CHAPTER 8

SOLAR ENERGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS

INTRODUCTION

MAN AND ENERGY

Man has needed and used energy at an increasing rate for his substance and well being ever
since he came on the earth a few million years ago. Primitive man required energy in the form
of food. He derived this by eating plants or animals, which he hunted. Subsequently he
discovered fire and his energy needs increased as he started to make use of wood & other
biomass to supply the energy needs for cooking as well as for keeping himself warm. With
the passage of time, man started to cultivate land for agriculture. He added a new dimension to
the use of energy by training the domestic animals to work for him. With further demand for
energy, man began to use wind for sailing ships , for driving windmills and the force of falling
water to turn water wheels. Till this time it would not be wrong to say that the sun was supplying
all the energy needs of man either directly or indirectly and that man was using only renewable
sources of energy.

THE SOLAR OPTION

Solar energy is a very large, inexhaustible source of energy. The power from the sun
intercepted by the earth is approximately 1.8  1011 MW, which is many thousands of times
larger than the present consumption rate on the earth of all commercial energy sources. Thus,
in principle, solar energy could supply all the present and future energy needs of the world on a
continuing basis. This makes it one of the most promising of the unconventional energy
sources.

In addition to its size, solar energy has two other factors in its favour. Firstly, unlike fossil fuels
and nuclear power, it is an environmentally clean source of energy. Secondly, it is free and
available in adequate quantities in almost all parts of the world where people live.

However, there are many problems associated with its use. The main problem is that it is dilute
source of energy. Even in the hottest regions on earth, the solar radiation flux available rarely
exceeds 1 kW/m2 and the total radiation over a day is at best about 7 kWh/m 2. These are low
values from the point of view of technological utilization. Consequently, large collecting areas
are required in many applications and these results in excessive costs.

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THERMAL APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR ENERGY
We will now survey a number of thermal applications. These are,
1. Water heating
2. Space heating
3. Power generation
4. Space cooling and refrigeration
5. Distillation
6. Drying, and
7. Cooking
It may be noted that applications 1,2,5,6 and 7 use the heat energy collected from solar
radiation directly, while applications 3 and 4 use the collected heat in thermodynamic cycles to
obtain work in one case and cooling in the other.

SOLAR ENERGY CALCULATIONS AND SOLAR ANGLES SOLAR

RADIATION GEOMETRY
Solar radiation received at the earth’s surface without change of direction, i.e. in line with the
sun, is called beam or direct radiation. The radiation received at the earth’s surface from all
parts of the sky’s hemisphere (after being subjected to scattering in the atmosphere is called
diffuse radiation. The sum of the beam and diffuse radiation is referred to as total or global
radiation.

In order to find the beam energy falling on a surface having any orientation, it is necessary to
convert the value of the beam flux coming from the direction of the sun to an equivalent value
corresponding to the normal direction to the surface. Relationships for making this conversion
will now be given.

If  is the angle between an incident beam of flux I bn and the normal to a plane surface, then the
equivalent flux falling normal to the surface is given by /bn cos . The angle  can be related by
a general equation to  the latitude,  the declination,  the surface azimuth angle,  the hour
angle, and  the slope. Each of these will first be defined.

The latitude  of, a location is the angle made by the radial line joining the location to the center
of the earth with projection of the line on the equatorial plane. By convention, the latitude is
measured as positive for the northern hemisphere. It can vary from --900 to + 900.

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The declination  is the angle made by the line joining the centers of the sun and the earth with
its projection on the equatorial plane. It makes an angle of approximately 66.5 with the plane
of its rotation around the sun. The declination angle varies from a maximum value of +23.45 
on June 21 to a minimum value of –23.45 on December 21. It is zero in the two-equinox day of
March 21 and September 22. Cooper has given the following simple relation for calculating the
declination]
(In degrees) = 23.45 sin {(360/365)(284 + n)}
Where n is the day of the year.
The surface azimuth angle  is the angle made in the horizontal plane between the line due
south and the projection of the normal to the surface on the horizontal plane. It can vary from
--180 to +180.

We adopt the convention that the angle is positive if the normal is east of south and negative if
west of south.

The hour angle  is an angular measure of time and is equivalent to 15 0 per hour. It also varies
from -1800 to +1800. We adopt the convention of measuring it from moon based on local
apparent time (LAT), being positive in the morning and negative in the afternoon.

