Effects of solar radiation intensity and ambient temperature on heat transfer performance of solar enhanced natural draft dry cooling tower

Solar enhanced natural draft dry cooling tower(SENDDCT) is a new heat rejection device that uses solar energy to increase the cooling efficiency of natural draft dry cooling tower. In this paper, a CFD model was developed by using FLUENT to analyze the influences of ambient temperature and solar radiation intensity on the performance of SENDDCT. Simultaneously, an experiment system for SENDDCT was designed and built, and the effect of solar radiation intensity on the performance of SENDDCT under natural conditions was studied. Simulation reaults indicated that air mass flow and heat transfer rate decreases with the increasing of ambient temperature. Specifically, heat transfer decreases from 1.106 kW to 0.281 kW with ambient temperature changing from 10℃ to 40℃. Experimental results verified that the average air temperature of cooling tower entrance in natural solar radiation was 5℃ higher than that without radiation; SENDDCT uses solar energy to enhance heat transfer rate from 0.682 kW to 0.794 kW during the experiment. © 2020, Editorial Board of Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica. All right reserved.