MET445- RENEWABLE

ENERGY ENGINEERING

Module-2

Dr Mubarak M
Associate Professor and Head
Department of Mechanical Engineering
MEAEC
 Module 2
• Solar Energy collectors: Solar thermal collectors -Flat
plate collectors –Solar concentrators (parabolic trough,
parabolic dish, Central Tower Collector) –Solar Air
Heaters
• Solar thermal electric power generation -Thermal Energy
storage, sensible heat storage, latent heat storage , Thermo
chemical storage , photovoltaic system for power
generation , Solar pond -Solar Cells-Types of solar cells ,
principle of working and performance characteristics,
Production process- Block diagram only
• Applications- Solar space heating and cooling of
buildings, solar pumping, solar cooker, solar still, solar
drier, solar refrigeration and air-conditioning, heliostat,
solar furnace
 Solar thermal energy collectors

• A solar thermal energy collector is an

equipment in which solar energy is collected
by absorbing radiation in an absorber and then
transferring to a fluid.
• Two types of collectors
1. Flat plate solar collector
2. Concentrating type solar collector
 Flat plate solar collector

• No optical concentrator
• The collector area and absorber area are
numerically the same, the efficiency is low,
and temperatures of the working fluid can be
raised only up to 100oC.
 Concentrating type solar collector
• The area receiving the solar radiation is several
times greater than the absorber area and the
efficiency is high.
• Mirrors and lenses are used to concentrate the
sun’s rays on the absorber, and the fluid
temperature can be raised up to 500oC.
• For better performance, the collector is mounted
on a tracking equipment to face the sun always
with its changing position.
Flat plate collector
 Flat plate collector
(i) A metallic flat absorber plate of high thermal
conductivity made of copper, steel or aluminium, and
having black surface. The thickness of the metal sheet
ranges from 0.5 mm to 1 mm.
(ii) Tubes or channels are soldered to the absorber plate.
Water flowing through these tubes takes away the
heat from the absorber plate. The diameter of the
tubes is around 1.25 cm, while that of the header pipe
which leads water in and out of the collector and
distributes it to absorber tubes, is 2.5 cm.
 Flat plate collector

(iii) A transparent toughened glass sheet of 5 mm

thickness is provided as the cover plate. It reduces
convection losses through a stagnant air layer
between the absorber plate and the glass.
(iv) Fibre glass insulation of thickness 2.5 cm to 8
cm is provided at the bottom and on the sides in
order to minimize heat loss.
(v) A container encloses the whole assembly in a
box made of metallic sheet or fibre glass.
Solar collector with air as the heat
transfer fluid
 Effect of design parameters on performance

