NON

CONVENTIONAL
ENERGY
MODULE II

SOLAR ENERGY
 CONTENT
S
1. Solar Geometry
2. Local Solar Time
3. Collectors: Flat Plate & Concentrating Type
4. Heat Loss In Flat Plate Collector
5. Collector Efficiency Calculation
6. Selective Paint & Surfaces for Flat Plate Collectors
Introduction to SOLAR GEOMETRY
• The Earth’s daily rotation about the axis through its two
celestial poles (North and South) is perpendicular to the
equator, but it is not perpendicular to the plane of the
Earth’s orbit. In fact, the measure of tilt or obliquity of
the Earth’s axis to a line perpendicular to the plane of
its orbit is currently about 23.5°.
• Wecall the plane parallel to the Earth’s celestial equator
and through the centre of the sun the plane of the Sun.
• The
Earth passes alternately above and below this plane
making one complete elliptic cycle every year.
 VERNAL & AUTUMNAL
EQUINOX
• There are two occasions throughout the year when the centre of
the Earth lies in the plane of the Sun.
• Since the Earth’s North – South axis of rotation is perpendicular
to this plane, it follows that on these two days every location on
the Earth receives 12 hours of sunshine. These two events are
known as the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.
• In general, the Sun declination angle, δ, is defined to be that
angle made between a ray of the Sun, when extended to the
centre of the earth, O,   and the equatorial plane. We take   δ   to
be positively oriented whenever the Sun’s rays reach   O   by
passing through the Northern hemisphere.
 SUMMER SOLSTICE
• Onthe occasion of the summer solstice, the Sun shines
down most directly on the Tropic of Cancer in the
northern hemisphere, making an angle   δ = +23.5°
with the equatorial plane.
• On the day of the summer solstice, the sun is above the
horizon for the longest period of time in the northern
hemisphere. Hence, it is the longest day for daylight
there.   Conversely, the Sun remains below the horizon
at all points within the Antarctic Circle on this day.
 AT SUMMER SOLSTIICE

• Thus,the Sun’s rays

strike the

ground in Chicago
most directly at a
vertical angle of about
72° on the day of the
summer solstice.
 WINTER SOLSTICE
• Onthe day of the winter solstice, the smallest
portion of the northern hemisphere is exposed to
the Sun and the Sun is above the horizon for the
shortest period of time there. In fact, the Sun
remains below the horizon everywhere within the
Arctic Circle on this day. The Sun shines down most
directly on the tropic of Capricorn in the southern
hemisphere on the occasion of the winter solstice.
 SOLAR NOON
• Solar Noon is defined to be that time of day at which the
Sun’s rays are directed perpendicular to a given line of
longitude. Thus, solar noon occurs at the same instant
for all locations along any common line of longitude.
• Solar Noon will occur one hour earlier for every 15
degrees of longitude to the east of a given line and one
hour later for every 15 degrees west. (This is because it
takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate 360°.)
 AT WINTER
•
SOLSTICE
On the day of the winter solstice, the Sun’s rays strike the
ground at an angle of about 25° at solar noon in Chicago, IL.
LATITUDE
ANGLE
 It is the angular distance north or south of equator
measured from centre of earth,
It varies from 0deg at equator to 90 deg at poles.
 DECLINATION ANGLE (δ)

•It is the angle between line

extending from the centre of
sun to centre of earth , and
the projection of this line
upon earth's equatorial
plane.

•Or the angular distance of

the sun’s rays north or south
of the equator.
 YEARLY VARIATION IN
The DECLANATION
Sun declination angle, δ, has the
range: – 23.5° < δ < + 23.5° during its
yearly cycle . Accurate knowledge of the
declination angle is important in navigation
and astronomy. For most solar design
purposes, however, an approximation
accurate to within about 1 degree is
adequate. One such approximation for the
declination angle is:
sin δ =0.39795⋅cos [ 0.98563⋅( N –
173 ) ]

