Heat transfer process and fluid flow in a solar chimney used for natural ventilation are investigated numerically in the present work. Solar chimney was tested by selecting different positions of absorber namely: at the back side, front side, and at the middle of the air gap. CFD analysis based on finite volume method is used to predict the thermal performance, and air flow in two dimensional solar chimney under unsteady state condition, to identify the effect of different parameters such as solar radiation. Results show that a solar chimney with absorber at the middle of the air gap gives better ventilation performance. A comparison between the numerical and previous experimental results shows fair agreement.
This paper proposed several approaches for estimating the optical turbulence of the Earth’s atmosphere and their effect on solar images’ resolution using ground-based telescopes based on von Kárman, Kolmogorov, and modified von Kárman PSDs models. The results showed a strong correlation coefficient for the modified von Kármán model of atmospheric representation. As can be seen in the case where solar adaptive optics have been properly designed, they typically decrease aberration considerably and provide greatly improved imagery.
Globally, buildings use about 40% of energy. Many elements, such as the physical properties of the structure, the efficiency of the cooling and heating systems, the activity of the occupants, and the building’s sustainability, affect the energy consumption of a building. It is really difficult to predict how much energy a building will need. To improve the building’s sustainability and create sustainable energy sources to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion, estimating the building's energy use is necessary. This paper explains the energy consumed in the lecture building of the Al-Khwarizmi College of Engineering, University of Baghdad (UOB), Baghdad, Iraq. The weather data and the building construction informati
... Show MoreDielectric barrier discharges (DBD) can be described as the presence of contact with the discharge of one or more insulating layers located between two cylindrical or flat electrodes connected to an AC/pulse dc power supply. In this work, the properties of the plasma generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system without and with a glass insulator were studied. The plasma was generated at a constant voltage of 4 kV and fixed distance between the electrodes of 5 mm, and with a variable flow rate of argon gas (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5) L/min. The emission spectra of the DBD plasmas at different flow rates of argon gas have been recorded. Boltzmann plot method was used to calculate the plasma electron temperature (Te), and Stark broadeni
... Show MoreThis research includes the use of CdTe in the design of a solar cell. The SCAPS-1D computer program was used to simulate thin cell capacity of CdTe/CdS by numerical analysis with the addition of a buffer layer (Zn2SnO4) to enhance cell efficiency. The thickness of the window layer (n-CdS) was reduced to 25nm with the inclusion of an insulating layer of 50 nm thickness to prevent leakage towards the forward bias with respect to the lower charge carriers. As for the absorber layer thickness (p-CdTe), it varied between 0.5µm and 6µm. The preferable thickness in the absorbent layer was 1.5µm. Different operating temperatures (298K-388K) were used, while the highest conversion efficiency (η=18.43%) was obtain
... Show MoreThe effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and hea
... Show MoreThis paper demonstrates an experimental and numerical study aimed to compare the influence of openings of different configurations on the flexural behavior of prestressed concrete rafters. The experimental program consisted of testing six simply supported prestressed concrete rafters; 5 rafters are perforated, and the other one is solid as a reference. All rafters were tested under monotonic midpoint load. The variable which has been investigated in this work was the opening’s configuration (quadrilateral or circular) with the same upper and lower chords depths. The results indicate improvement in the beam flexural behavior using the circular openings compared to the quadrilateral o
Experimental measurements were done for characterizing current-voltage and power-voltage of two types of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules; monocrystalline silicon (mc-Si) and copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS). The conversion efficiency depends on many factors, such as irradiation and temperature. The assembling measures as a rule cause contrast in electrical boundaries, even in cells of a similar kind. Additionally, if the misfortunes because of cell associations in a module are considered, it is hard to track down two indistinguishable photovoltaic modules. This way, just the I-V, and P-V bends' trial estimation permit knowing the electrical boundaries of a photovoltaic gadget with accuracy. This measure
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