The parameters that affect the performance of a

flat plate collector are
1. Heat transport system
2. Selective surfaces
3. Number of covers
4. Spacing
 Effect of design parameters on
performance
1. Heat transport system
 Heat from the absorber plate is removed by
continuous flow of a heat transport medium.
 When water is used, it flows through metal
tubes that are welded to the absorber plate for
effective heat transfer.
 Cold water enters the bottom header, flows
upwards and gets warmed by the absorber.
The hot water then flows out through top
header.
 Effect of design parameters on
performance
• When air is used as the heat transfer fluid, an
air stream flows at the rear side of the collector
plate.
• Fins welded to the plate increase the contact
surface area.
• The rear side of the air passages is insulated
with mineral wool.
• Solar air heaters are used for drying
agricultural products, space heating and
seasoning of timber.
 Effect of design parameters on
performance
2. Selective surfaces
 The absorber plate surfaces which provide
high absorptivity for incoming solar radiation
and low emissivity for outgoing radiation are
termed selective surfaces.
 A selective surface is composed of a thin black
metallic oxide coated on a bright metal base.
 These are important for low concentration
solar equipment operating at high
temperatures.
 Effect of design parameters on
performance
3. Number of covers
 To minimize convection and radiation loss, a
solar collector is provided with a transparent
glass sheet over the absorber plate.
 Solar radiation incident on a glass sheet passes
through the glass cover.
 By using two glass covers, heat loss can be
reduced further.
 Effect of design parameters on
performance
4. Spacing
 The spacing between the absorber plate and
the cover or between two covers also
influences the performance of a flat plate
collector.
 The operating performance varies with the
spacing as well as with tilt and service
conditions and hence there is no way to specify
the exact optimum spacing.
 Solar concentrating collectors
• Used in medium temperature and high
temperature energy conversion cycles.
• An optical system of mirrors or lenses projects
the radiation on to an absorber of smaller area.
• Concentrator is the optical subsystem that
projects solar radiation on to the absorber.
• Receiver shall be used to represent the sub-
system that includes the absorber, its cover and
accessories.
• Aperture (W) is the opening of the
concentrator through which solar radiation
passes.
• Acceptance angle (2θd) is the angle across
which beam radiation may deviate from the
normal to the aperture plane and then reach the
absorber.
• Concentration ratio (CR) is the ratio of the
effective area of the aperture to the surface
area of the absorber.
• The value of CR varies from unity (for flat
plate collectors) to a thousand (for parabolic
dish collectors).
 Types of concentrating collectors
1. Plane receiver with plane collectors
2. Compound parabolic collector with Plane
receiver
3. Cylindrical parabolic collector
4. Collector with a fixed circular concentrator
and moving receiver
5. Frensel lens collector
6. Parabolic dish collector
7. Central receiver with heliostat
Types of concentrating collectors
1. Plane receiver with plane collectors
It is a simple concentrating collector, having up
to four adjustable reflectors all around, with a
single collector.
CR varies from 1 to 4 and operating temperature
can go up to 140oC.
Plane receiver with plane collectors
2. Compound parabolic collector with Plane
receiver
 Reflectors are curved segments that are parts
of two parabolas. The CR varies from 3 to 10.
 For a CR of 10, the acceptance angle is 11.5o
and tracking adjustment is required after a few
days to ensure collection of 8 hours a day.
Compound parabolic collector with Plane
receiver
3. Cylindrical parabolic collector
The reflector is in the form of trough with a
parabolic cross section in which the image is
formed on the focus of the parabola along a
line.
The basic parts are (i) an absorber tube with a
selective coating located at the focal axis
through which the liquid to be heated flows (ii)
a parabolic concentrator, and (iii) a concentric
transparent cover.
Cylindrical parabolic collector
4. Collector with a fixed circular concentrator
and moving receiver
 It consists of an array of long, narrow, flat
mirror strips fixed over a cylindrical surface.
 The mirror strips create a narrow line image
that follows a circular path as the sun moves
across the sky. The CR varies from 10 to 100.
 Collector with a fixed circular
concentrator and moving receiver
5. Frensel lens collector
 Frensel lens refraction type focusing collector
is made of an acrylic plastic sheet, flat on one
side, with fine longitudinal grooves.
 The angles of grooves are designed to bring
radiation to a line focus.
 The CR changes between 10 and 80 with
temperature varying between 150oC and
400oC.
Frensel lens collector
6. Parabolic dish collector
 To achieve high CRs and temperature, it is
required to build a point focusing collector.
 A paraboloid dish collector is of point focusing
type as the receiver is placed at the focus of the
paraboloid reflector.
Parabolic dish collector
7. Central receiver with heliostat
 To collect large amounts of heat energy at one point,
the central receiver concept is followed.
 Solar radiation is reflected from a field of heliostats
(an array of mirrors) to a centrally located receiver on
a tower.
 Heliostat follow the sun to harness maximum solar
heat.
 Water flowing through the receiver absorbs heat to
produce steam which operates a Rankine cycle turbo
generator to generate electrical energy.
Central receiver with heliostat
Rankine cycle
 Solar air heaters
 A solar air heater constitutes a flat plate collector with
an absorber plate, transparent cover at the top, a
passage through which air flows and insulation at the
bottom and sides.
 Air passages are only a parallel plate duct.
 Air to be heated flows between the cover and the
absorber plate which is fabricated from a metal sheet
1 mm thickness.
 Cover is either made of glass or plastics of 4 mm to 5
mm thickness, glass wool of thickness 5 cm to 8 cm
is used for bottom and side insulation.
Solar air heaters
 Solar air heaters
• Full assembly is encased in a sheet metal box
and kept inclined at a suitable angle.
• The value of heat transfer coefficient between
the absorber plate and air is low and the
operating efficiency of a simple air heater is also
low.
• To boost heat transfer, the contact area of air
with the absorber plate is increased either by
adopting a V-shaped absorber plate or by
designing two pass air heaters.
 Solar air heater

V shaped absorber plate Two pass solar air heater

 Solar air heater
• The two pass solar air heater carries two glass
cover sheets, separated by an air gap which
reduces heat losses.
• In matrix air heater, air flows through a porous
metallic matrix which receives and absorbs
solar radiation directly.
• Solar air heaters have major applications like
drying of agricultural products, seasoning of
timber, space heating.
Solar air heater
 Solar thermal energy storage

 Solar energy is available only during the

sunshine hours.
 Consumer energy demands follow their own
time pattern and the solar energy does not fully
match the demand.
 There are three important methods for storing
solar thermal energy.
Methods of storing solar thermal energy

