Abstract
A solar chimney is a device to use solar energy for the increment of ventilation of buildings. The chimney increases airflow rates by the stack effect. In the study, solar chimneys integrated with photovoltaics are investigated under the climate of Tokyo, Japan. The aims of the study are to predict the performance of the system, and to determine the optimum shape of the chimney to maximise the ventilation rate. The performance of the system was investigated by a computational fluid dynamics method. Electricity output from photovoltaics was estimated from annual solar radiation data. The results showed that the system was capable of providing 10 air changes per hour for a typical office room. The PV module produced electricity of approximately 35 kWh per square meter of the south wall area annually.
