Experimental investigation of a solar chimney natural ventilation system.

Natural ventilation driven by a solar chimney attached to a single-room building is investigated experimentally with a small-scale model using a recently developed fine bubble technique. Parameters studied in the experiments are the cavity width of the solar chimney, the solar radiation intensity, the height of the solar chimney, the room inlet area and the solar chimney inlet area. Results showed that for given building geometry and inlet areas, there is an optimum cavity width at which a maximum ventilation flow rate can be achieved.