1. Sensible heat storage

2. Latent heat storage (Phase change heat
storage)
3. Thermochemical storage
 Solar thermal energy storage
1. Sensible Heat storage
 Heating a liquid or solid which does not change phase
comes under this category.
 The quantity of heat stored is proportional to the
temperature rise of the material.
 If T1 and T2 represents lower and higher temperature,
V the volume and ρ the density of the storage
material, and cp the specific heat, the energy stored Q
is given by
 Solar thermal energy storage
 For a sensible heat storage system, energy is
stored by heating a liquid or a solid.
 Materials that are used in such system include
liquids like water, inorganic molten salts and
solids like rock, gravel and refractories.
 The choice of the material used depends on
the temperature level of its utilisation.
 Water is used for temperature below 100oC
whereas refractory bricks can be used for
temperature up to 1000oC.
 Solar thermal energy storage
2. Latent heat storage (Phase change heat
storage)
 Heat is stored in a material when it melts, and
heat is extracted from the material when it
freezes.
 Heat can also be stored when a liquid changes
to gaseous state, but as the volume change is
large, such a system is not economical.
 2. Latent heat storage (Phase change heat storage)

• The phase change materials like paraffin wax and fatty

acids, hydrated salts such as calcium chloride hexo
hydrate and sodium sulphate deca hydrate and
inorganic materials like ice (H2O), sodium nitrate and
soidum hydroxide can be used.
• Phase change materials such as sodium sulphate
decahydrate melt at 32oC, with a heat of fusion of 241
kJ/kg.
• Paraffin wax possess a high latent heat of fusion and is
known to freeze without supercooling.
Latent heat storage (Phase
change heat storage)
 Solar thermal energy storage
3. Thermochemical storage
 In this solar energy can start an endothermic
chemical reaction and new products of
reactions remain intact.
 To extract energy, a reverse exothermic
reaction is allowed to take place.
 The thermochemical thermal energy is the
binding energy of reversible chemical
reactions.
Schematic representation of thermochemical
storage reaction
 3. Thermochemical storage
• Chemicals A and B react with solar heat and
through forward reaction are converted into
products C and D.
• The new products are stored at ambient
temperature.
• When energy is required, the reverse reaction is
allowed to take place at a lower temperature
where products C and D react to form A and B.
• During the reaction, heat is released and utilized.
Chemical energy storage reactions
Photovoltaic system for power generation

• Photovoltaic power generation is a method of

producing electricity using solar cells.
• A solar cell converts solar optical energy
directly into electrical energy.
• A solar cell is a semiconductor device
fabricated in a manner which generates a
voltage when solar radiation falls on it.
 Photovoltaic system for power generation

• In semiconductors, atoms carry four electrons

in the outer valence shell, some of which can
be dislodged to move freely in the materials if
extra energy is supplied.
• Then, a semiconductor attains the property to
conduct the current. This is the basic principle
on which the solar cell works and generates
power.
 Semiconductor materials and Doping

• A few semiconductor materials such as silicon

(Si), cadmium suphide (CdS) and gallium
arsenide (GaAs) can be used to fabricate solar
cells.
• Semiconductors are divided into two
categories – intrinsic (pure) and extrinsic.
• An intrinsic semiconductor has negligible
conductivity, which is of little use.
• To increase the conductivity of an intrinsic
semiconductor, a controlled quantity of
selected impurity atoms is added to it to obatin
an extrinsic semiconductor. The process of
adding the impurity atoms is called doping.
• In a pure semi conductor, electrons can stay in
one of the two energy bands – the conduction
band and the valence band.
• The conduction band has electrons at the higher
energy level and is not fully occupied, while the
valence band possesses electrons at a lower energy
level but is fully occupied.
• The energy level of the electrons differs between the
two bands and this difference is called the band gap
energy, Eg.
• The photons of solar radiation possessing energy E
higher than the band gap energy Eg when absorbed
by a semiconductor material, dislodge some of the
electrons.
• These electrons possess enough energy jump over the
band gap from the valence band into the conduction
band.
• In this process, vacant electron positions or holes are
left behind in valence band.
• These holes act as positive charges and can move if a
neighbouring electron leaves its position to fill the
hole site.
• Mobile electrons and holes can thus enable a current
flow through an external circuit if a potential gradient
exists in the cell material.
Semiconductor diode band structure
Photon Energy
Sunlight is composed of tiny energy capsules
called photons.
The number of photons present in solar radiation
depend upon the intensity of solar radiation
and their energy content on the wavelength
band.
Factors limiting the efficiency of solar cells
• In a solar cell lot of energy gets lost, hence efficiency
drops to about 20%.
1. Reflection losses
2. Incomplete absorption
3. Partial utilization of photon energy
4. Collection losses
5. High temperature loss
6. Series resistance losses
7. Thickness of the cell
8. Location of p-n junction
 Factors limiting the efficiency of solar cells
1. Reflection losses- Nearly 30% of the incident
radiation is lost through reflection from the
surface of the cell.
2. Incomplete absorption- Cell should be
manufactured from material that is suitable for
absorbing the energy of photons from solar
radiation.
Photons with less energy than energy gap will
generate heat in the cell, which is about 33%.
The difference between conduction and
valence band is called the band gap energy.
 Factors limiting the efficiency of solar cells

