Huh, I always thought these worked in reverse of what the article explains.
> First, as air is caught by the opening of a wind catcher, it is funneled down to the dwelling below, depositing any sand or debris at the foot of the tower. Then the air flows throughout the interior of the building, sometimes over subterranean pools of water for further cooling. Eventually, warmed air will rise and leave the building through another tower or opening, aided by the pressure within the building.
I thought that the wind at higher altitude passing through these tower openings causes a low pressure zone in the tower, which draws cooler air up from the basement/subterannean pool/qanat, through the building and out the tower. The pool or qanat is also open to the air at ground level further away from the main building, so that indrawn air has some time to dump heat into the underground/water.
Same. I have seen these painted black at the top of the tower. The idea, as it was explained to me, was that the black paint would help heat the top, and that hot air would create negative pressure as it rises. The negative pressure then pulled up cooler air from below.
The photos show large vertical openings. Which makes more sense for ‘catching’ the wind. For a negative pressure a black painted vertical pipe would have been sufficient?
> First, as air is caught by the opening of a wind catcher, it is funneled down to the dwelling below, depositing any sand or debris at the foot of the tower. Then the air flows throughout the interior of the building, sometimes over subterranean pools of water for further cooling. Eventually, warmed air will rise and leave the building through another tower or opening, aided by the pressure within the building.
I thought that the wind at higher altitude passing through these tower openings causes a low pressure zone in the tower, which draws cooler air up from the basement/subterannean pool/qanat, through the building and out the tower. The pool or qanat is also open to the air at ground level further away from the main building, so that indrawn air has some time to dump heat into the underground/water.