Performance investigation of a solar updraft tower concept with downdraft windcatcher

In this study, a novel solar updraft tower system that combines updraft and downdraft is examined, its functional principle is explained and its performance is presented. A prototype was built at Faculty of Engineering of Trakya University in Edirne Turkiye in 2017. The concept includes counter-rotating dual drag type vertical axis turbines, wind catchers, three prismatic diffuser towers and sloped transpired solar collector. The results showed that the downdraft wind catcher integration increased annual energy production by 8 times compared to a conventional solar updraft tower. In the diffuser-shaped downdraft tower, the incoming wind accelerated up to 2.5 times. The power potential, which is 160 W for the conventional system, becomes 83 kW at a wind speed of 10 m/s and a downdraft pressure coefficient of 1.0.