3. Partial utilization of photon energy

Many photons in solar radiation generate electron
hole pair having more energy than binding
energy, which is likely to ejected as dissipated
heat.
4. Collection losses
Only those electron hole pair carrier that reach the
junction before recommending are absorbed and
contribute to the output current while others
only generate heat.
 Factors limiting the efficiency of solar cells
5. High temperature loss
PV cells are exposed directly to the sun, as the
temperature rises, leakage across the cell
increases. This causes reduction in power
output, for silicon the output decreases 0.5%
per oC.
6. Series resistance losses
Electric current generated flows out of the top
surface by a mesh of metal contacts provided
to reduce series resistance losses.
 Factors limiting the efficiency of solar cells

7. Thickness of the cell – The cell must be thin in

the 60 to 100 μm range.
8. Location of p-n junction
For higher efficiency, the p-n junction should be
located near to the top surface.
 Solar pond
• The concept of solar pond was derived from the
natural lakes where the temperature rises
towards the bottom.
• It happens due to natural salt gradient in these
lakes where water at the bottom is denser.
• In salt concentration lakes, convection does not
occur and heat loss from hot water takes place
only by conduction.
 Solar pond

• This technique is utilised for collecting and

storing solar energy.
• An artificially designed pond filled with salty
water maintaining a definite concentration
gradient is called solar pond.
• The top layers remain at ambient temperature
while the bottom layer attains a maximum
steady state temperature of about 60oC – 85oC.
 Solar pond
• For extracting heat energy from the pond, hot
water is taken out continuously from the
bottom and returned after passing through a
heat exchanger.
• Alternately, heat is extracted by water flowing
through a submerged heat exchanger coil.
Schematic diagram of a solar pond
 Solar pond
As a result of continuous movement and mixing of salty
water at the top and bottom, the solar pond can have
three zones.
(i) Surface Convective Zone (SCZ) having a thickness of
about 10 cm – 20 cm with a low uniform concentration
at nearly the ambient air temperature.
(ii) Non-convective Zone (NCZ) occupying more than half
the depth of the pond and serves as the insulating layer
from heat losses in the upward direction.
(iii) Lower convective zone (LCZ) having thickness nearly
equal to NCZ. Characterised by constant temperature
and concentration.
 Solar pond
• The largest solar pond so far built is the
2,50,000 m2 pond at Bet Ha Arava in Israel.
• Based on Rankine cycle principle, this pond is
used to generate 5 MWe of electrical power
with an organic fluid.
 Solar cells
• Solar cells are fabricated from semiconductor
materials prepared in three physical states –
single multicrystal, many small crystals
(polycrystalline) and amorphous (non
crystalline).
 Solar cell
1. Single crystal silicon
 Silicon solar cells are commonly used for both
terrestrial and space applications.
 The basic raw material is sand (SiO2) from
which silica (Si) is extracted and purified
repeatedly to obtain the metallurgical grade
silicon.
 A single crystal ingot is a long cylindrical block
about 6 cm to 15 cm in diameter.
Solar cell, module, array and array field
• Crystalline cells basically require 300 μm to
400 μm of absorber material.
• The ingot is sliced in wafers of 300 μm
thickness.
• The wafers are starting material for a series of
process steps such as surface preparation,
dopants diffusion, anti-reflection coating,
contact grid on the surface and base contact on
the upper surface and on the lower one.
• Solar cells are fixed on a board and connected
in series and parallel combination to provide
the required voltage and power to form a PV
module.
• To protect solar cells from damage a module is
hermetically sealed between a plate of
toughened glass and layers of Ethyl Vinyl
Acetate (EVA).
• A terminal box is attached to the back of the
module where the two ends of the solar string
are soldered to the load.
• When the PV module is in use, terminals are
connected directly to the load.
• Single PV modules of capacities ranging from
10 Wp (peak Watt) to 120 Wp can provide
power for different loads.
• Several panels of modules constitute an array
which is rated according to peak wattage it
delivers at noon on a clear day.
• The size of an individual cell varies from
10 cm2 to 100 cm2 and a module contains
about 20 cells to 40 cells.
• A standard module constituting 30 cells, each ,
of 7.5 cm diameter, can provide electrical
parameters of 12 V, 1.2 A and 18 Wp power.
2. Polycrystalline Silicon Cells
 The production cost of a single crystal cell is
quite high compared to the polycrystalline
silicon cell.
 Polysilicon can be obtained in thin ribbons
draw from molten silicon bath and cooled
very slowly to obtain large size crystallites.
 The cells are made with care so that the grain
boundaries cause no major interference with
the flow of electrons and grains are larger in
size than the thickness of the cell.
• The polycrytalline silicon solar cells can be
fabricated in three designs
(i) p-n junction cells, (ii) Metal Insulator
Seminconductor (MIS) cells, (iii) Conducting
oxide insulator semiconductor cells.
Cross section of a polycrystalline silicon
cell
3. Amorphous Silicon Cells (Thin Film Cells)
 These are developed recently using thin film
cells.
 Amorphous silicon is a pure silicon with no
crystal properties.
 It is highly light absorbent and requires only
1 μm to 2 μm of material to absorb photons of
incident light.
 Thin amorphous layers can be deposited on
cheap substrates like steel, glass and plastic.
• Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) is a
suitable material for thin film solar cells,
mainly due to its high photo-conductivity, high
optical absorption of visible light with optical
band gap of 1.55 eV.
 Principle of working of Solar cell

