Time Zones

 The world is divided into 24 time zones, each 15° of longitude, or

1 hour angle, apart. The meridian of Greenwich, England, is the
center of the zero zone, which extends to 7.5° east and west.
Proceeding eastward from Greenwich, the zones are numbered 1
to 12 with the prefix “plus” to indicate the hour angle to be added
to Universal Time to obtain local “standard time”. Proceeding
westward, the zones are numbered 1 to 12 with the prefix
“minus” to indicate the hour angle to be subtracted from
Universal Time to obtain local “standard time.” For example,
Washington, DC, at longitude 77° West, is in time zone −5
 For example, at a longitude of 80° west, solar noon can be found by noting that 80° is
between 75° and 90°, where solar noon occurs at clock noon standard time. Since 80°
is west of 75°, when the sun is directly south at 75°, the sun will be east of south at
80°. The clock time at which the sun will be south at 80° (solar noon for 80°) is thus
found by interpolation to be

 Note that this time is standard time relative to the time zone for which solar noon
occurs at 75° W. If 90° W is used as the solar noon reference, then solar noon at 80°
will occur 40 minutes before solar noon occurs at 90°.
local Apparent Time (LAT)
 The local noon time or LAT or one can say, solar time is the time at which the sun becomes
overhead at a given location.
 Normally, the standard time for a country is based on a noon (overhead sun position) at a
particular longitude.
 If the location for which the calculation is done is not falling on the same longitude at which
the standard time is fixed, the real noon time at the place of calculation will be different from
the standard noon time.
 The noon time for the location under consideration should be corrected by considering the
difference in the longitude with respect to the standard longitude of that country or region.
 Since 1 ℎ = 15°, 1° of longitude difference will be equal to 4 min difference in time.
 Depending on whether the longitude of the location under consideration is ahead or behind
the standard longitude (standard meridian), the time should be either added or subtracted
 As the earth moves around the sun, solar time changes slightly with respect to the local
standard time. It is because of the fact that the earth's orbit and its rotational speed are not
fixed, and are subjected to some fluctuations.
The equation of time correction
 The equation of time correction is based on the experimental observations.
 The amount of time to be corrected (given in minutes) varies from month to month as shown
in the following Figure.

 the LAT or solar time for a location can be written as:

1 1
𝐿𝐴𝑇 = 𝑇𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 + 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡 − 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 + 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
15 60
 where 𝑇𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 is the local time or (the local standard time), 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡 , 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 are the
longitude of the standard time and local time, respectively.
ET is the equation of time , which is a correction factor that accounts for
the irregularity of the speed of earth's motion around the sun , ET may be
calculated from the following empirical equation :

𝐸𝑇(𝑖𝑛 min) = 9.87 sin(2𝐵) – 7.53 cos(𝐵) – 1.5sin(𝐵)

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐵 = 360(𝑛 − 81)/364 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒
Example
 Calculate the declination
angle, local apparent
time for the collector
located in Bombay
(19.12 N, 72.51 E),
which is tilted at an
angle of 30° with the
horizontal and is
pointing due south on
October 1.
Sunrise, Sunset and Day Length
 Due to the symmetry, the value of sunrise and sunset hour angle will be the same
 The sunrise and sunset hour angle 𝜔𝑠 will be the angle for which the inclination angle
of sunrays is 0° and the zenith angle is 90°.

cos 𝜔𝑠 = − tan ∅ tan 𝛿

 The hour angle is considered positive before the noon and negative after the noon.
 The positive value of 𝜔𝑠 , will be corresponding to sunrise hour angle 𝜔𝑠𝑟 and the
negative value of 𝜔𝑠 will be corresponding to sunset hour angle 𝜔𝑠𝑠
 The sunrise and sunset hour angles can be converted into hours, by using 1h=15°.
Special cases

 Case 1. For the equator, ∅ = 0, the 𝜔 will be equal to 2. It means that the day length of
the locations at the equator will be independent of the declination or the time of the year
and is always equal to 12 h.
 Case 2. For the equinoxes, ∅= 0, the 𝜔𝑠𝑟 will be equal to 𝜋 /2. It means at the equinoxes
the day length is equal to 12 h and independent of the latitude of the location.
 Case 3. If − tan ∅ tan 𝛿 >+1, the sun will neither rise nor set for the day. It is
corresponding to polar night.
 Case 4. if − tan ∅ tan 𝛿 >±1, the sun will be on the horizon for a moment only.
 Case 5. If − tan ∅ tan 𝛿 <-1, the sun will neither rise nor set for the day. It is
corresponding to polar day
 The day length is the duration from the sunrise hour angle to the sunset hour angle. Due
to symmetry both angles are same for the horizontal collector. Thus, the day length will
be equal to 2𝜔𝑠
 In terms of the number of hours, the day length, Smax (day length or maximum number
of sunshine hours) will be given as
2
𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑥 = cos −1 − tan ∅ tan 𝛿
15
 the inclined surface the sunrise and sunset hour angles will be smaller, which means the
day length for inclined collector surfaces will be smaller than the horizontal surface. If
the collector surface is inclined, but does not have exactly south facing surface, In this
case, the magnitude of sunrise and sunset hour angles will not be the same.
 The solar altitude a and azimuth angle 𝜃𝑧 can be calculated by the following equations :

