
Therefore, friction pressure losses are negligible, compared to local
losses [14].
mt ¼ rcm k2 =ε The fluid in the solar heating system is initially stagnant and at
a uniform temperature which is the same as the ambient
( )
mt vui vui vui temperature.
Gk ¼ þ The glass enclosure surface: T ¼ 298K, u ¼ 0, v ¼ 0,
r vxj vxj vxi
The enclosures except glass plate are thermal insulation:
The turbulence model contains five constant which were ðvT=vxÞ ¼ ðvT=vyÞ ¼ 0; u ¼ 0; v ¼ 0,
assigned the following values: cm ¼ 0.09, c1 ¼ 1.44, c2 ¼ 1.92, sk ¼ 1, The solar absorber surface: hsGsun(t),
sε ¼ 1.3, st ¼ 1. The heat absorbed by plate is dispersed by porous solid matrix
and airflow, described as below [21]:qw ¼ keff;s ðvTs =vyÞ  keff;f
ðvTf =vyÞ, ðqf =qs Þ ¼ ðf=1  fÞ,
The inlet of drying system: T ¼ 298, u ¼ vi, v ¼ 0,
2.3. Boundary and initial conditions
The outlet of drying system: ðvT=vxÞ ¼ ðvT=vyÞ ¼ 0;
ðvu=vxÞ ¼ ðvv=vyÞ ¼ 0;
Numerical simulations were performed for sunny and control
Initial conditions t ¼ 0 T ¼ const, u ¼ 0, v ¼ 0,
based on air temperature and operative temperature was consid-
ered. The solar irradiance variation [23] is given by Eq. (16):
  3. Numerical procedure
b sun sin 3:14 t ;
Gsun ðsÞ ¼ G (16)
36000
For the present study, the governing Eqs. 1e15 and the variation
where Gb sun ¼ maximum solar irradiance of 550 W=m2 ; The dryer of solar irradiance given by Eq. (16) together with the boundary and
with no load is only heated by direct sunlight from 8:00 h to initial conditions mentioned above were solved with the SIMPLER
18:00 h; 36,000 (s): time of sunshine. method [26], which is validated for various cases [27]. The com-
Ventilation flow rate in the dryer depends on the buoyancy puter code is based on the mathematical formulation discussed
pressure increase, due to the increase in air temperature difference earlier. The control-volume formulation utilized in this method
between Ti and To. The increase in buoyancy pressure must be equal ensures continuity of convective and diffusive fluxes as well as
to the sum of all flow pressure losses between inlet and outlet. overall momentum and energy conservation. The harmonic mean
These include local losses (across fittings, contractions or expan- formulation was used to handle abrupt variations in thermal
sions) and friction losses in the chimney walls [14]. Therefore, physical properties, such as permeability and thermal conductivity,
across the interface, for example, at the porous/fluid layer interface.
v2i X Lj vj 2 This ensures the continuity of convective and diffusive flues across
v2
rbðTo  Ti ÞgDH ¼ Ki r þ fj r þ Ko r o (17) the interface without requiring the use of an excessively fine grid
2 D 2 2
j structure.
As to the unsteady-state numerical calculations, the time step
Since the airflow rate is according with conservation of mass,
was concerned and several values of Dt had been examined. For
the airflow model is rearranged as below with reference to inlet
example, it had been found that the maximum deviation between
conditions:
the results by using Dt ¼ 20 s and Dt ¼ 60 s was only 1.5%. Hence,
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi the time step of Dt ¼ 60 s together with the grid size of 158  168
1
vi ¼ rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2 2bg DTH (18) was used for the unsteady-state numerical calculations in this
Ko AAoi þ Ki þ f H D
study.
In order to ensure the convergence of calculating procedure,
The Ki value gives an inlet flow coefficient of 0.72 [24]. This is some technical treatments like under relaxation and error feed-
just slightly above the approximate flow coefficient of 0.7 obtained back were adopted. The accuracy of computation, which was
by Flourentzou et al. [25], and the averagely consistent Ko of 1.28 is checked by using energy conservation of the system, was set at
used [24]. The friction coefficient, f, is always less than 0.01. 0.001%.
 W. Chen, M. Qu / Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518 515

308 308

306 306

Temperature(K)
Temperature(K)

304 304

302 Aluminum 302 With porous media

Tuff No porous media
300 300

298 298
10000 20000 30000 10000 20000 30000
Time(s) Time(s)

Fig. 3. Airflow temperature at the exit of solar chimney changes versus time for Fig. 5. Comparison of airflow temperature at the outlet of solar chimney with porous
different material porous absorbers. absorber and that with no-porous absorber.