• Working of a solar cell depend on two steps

(i) Creation of pairs of negative and positive
charges (known as electron hole pairs) in the
solar cell by absorbing solar radiation.
(ii) Separation of the negative and positive
charges by creating potential gradient in the
cell.
• For achieving the first step, the cell to be
manufactured of a material which can absorb the
photons energy of sunlight.
• The photon energy E has relation with Wavelength
(λ) as
E= HV/ λ
where
H= Planck’s constant = 6.62 x 10-34 Joules second
V= Velocity of light = 3x 108 m/s
λ = wavelength of photons in meters
• The energy in a photon must be higher than the
semiconductor band gap energy Eg in order to
get absorbed in the cell material and create an
electron hole pair to generate potential gradient
in the cell.
• A variety of compound semiconductors can be
used to manufacture thin film solar cells.
• Cadmium Sulphide (CdS), Cadmium Telluride
(CdTe), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs).
 Solar cell- Manufacturing Process
• A variety of compound semiconductors can be
used to manufacture thin film solar cells.
• Cadmium Sulphide (CdS), Cadmium Telluride
(CdTe), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs).
(a) Gallium Arsenide cell:
Ordinary GaAs cells have thin films of n type
and p type grown on a designed substrate.
A GaAs has a direct band gap of 1.43 V which
makes it suitable for PV thin film material.
• Single cell open circuit voltage is 0.8 V to 0.9 V.
• The efficiency is more than 20% which can be
increased using more expensive GaAs subtracts.
• Due to high cost of production this cell is used
for space crafts.
(b) Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)
 Commercially used in Japan
 Thin film heterogeneous junction with n-type
CdS and p-type CdTe is fabricated.
Magnified structure of CdTe cell
• CdTe has a direct band gap of 1.44 eV which is
favourable to make a thin film cell.
Cell temperature
 The temperature of a PV cell is obtained by an energy
balance.
 The solar energy absorbed by a cell/module is
converted partially into electrical energy and
remaining into thermal energy. The electrical energy
is used in external circuits while thermal energy is
dissipated.
 Solar Photovoltaic System (SPS)
• A PV module produces dc power.
• To operate electrical appliances used in
households, inverters are used to convert dc
power into 220 V, 50 Hz, ac power.
• Components other than PV module are
collectively known as Balance of System (BOS)
which includes storage batteries, an electronic
charge controller and an inverter.
Block diagram of SPS
 Solar Photovoltaic System (SPS)
• Storage batteries with charge regulators are provided
for back up power supply during periods of cloudy day
and during nights.
• Batteries are charged during the day and supply power
to the loads.
• The capacity of a battery is expressed in ampere-hours
(Ah) and each cell of the lead acid type battery is of 2
volts.
• Batteries are installed with a microprocessor based
charge regulator to monitor the voltage and
temperature and to regulate the input and the output
currents to obviate overcharging and excessive
discharge, respectively.
Solar Photovoltaic System (SPS)

• An inverter is provided for converting dc

power from battery or PV array to ac power.
• It needs to have an automatic switch off in
case the output voltage from the array is too
low or too high.
 Performance characteristics
• The electrical characteristics of a solar cell are
expressed by the current voltage curves plotted under
a given illumination temperature conditions.
• The significant points of the curve are short circuit
current Isc and open circuit voltage Voc.
• The maximum useful power of the cell is represented
by the rectangle with the largest area.
• When the cell yields maximum power, the current
and voltage are represented by the symbols Im and Vm
respectively.
Current (I)-Voltage (V) Characteristics of a
solar cell
Cell quality is maximum when the value of fill
factor approaches unity where the fill factor
(FF) is given by

