Why does the length/hieght of the tower improve the chimney performance.
IS it possible to construct the tower in a horizontal fashion with one end slightly higher than the other, so that effectively the air flow is still upwards ? The advantage of this design is the length of such a "leaning tower" can be made miles and mile long. Or am i missing something ?
replied to: moreshk
Replied to: Why does the length/hieght of the tower improve the chimney performance....
Just watching the history channel on this pretty interesting stuff. I am a senior in meteorology so this is kind of up my alley. The whole point of this tower is the basics of weather. Think of a thunderstorm with a strong updraft. As you go up in the atmosphere the temperature drops fast. So by heating the surface we can reach the " LFC" or the lifting condensation level in a desert region without a lifting mechanism (cold front,dryline, etc etc.) The tower needs to be tall because areas like a desert will have a strong cap so it is hard for air to rise mainly due to very low dewpoints. I wonder if a water pool was placed in the heated areas if the lfc could be much lower. Just a thought though. But basically the answer is you need it to be very tall because of the differential in heating of the air to the environemnt which is well below 0 only a kilometer or so up even in hot climates.
replied to: meteorman
Replied to: Just watching the history channel on this pretty interesting stuff....
The temperature drops when you go up, thats correct, at average by about 0.6 degrees Celsius/Kelvin for each 100m, which would not quite be below 0 at one km above, but about 6 degrees less than on the ground. However the effect of the updraft is caused by the difference in the air density between the bottom and the top. There you have not only the effect of the temperature on the density but also that of the drop in the pressure. As a metereology major you might know this, and as far as I know the effect of the atmospheric pressure going down is greater than that of the temperature going down (and thus increasing the density). It seems to make sense too, because the atmosphere automatically sets itself up so that the less dense air is on top and the more dense at the bottom.
So, to me it seems like a very good question. And I would really like to know why there is even a need for a tower at all. As long as the heated air can find a way to go up towards the turbine than that should be sufficient, I would think. So maybe a small outlet tower with the turbine in it should suffice.
If there is an error in my thoughts or someone has something new interesting to this subject please send me an email to pete68@gmx.net thanx