To analyze the effect of porous materials on the performance of
solar porous absorber, Tuff and Aluminum [28] are chosen as
sample. Their physical properties are:
Tuff: r ¼ 1300kg=m3 ; c ¼ 920J=ðkg KÞ; ks ¼ 0:53W=ðm KÞ ;
Aluminum:
r ¼ 2719kg=m3 ; c ¼ 871J=ðkg KÞ; ks ¼ 202:4W=ðm KÞ.
4. Results and discussion
To analyze the influences of the porosity, material and inclina-
tion of solar porous absorber and the height of solar dryer on the
heat transfer and flow in the drying system, we made the numerical
calculation under the different porosities, materials and in-
clinations of porous absorber and the different heights of solar
dryer. The results are presented as follows.
4.1. Influence of solar absorber material and porosity in chimney
drying
Temperature variation in the solar porous absorber versus time
for different materials is presented in Fig. 2. The temperature of tuff
porous absorber with lower specific heat capacities (rc) varies more
greatly versus time and is relatively higher in the periods of the
solar irradiation. Due to the lower heat capacity, the peak tem-
perature of tuff porous absorber delays showing thermal inertia.
As shown in Figs.3e4, the exit temperature and the airflow
outlet velocity of the chimney influence each other when no food is
place in the drying chamber. In comparison with tuff absorber,
more heat can be transferred from the surface and porous solid
matrix of aluminous solar absorber to the airflow owing to higher
thermal conductivity when the solar irradiation increases gradu-
ally, so the higher airflow temperature and velocity at the exit of the
chimney with aluminous porous absorber can be achieved. In
contrast, the higher temperature and the higher airflow velocity
exist at the outlet of the dryer with tuff absorber of lower ks during
the decrease of solar irradiation.
The H ¼ 1.41 m drying system with aluminous solar absorber at
a horizontal inclination of 15 is selected to analyze the outlet
temperature variations of the solar chimney dryer with porous
absorber of 4 ¼ 0.6 and that with no-porous absorber versus time,
shown in Fig. 5. The solar irradiation absorbed by the absorber
surface is transferred to the airflow in convection and to the porous
solid matrix in thermal conduction, and the heat exchanges be-
tween the airflow and the porous solid matrix occurs simulta-
neously. Local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) exists in the porous
absorber. The temperature of porous solid matrix is higher than the
airflow temperature in the porous absorber shown in Fig. 6, so
more heat can be achieved for the airflow within porous absorber.
In comparison with solar non-porous absorber, the porous absorber
with porosity of 0.6 has more heat transfer area and lower heat
capacity, so the higher temperature of porous absorber and the
more heat transfer between the air and the porous bed cause the
higher airflow temperature at the exit of the drying system with
4 ¼ 0.6 porous absorber, which can reach about 2  C temperature

315

0.6
Temperature(K)

310
Velocity(m/s)

0.5

0.4 Aluminum 305

Air
Tuff
Aluminum
0.3
300

10000 20000 30000 10000 20000 30000

Time(s) Time(s)

Fig. 4. Airflow velocity at the exit of solar chimney changes versus time for different Fig. 6. Temperature comparison of airflow and porous solid matrix at the same place
material porous absorbers. within porous absorber.
516 W. Chen, M. Qu / Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518

of 0.5 causes higher airflow temperature in the solar porous

absorber.
Comparison between Figs. 5 and 7 shows that the heat transfer
310 area of solar non-porous absorber decreases greatly due to asf ¼ 0
Temperature(K)

inside non-porous absorber, see asf ¼ 6ð1  fÞ=dp [21]. With the
decrease in porosity 4 and particle diameter dP, the specific surface
area asf of porous absorber increases, but the permeability K de-
305 Porosity=0.5
creases, see Eq. (6). They affect the heat transfer between the
Porosity=0.8 airflow and the porous solid matrix greatly. So, the porosity 4 and
particle diameter dP of solar porous absorber should be optimized
300 for the airflow to achieve more heat when the sun is shining.