The slope  is the angle made by the plane surface with the horizontal. It can vary from 0 to
1800 and -1800 to +1800.
It can be shown that
cos =sin (sin  cos  + cos  cos  cos  sin ) + Cos (cos  cos  cos  - sin  cos  sin )
+ Cos  sin  sin  sin  -------- Eq.1

Simpler versions of Eq. 1 are normally required. Some of these are as follows
Vertical surface  =90,
Cos  = sin  cos  cos  cos  - cos  sin cos  + Cos  sin  sin 
Horizontal surface = 0,
Cos  = sin  sin  + cos  cos cos 

The angle  in this case is the zenith angle z (is the angle made by the sun’s rays with the
normal to a horizontal surface). The complement of the zenith angle is also used quite often in
calculations. It is called solar altitude angle and will be denoted by the symbol a. some of the
above angles are shown in Fig.1.
Surface facing due south  = 00
Cos  = sin (sin  cos  + cos  cos sin ) + cos (cos cos  cos  - sin  sin )

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= Sin  sin (-) + cos  cos . cos ( - ).------ Eq.2

Vertical Surface facing due South  = 900 ,  = 00

Cos  = sin  cos  cos -- cos  sin 
The angle of incidence  can also be expressed in terms of z

(Diagram Illustrating the angle of Incidence  , the Zenith Angle z, the Solar Altitude Angle 
the Slope  and the Surface Azimuth Angle )
The Zenith angle,  the slope,  the surface azimuth angle and s, the solar azimuth angle.
Braun and Mitchell have shown that
Cos = Cos z cos  + sinz sin  cos (s - ) ------ Eq.3
The solar azimuth angle s is the angle made in the horizontal plane between the line due south
and the projection of the line of sight of the sun on the horizontal plane. Thus it gives the
direction of the shadow cast in the horizontal plane by a vertical rod. By convention the solar
azimuth angle is taken to be positive if the projection of the line of sight is east of south and
negative if west of south.

Solar Insolation Tables

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 The chart shows the solar insolation (solar radiation) in kilowatt-hours per square meter
per day in many US locations. For simplicity, we will call this figure “Sun Hours / Day”

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Solar Collection Systems
Devices for thermal collection and storage
In any thermal collection device, the principle usually followed is to expose a dark
surface to solar radiation so that the radiation is absorbed. A part of the absorbed radiation is
then transferred to a fluid like air or water.
When no optical concentration is done, the device in which the collection is achieved is called a
flat-plate collector.
A schematic diagram of a liquid flat-plate collector is shown in Fig. As stated earlier, it consists
of an absorber plate on which the solar radiation falls after coming through one or more
transparent covers (usually made of glass). The absorbed radiation is partly transferred to a
liquid flowing through tubes, which are fixed to the absorber plate or are integral with it. This
energy transfer is the useful gain. The remaining part of the radiation absorbed in the absorber
plate is lost by convection and re-radiation to the surroundings from the top surface, and by
conduction through the back and the edges. The transparent covers help in reducing the losses
by convection and re-radiation, while thermal insulation on the back and the edges helps in
reducing the conduction heat loss. The liquid most commonly used is water. A liquid flat-plate
collector is usually held tilted in a fixed position on a supporting structure, facing south if located
in the northern hemisphere.

Liquid Flat-plate Collector

A schematic cross-section of a conventional flat-plate collector for heating air (commonly

referred to as a so/or air heater) is shown in Fig. The construction of such a collector is

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essentially similar to that of a liquid flat-plate collector except for the passages through which
the air flows. These passages have to be made larger in order to keep the pressure drop across
the collector within manageable limits. In the diagram shown, the air passage is simply a
parallel plate duct..

When
temperatures higher than 100°C are required, it becomes necessary to concentrate the
radiation. This is achieved using focusing or concentrating collectors. A schematic diagram of a
typical concentrating collector is shown in-fig.

The collector consists of a concentrator and a receiver. The concentrator shown is a

mirror reflector having the shape of a cylindrical parabola. It focuses the sunlight onto its axis,
where it is absorbed on the surface of the absorber tube and transferred to the fluid flowing
through it. A concentric glass cover around the absorber tube helps in reducing the convective
and radioactive losses to the surroundings. In order that the sun's rays should always be
focused onto the absorber tube, the concentrator has to be rotated. This movement is called
tracking. In the case of cylindrical parabolic concentrators, rotation about a single axis is
generally required. Fluid temperatures up to 400°C can be achieved in cylindrical parabolic'
focusing collector systems. The generation of still higher working temperatures is possible by
using paraboloid reflectors (Fig.), which have a point focus. These require two-axis tracking so
that the sun is in line with the focus and the vertex of the paraboloid

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PARABOLOID CONCENTRATING COLLECTOR

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