The maximum efficiency of a solar cell is

defined as the ratio of maximum electric
power output to the incident solar radiation
Is- Incident solar flux
Ac – Cell’s area
 Solar thermal electric power plant
• Solar thermal power generation involves the
collection of solar heat which is utilised to
increase the temperature of a fluid in a turbine
operating on a cycle such as Rankine or
Brayton.
• Hot fluid is allowed to pass through a heat
exchanger to evaporate a working fluid that
operates a turbine coupled with a generator.
 Solar thermal electric power plant

• Solar thermal power plants can be classified as

low, medium and high temperature cycles.
• Low temperature cycle operate at about 100oC,
medium temperature cycles up to 400oC while
high temperature cycle work above 500oC.
 Solar thermal electric power plant
1. Low temperature Solar Power plant
 It uses flat plate collector arrays.
 Hot water (above 90oC) is collected in an air
insulated tank.
 It flows through a heat exchanger, through
which the working fluid of energy conversion
cycle is also circulated.
 The working fluid is either methyl chloride or
butane having a low boiling temperature upto
90oC.
Low temperature solar power plant
 Low temperature solar power plant

• Vapours so formed operate a regular Rankine

cycle by flowing through a turbine, a
condenser and a liquid pump.
• As the temperature difference between the
turbine outlet and the condensed liquid flowing
out is small, about 50oC, the overall efficiency
of the generating system is about 2%.
• Finally, the organic fluid is pumped back to the
evaporator for repeating the whole cycle.
Technical parameters of a 80 MW plant
2. Medium Temperature Solar Power plant
• It uses line focusing parabolic collector for
heating a synthetic oil flowing in the absorber
tube.
• A suitable sun tracking arrangement is made to
ensure that maximum quantity of solar radiation
is focused on the absorber pipeline.
• Preheater and superheater are used to increase
the inlet steam temperature for the High
pressure turbine.
Medium temperature solar power plant
• Reheaters are used to raise the steam
temperature for Low pressure turbine.
• The system generates superheated high
pressure steam to operate a Rankine cycle with
maximum efficiency.
3. High temperature Solar Thermal Power
Generator
• For efficient conversion of solar heat into
electrical energy, the working fluid needs to be
delivered into turbine at a high temperature.
• Two possible systems- the paraboloidal dish
and central receiver to achieve high
temperature.
 Central receiver power plants
• Solar radiations are reflected from arrays of
mirrors (heliostat) installed in circular arcs
around the central tower.
• Reflected radiations concentrate on to the
receiver.
• The arrays are provided with a tracking control
system that focuses beam radiation towards the
receiver.
• Water is converted into steam in the receiver
itself that operates a turbine coupled with a
generator.
Central receiver power plant
 Solar pumping system
• Water pumps can be driven directly by solar
heated water or fluid which operates either a
heat engine or a turbine.
• For low heads, the pump driven by vapour of a
low boiling point liquid heated by a flat plate
collector is used.
• For larger heads, a parabolic trough
concentrator or a parabolic bowl concentrator is
installed to drive a steam turbine.
 Solar pumping system
• Solar flat plate collector arrays are installed to
heat water or an organic fluid.
• Hot fluid then flows to a mixing tank/storage
tank and then to a heat exchanger to convert the
working fluid of the heat engine from liquid to
vapour.
• R-115 can be used as working fluid.
• Hot transport fluid or water is fed again into the
collector circuit by a circulating pump.
Solar pumping system
• With heat engine cycle, discharged vapour
from the turbine flows into the condenser
where the vapour gets condensed.
• Working liquid is fed into the heat exchanger
by a feed pump to complete the cycle.
• Pumped water is used as coolant in the turbine
condenser.
• As higher temperature in a heat exchanger or
boiler, provides a high engine efficiency.
• An optimum range of operating temperature is
used for a solar pumping system to attain
maximum efficiency.
 Solar cooker
• Cooking is a common application of solar
energy in India.
Types of solar cookers for different requirements
are
1. Box solar cooker
2. Dish solar cooker
3. Community solar cooker for indoor cooking
1. Box solar cooker
 It consists of an outer box made of either fibre
glass or aluminium sheet, a blackened
aluminium tray, a double glass lid, a reflector,
insulation and cooking pot.
 A blackened aluminium tray is fixed inside the
box, and sides are covered with an insulating
material to prevent heat loss.
 A reflecting mirror provided on the box cover
increases the solar energy input.
• Metallic cooking pots are painted in black on
the outer side.
• Food to be cooked is placed in cooking pots
and the cooker is kept facing the sun to cook
the food.
• An electric heater may also be installed to
serve as a back up during non-sunshine hours.
Box solar cooker
2. Dish solar cooker
 A dish solar cooker uses a parabolic dish to
concentrate the incident solar radiation.
 A typical dish solar cooker has an aperture of
diameter 1.4 m with focal length of 0.8 m.
 The reflecting material is an anodized aluminium
sheet having reflectivity of over 80%.
 The cooker needs to track the sun to deliver power of
about 0.6 kW.
 The temperature at the bottom of the vessel may
reach up to 400oC which is sufficient for roasting,
frying and boiling.
Dish solar cooker
3. Community solar cooker for indoor cooking
 Like dish solar cooker, the community solar cooker is a
parabolic reflector cooker.
 It has large reflector ranging from 7 m2 to 12 m2 of
aperture area.
 The reflector is placed outside the kitchen so as to
reflect solar rays into the kitchen.
 A secondary reflector further concentrates the rays on
to the bottom of the cooking pot painted black.
 Temperature can reach up to 400oC and food can be
cooked quickly for 50 persons.
Community solar cooker
 Solar still
• Safe drinking water is scarce in arid, semiarid
and coastal areas.
• At such places, saline water is available
underground or in the ocean. This water can be
distilled utilising the abundant solar insolation
available in that area.
• A device which produces potable water by
utilizing solar heat energy is called solar water
still.
Cross section of a solar still
 Solar still
• A solar still consists of a basin with black bottom
having trays for saline water with shallow depth.
• A transparent air tight glass or a plastic slanting cover
encloses completely the space above the basin.
• Incident solar radiation passes through the transparent
cover and is absorbed by the black surface of the still.
• Brackish water is then heated and water vapours
condense over the cool interior surface of the
transparent cover.
• The condensate flows down the glass and gets
collected in troughs installed as outer frame of the solar
still.
 Solar still
• Distilled water then transferred into a storage tank.
• This system is capable of purifying sea water with
salinity of about 30,000 mg/litre.
• The production rate is about 3 litres/m2/day in a well
designed still on a good sunny day.
• The performance of solar still is expressed as the
quantity of water produced by each unit of basin area
per day.
• The production rate depends on the intensity of solar
radiation, the ambient air temperature, wind speed
and the sky condition.
 Solar still
• Design parameters that affect the production of
drinking water include orientation of still,
inclination of glass cover and insulation of the
base.
Large solar stills in India
 Solar drier
• Solar energy is effectively utilised for controlled
drying of agricultural products to avoid food
losses between harvesting and consumption.
• High moisture crops are prone to fungus
infection, attack by insects and pests.
• Solar dryers remove moisture with no ingress of
dust, and the product can be preserved for a
longer period of time.
 Solar drier
• Openings are provided at the bottom and top of
the enclosure for natural circulation.
• The material to be dried, is spread on perforated
trays.
• Solar radiation enters the enclosure, is absorbed
by the material and internal surfaces of the
enclosed.
• Consequently, moisture from the product
evaporates, the air inside is heated and natural air
circulation starts.
Cross section of a cabinet Solar drier
 Solar drier