10000 20000 30000 4.2. Effect of solar absorber inclination in drying system
Time(s)

Fig. 7. Airflow temperature at the outlet of solar chimney with porous absorber of
different porosity 4 ¼ 0.5, 0.8 changes versus time.
above that of the solar chimney with non-porous absorber. When
the solar irradiation decreases, the airflow at the exit of the drying
system with non-porous absorber has higher temperature due to
the higher heat capacity of the non-porous absorber and less heat
transfer area.
As shown in Fig. 7, the airflow in the solar porous absorber of
4 ¼ 0.8 has higher temperature during the initial rise of solar
irradiation due to the lower heat capacity of the porous matrix. The
higher temperature of airflow in the solar porous absorber of
4 ¼ 0.5 can be achieved owing to the more heat transfer area be-
tween the airflow and the porous solid matrix while the solar
irradiation increases. With the decrease in the solar irradiation in a
day, the higher heat capacity of the porous absorber with porosity
The solar aluminous porous absorbers of 4 ¼ 0.6 at the different
horizontal inclinations of 15 , 30 and 45 in the drying system of
H ¼ 1.61 m with no-load are selected.
As shown in Fig. 8, the airflow in porous absorber has compar-
atively higher temperature in the drying system. The heat exchange
occurs between the glass enclosures and the ambient, so the air
temperature of upper passage near the glass enclosure inside the
solar collector and the air temperature near left wall are lower. In
contrast, the air temperature near the bottom of the porous
absorber is relatively higher.
The air is guided and heated by the absorber, so its temperature
rises and the heated airflow goes into the drying chamber. Then the
ambient air with relatively lower temperature enters the solar
collector through the bottom vent to be heated. It forms a cycle of
airflow in the drying system. The temperature difference and the
chimney cause the airflow cycle in the drying system. The hori-
zontal inclination of solar absorber in the drying system has great

Fig. 8. Airflow field and temperature (K) distribution of solar chimney (h ¼ 1.61 m) with Aluminous porous absorber (4 ¼ 0.6) of different horizontal inclinations at t ¼ 18,000(s): (a)
Streamlines for absorber at 15 inclination; (b) Streamlines for absorber at 30 inclination; (c) Streamlines for absorber at 45 inclination; (d) Isotherms for absorber at 15
inclination; (e) Isotherms for absorber at 30 inclination; (f) Isotherms for absorber at 45 inclination.
 W. Chen, M. Qu / Renewable Energy 63 (2014) 511e518 517

(a) (b)
306
308

Temperature(K)
304 306

Temperature(K)
304
302
Left point
302 Left point
Middle point
300 Middle point
Right point 300
Right point

10000 20000 30000 10000 20000 30000

Time(s) Time(s)

(c)
306

Temperature(K) 304

302 Left point

Middle point
300 Right point

10000 20000 30000

Time(s)

Fig. 9. Airflow temperature in the drying chamber of drying system with solar porous absorber at different inclinations changes versus time, (a) 15 inclination, (b) 30 inclination,
(c) 45 inclination.

