Solar Chimney for Power Generation

Idealab Engineering, 2005-06

Liaison(s): Bill Gross, Andrew Friendly, Dylan Owens, Denes Zsolnay
Advisor(s): Philip Cha
Students(s): Sara Al-Beaini (TL), Justin Kauwale, Vicky Luyapan, Erika Palmer, Jens Gardner (S), William Schulze (F)

Solar chimneys for power generation are conceptually simple structures that warm air in massive quantities and direct it upwards through a chimney. A turbine generator inside the chimney then generates electricity due to the air flow. Chimney designs are currently very large civil engineering projects, requiring large amounts of land and huge construction costs. Increasing the efficiency of the system and generating more power can offset these large expenses. The main goal of this project is to determine optimal chimney designs that are low in cost but high in efficiency.