The Solar Chimney - would a venturi multiply efficiency?
Summary
In a 1978 patent titled "Utilization of Solar Energy", Robert E. Lucier suggests that inclusion of a venturi at the base of the solar chimney "increases the air velocity" and that "the impeller of the electrical generator is located within this area."
In this paper the author attempts to develop this idea theoretically and make quantitative predictions for a solar chimney with a venturi included at the base of the chimney. Calculations and cost estimates on two possible prototypes suggest such a configuration would have good efficiency, be commercially attractive and may allow a smaller scale and much shorter height solar chimneys.
The author asks readers with an expertise in computational flow dynamics (CFD) to test these predictions and if successful to publish such results and to make progress towards construction of a prototype solar chimney plus venturi.