effects on the temperature distribution and the airflow in the inlet and the outlet of the system, and there is a certain correlation
drying chamber, so the horizontal inclination of solar absorber between the airflow velocity and the temperature difference due to
should be selected appropriate to enhance the drying effect. the natural ventilation enhanced by the chimney. In comparison
Increasing the horizontal inclination of solar absorber from 15 to with the system with height of 1.41 m and 1.61 m, the airflow outlet
45 causes the expansion of higher temperature field and the rise of velocity of the H ¼ 1.81 m drying system is higher, but the outlet
airflow average temperature in the drying chamber. temperature is lower, shown in Fig. 11. Increasing the chimney
The air temperature changes of different positions, the left point height leads to the rise of airflow velocity due to the natural
(0.1 m away from the left wall), middle point and the right point (0.1 m ventilation enhanced by chimney, but the heat exchanging time
away from the right wall) at vertical center in the drying chamber of between the airflow and the solar porous absorber decreases, so the
the drying system with Aluminous porous absorber of various hori- lower airflow temperature in the drying chamber and the lower
zontal inclinations 15 , 30 and 45 are presented in Fig. 9. outlet temperature of the system can be achieved. The chimney
The higher airflow temperature can be found at the right point height should be selected reasonably.
and middle point in the drying chamber with absorber of 15 and 30 The experiments on the flow and heat transfer in solar chimney
inclinations. For the system with the absorber of 45 inclinations, the drying under no-load conditions were conducted [3,24]. The above
temperature of the middle point and the right point region is similar numerical analysis on the heating performance of airflow in the
and relatively higher. In comparison with the drying system with the drying system accords with the experiments that the airflow
absorber inclination of 15 , the more area of airflow higher tem- temperature at the exit is 4e8.5 K above the inlet temperature and
perature and the less temperature difference can be achieved in the
drying chamber for the system with the absorber inclination of 45 .
For the drying system with the absorber inclination of 30 , the
airflow temperature near middle point is relatively higher and there
exits greater temperature difference among the middle point, the
left point and the right point, besides the mean airflow temperature
in the drying chamber is higher. Increasing the horizontal inclina-
tion of the absorber causes the more area of higher airflow tem-
perature and the rise of the mean temperature in the drying
chamber, so the airflow velocity at the chimney exit goes up, shown
in Fig. 10. In addition, the less temperature difference exists in the
higher-temperature zone of the drying chamber while the inclina-
tion of the absorber is beyond a certain angle.

4.3. Effect of dryer height in drying system

The airflow velocity in the drying system is mainly affected by Fig. 10. Airflow velocity at the outlet of solar chimney with porous absorber of 15 , 30
the chimney height and the temperature difference between the and 45 inclinations changes versus time.
518
(a) 308
306
Temperature(K)
304
302
300
298
10000
Time(s)
Fig. 11. Temperature and airflow velocity at the outlet of different height dryer with solar porous absorber change versus time, (a) Temperature (K); (b) Velocity (m/s).
the airflow outlet velocity of 0.390.56 m/s can be achieved for the
passive solar chimney dryer of 1.2 m high. Due to the slight dif-
ferences of the system height and the absorbing approach of solar
irradiation from the experiments, the simulation results are slightly
different with the experimental data.
5. Conclusions
Mathematical models and computer codes have been developed
to analyze the heat transfer and flow in the solar chimney drying
system with porous absorber. The specific heat capacities (rc) and
thermal conductivity ks have remarkable effects on the average
temperature of the porous absorber in the drying system. The mean
temperature of the higher (rc) porous absorber is lower when the
sun is shining. In contrast, the lower ks porous absorber has higher
temperature at the outlet of chimney when the solar irradiation
decreases. There is a certain correlation between the airflow ve-
locity and the temperature difference between the outlet and the
inlet due to the natural ventilation enhanced by the chimney. In
comparison with the noneporous absorber, the porous absorber
has more heat transfer area and higher heat transfer coefficients, so
the airflow temperature and velocity at the outlet of chimney in-
creases. Additionally, keeping porous absorber volume at certain
value, an increase in porosity causes the heat transfer area and mass
in the absorber to decrease, which affects the characteristics of
solar collection. Increasing the horizontal inclination of the
absorber causes the rise of the mean temperature in the drying
chamber, so the airflow velocity at the exit of chimney goes up. The
higher drying system leads to the lower airflow temperature and
the higher airflow velocity at the chimney exit. Besides, the nu-
merical analysis on the ventilation of the solar chimney dryer ac-
cords with that of the published experimental data [3,24]. All these
results should be taken into account for the promotion and appli-
cation of the solar chimney dryer with porous absorber.
Acknowledgment
The current work is financially supported by the National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China. (No. 51276107), the Innovation
Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No.
14ZZ142) and the Ministry of Transport Application Foundation
Project (2013319810150).
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