• The temperature inside the cabinet ranges from

50oC to 75oC and the drying time for products
like dates, grapes, apricots, cashew nuts and
chillies varies from 2 to 4 days.
• For large scale drying like seasoning of timber,
corn drying, tea processing, tobacco curing,
fish and fruit drying solar kilns are used.
 Solar Kilns
• Heating and drying on a large scale using solar
energy.
• It operates on the principle that a transparent
glass sheet or polythene sheathing allows solar
radiation to pass through into the kiln and
blocks long wavelength radiation emitted by
products like timber back into the atmosphere.
Side view of timber solar kiln
 Solar Kilns
Factors affecting the drying process are:
• Relative humidity and temperature of air
• Air flow rate
• Initial moisture content of the product
• Final desired moisture content of the product
• Solar kiln used for seasoning of timber consists of
three major parts: (i) a wood seasoning chamber, (ii) a
flat plate collector, and (iii) a chimney seasoning
chamber which is placed on a raised masonry
platform.
 Solar Kilns
• The chimney creates a natural draught in the
seasoning chamber, causing hot air circulation
around stacked wood.
• Circulating air carries heat from the solar
absorbing plate to timber logs and evaporates
moisture.
• Drying is basically a heat and mass transfer
process, the moisture from surface and inside
the product is vaporized and removed by
circulating hot air.
 Solar air-conditioning and refrigeration