𝑆𝑖𝑛(a) = sin(∅) sin(𝛿 ) + cos(∅)cos(𝛿 ) cos(𝜔)

𝑆𝑖𝑛(𝜃𝑧 ) = cos(𝛿 ) sin(𝜔) / cos(a)
At solar noon 𝜔=0 therefore, 𝑎 = 90 − ∅ − 𝛿 and 𝜃𝑧 =0

For the following Example :

𝜃𝑧 = 𝛼𝑠
∅=L
𝜔 = ℎ𝑠
𝛿 =𝛿 𝑠
Sun - Path Diagram

 The projection of the sun's path on the horizontal plane is called a sun - path diagram .
 Such diagrams are very useful in determining shading phenomena associated with solar
collectors , windows , and shading devices .
 Sun - path diagrams for a given latitude are used by entering them with appropriate
values of declination δ and hour angle hs . The point at the intersection of the
corresponding δs and hs lines represents the instantaneous location of the sun .
 The solar altitude can then be read from the concentric circles in the diagram ; the
azimuth , from the scale around the circumference of the diagram
Optimal Angle for Fixed Collector Surface

 We know that the angle of incidence of sunrays on solar collector changes with the time of the
day and with the day of the year. Thus, orientation of the collector should also be changing to
harness maximum sunlight.
 due to economical reasons, it is preferred to have a solar collector which has a fixed orientation
throughout the year or its orientation is changed only lea often a year.
 For a clear day, the intensity of solar radiation at a given location is symmetrical around the
solar noon time (𝜔 = 0) or the LAT of the location.
 Also the radiation intensity is maximum at noon time. In order to find out the appropriate
collector surface orientation, the surface azimuth angle 𝛾 and the surface inclination angle ẞ
should be optimized. This is done by differentiating Eq. (12.7) with respect to y and ẞ for
𝜔=0.
 It can be shown that the optimal surface azimuth angle would be zero, i.e., y=0°.
 It implies that a fixed collector surface, if installed in the northern hemisphere, should be
facing true south and if it is installed in the southern hemisphere, it should be facing true north.
 The optimal inclination of the surface would be given as:
𝛽 = ∅−𝛿
 the declination 𝛿 changes every day: therefore, the collector inclination𝛽should also be
changing every day.
 This is not practical. Instead, an average declination angle (average taken over a week
or a month or three months) can be used in which case the only weekly or monthly
adjustment of the collector surface inclination will be required.
𝛽𝑎 = ∅ − 𝛿𝑎
 where 𝛿𝑎 , is the average declination angle over a given period and 𝛽𝑎 , is the optimal
inclination angle of the collector over that period.
 The average declination angle over a year is zero, i.e., 𝛿𝑎𝑦 =0°.
 Thus, the average inclination of a collector over a year 𝛽𝑎𝑦 would be
𝛽𝑎𝑦 = ∅
And the incidence angle
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = cos𝛿 cos𝜔
Optimal Inclination of Collector in Summer
and Winter
 But adjustment of solar collector's inclination a few times a year can enhance the energy collection
over the year.
 Collector inclination adjustment can also improve the performance of the system for a given season.
 For instance, a remote farmhouse, which is used only in summer, will require that the collector
perform better in summer. Or if a solar collector is installed for a ski resort, it would be desirable that
the collector perform better in winter.
 For daily optimal performance the collector should be inclined at an angle of ∅ − 𝛿
 For optimal seasonal performance one needs to incline the collector as per the average value of 𝛿 in
that season
 In the northern hemisphere, the 𝛿 in the summer varies from 0° on March 20 to 23.45° on June 21
and it becomes 0° again on September 22.
 Thus, the average declination angle between March 20 and September 22 is about +14.93°.
 Hence, for the best summer performance, the collector should be mounted at about ∅ − 15°.
 Similarly, the average declination angle for the winter between September 22 and March 20 is about -
14.93°.
 This implies that the best winter performance from the collector is obtained when it is mounted at
about ∅ + 15°.
 The relative gain in the performance of a collector when it is mounted to latitude
± 15° as compared to its performance when it is mounted at the latitude angle is shown
below.
 Note that the graph is only an indicative relative gain. Different locations will have
different relative gains as they depend on the local weather, percentage of diffuse
radiation and seasonal changes of the weather.
 Special mounting: In some cases, the solar collectors, particularly the PV panels, need to be
installed on a horizontal surface, such as on boats and ships, as the direction of these
machines will be changing. In this situation, there will be some loss in the annual energy
collection due to the horizontal mounting of the panels. The loss in the performance
depends on the season, latitude of the location and percentage of diffuse radiation.
Relatively small amount of annual collection will be lost if the panels are horizontally
mounted in the tropical region (small ∅), since the optimal performance from a collector is
achieved for mounting at ± 15°.
 Sometimes it may not be convenient to install solar PV panels facing exactly south. It can
be shown that the collector's direction can be as much as 22.5° away from the true south
with just less than 2% loss in energy collection. This is true up to 45° latitude.
 While in some other cases it is desirable to install the PV panel in direction other than the
south, in order to get enhanced PV module performance at a particular time of the day
(before or after noon) but not at the solar noon.
 For instance, if PV panels are connected to grid in which the peak demand occurs at 2 pm,
the PV panels should be mounted in the south-west direction such that the sunrays are close
to perpendicular to the panel at 2 pm.