• One of the thermal applications of solar energy

is for cooling buildings (air-conditioning) or for
refrigeration needed for preserving food.
• Three modes of solar energy cooling
(i) Evaporative cooling
(ii) Absorption cooling
(iii) Passive desiccant cooling
1. Evaporative cooling
 It is a passive cooking technique.
 It works on the principle that when warm air
is used to evaporate water, the air itself
becomes cool and then t cools the living
space of the building.
 Common techniques used for cooling are
vapour absorption and vapour compression.
Absorption cooling system
 Water is heated in a flat plate collector array
and is passed through a heat exchanger called
the generator.
 Suitable chemical solutions for absorption
cooling are (i) NH3- H2O where NH3 is used as
the working fluid and (ii) LiBr- H2O soultion
where H2O operates as the working fluid.
Solar absorption cooling system
 Absorption cooling system

• The whole system consists of following four

units: generator, condenser, evaporator and
absorber.
• The generator contains a solution mixture of
absorbent and refrigerant, and this mixture is
heated with solar energy.
• Refrigerant vapour is boiled off at a high
temperature and flows into condenser, where it
gets condensed rejecting heat and becomes
liquid at high pressure.
 Absorption cooling system

• Refrigerant then passes through the expansion

valve and evaporates in the evaporator.
• The refrigerant vapour is then absorbed into a
solution mixture taken from the generator in
which the refrigerant concentration is quite
low.
• A heat exchanger is provided to transfer heat
between solutions flowing between the
absorber and generator.
• Passive Desiccant Cooling
• The passive desiccant cooling method is
effective in a warm and humid climate.
• Natural cooling of human body through
sweating does not occur in highly humid
conditions.
• The removal of moisture from the room air
using either the absorbent, followed by
evaporative cooling of air, is a workable air
conditioning method for use in a hot and
humid climate.
Solar dehumidification and evaporative
cooling
• Desiccant materials have a high affinity for
water vapour which are used to dehumidify
moisture.
• In solar airconditioning, silica gel, molecular
sieve and triethylene glycol are used as
desiccant materials.
• In desiccant cooling, the hot and humid air
from rooms is first dehumidified with a solid
or liquid desiccant, then cooled by exchange of
sensible heat and finally it is evaporately
cooled.
• The triethylene glycol (TEG) is atomised in order
to cause rapid absorption of water vapour in the
absorption chamber.
• The TEG is then pumped through a heat
exchanger to a stripping chamber (regenerator),
sprayed counter-currently to solar heated air from
solar collectors.
• Hot air takes a part of moisture from glycol
solution and is exhausted to the atmosphere.
• Hot concentrated glycol is pumped back
through a heat exchanger to the absorption
chamber (dehumidifier).
• Dehydrated air from the absorption chamber
passes through the evaporative cooler for
further supply into the air conditioned room.
 Solar furnace
• Solar furnace is an optical equipment which
concentrates solar radiation on a small area
for creating a high temperature.
• To make a concentration radiation in a small
area from a large area receiving solar
radiation, there are two ways:
• (i) refraction from a big single lens or multiple
lenses
• (ii) paraboloidal reflector either single or
heliostat type.
Major components of a solar furnace
• Concentrator- Solar furnaces use either a
paraboloidal reflector concentrator or a
spherical reflector concentrator.
• The paraboloidal reflector is considered
superior due to unacceptable spherical
aberration in a spherical reflector.
• An electronically polished aluminium sheet,
finished with anodization, provides a better
reflecting surface.
Heliostat
Heliostats in a solar furnace serve to orient solar
radiation parallel to the optical axis of the
concentrator.
The shape and size of a heliostat is guided by the
aperture of the concentrator as the heliostat
has to reflect solar radiation over the full
aperture of the concentrator, considering the
latitude of location, the solar declination and
the angular width of diverted rays from the
heliostat.
Solar furnaces- (a) Multiple lens type, (b)
Heliostat type (optical axis horizontal), (c)
Heliostat type (optical axis vertical)
• Sun tracking
 For optimum functioning of a solar furnace,
heliostats need to follow the sun from morning
till evening.
 Using a servo system, small deviation of solar
radiation incident on the concentrator is
monitored by photo cells, which in turn
activate the azimuth and elevation of the
operating system and adjust the solar radiation
to make it parallel to the optical axis of the
concentrator.
 1000 kW solar furnace with multiple heliostat

• The first 1000 kW solar furnace started

operation in 1973, France.
• It consisted of 63 heliostats installed at 8
elevations which reflected sun rays to the
concentrator parallel to its optical axis.
• The paraboloidal concentrator was 40 m high
with a focal length of 18 m, effective mirror area
1920 m2, aperture ratio nearly 2.8, with input
solar energy of 1800 kW.
1000 kW solar furnace with heliostat
Thank you