Where, the argument of the cosine here is in degrees

and N denotes the number of days since January 1.
ANGLE OF SOLAR ELEVATION FOR TIMES OF DAY
OTHER THAN LOCAL NOON

It can be shown that the angle of solar elevation α, may

be expressed in terms of Sun’s declination angle δ, on a
given date, the current hour angle (ω) and observer’s
latitude (ϕ) via the equation:

α=sin-1(sinδ.sinϕ+cosϕ.cosδ.cosω)
 AZIMUTH
EQUATION
One equation which relates sun’s azimuth angle ‘a’ at a given location.
Its angle of elevation α,the current hour angle ω at the observer’s
latitude φ on the date is:
cos(a).cos(A)=sin(δ).cos(ϕ)-cos(δ).cos(ω).sin(ϕ)
Solving for azimuth A, we find

A’’ = cos-1[{sin(δ)cos(ϕ)-cos(δ). cos(ω).sin(ϕ)}/cos(a)]

Where, ω<=0, A=A’’
Otherwise ω >0, A=360°-A’’
The knowledge of the angle of solar elevation (a) and the azimuth (a),
allow us to calculate the length and the occasion of simple shadow.
The vertical angle at which radiation approaches is referred to as the
altitude. This varies throughout the day as does the direction from
These it
which may be plotted on a set of Cartesian Axes for different days
arrives
of the year.
 Hour Angle
• The hour angle, ω, is the angular distance between
the meridian of the observer and the meridian whose
plane contains the sun. Thus, the hour angle is zero at
local noon (when the sun reaches its highest point in
the sky). At this time the sun is said to be ‘due south’
(or ‘due north’, in the Southern Hemisphere) since
the meridian plane of the observer contains the sun.
The hour angle increases by 15 degrees every hour.
 LOCAL SOLAR TIME
•LOCAL SOLAR TIME –or( local apparent time ) the time used for
calculating the hour angler in all the equations in above slides ,is the
local solar time .

•It does not coincide with the local clock time , it can be obtained from
the standard time observed on a clock by applying two corrections.

•First correction arises because of the difference in longitude between a

location and the meridian on which the standard time is based.

•The correction has a magnitude of 4mins for every degree difference in

longitude.

•Second correction called the equation of time correction , it is due to

the fact that earth's orbit and rate of rotation are subject to small
perturbations.

•The correction is based on experimental observations as shown in

figure.
Local solar time =standard time +/- 4(standard time longitude –longitude of location)+
Time Correction
(equation Factor (TC)
of time correction)
The net Time Correction Factor (in minutes) accounts for the variation of the Local
Solar Time (LST) within a given time zone due to the longitude variations within the
time zone and also incorporates the EoT above.

The factor of 4 minutes comes from the fact that the Earth rotates 1° every 4
minutes.
Local Solar Time (LST)
The Local Solar Time (LST) can be found by using the previous two corrections to
adjust the local time (LT).
     
Hour Angle (HRA)
The Hour Angle converts the local solar time (LST) into the number of degrees which
the sun moves across the sky. By definition, the Hour Angle is 0° at solar noon. Since
the Earth rotates 15° per hour, each hour away from solar noon corresponds to an
angular motion of the sun in the sky of 15°. In the morning the hour angle is
negative, in the afternoon the hour angle is positive.
 Solar collectors
The energy of the solar radiation is in
this case converted to heat with the use
of solar panel. Using the sun energy to
heat water is not a new idea. More than
one hundred years ago black painted
water tanks were used as simple solar
water heaters in a number of countries.
 Active and Passive systems

Solar water heating systems can be either

active or passive, but the most common are
active systems. Active systems rely on
pumps to move the liquid between the
collector and the storage tank, while passive
systems rely on gravity and the tendency for
water to naturally circulate as it is heated.
Fig : Typical active solar energy collection systems
 Classification of solar collectors

1. Flat-plate collectors: The absorbing is

approximately as large as the overall
collector area that intercepts the sun rays .
2. Concentrating collectors: Large areas
of mirrors or lenses focus the sun light
onto a smaller absorber .
Fig : Cross section of typical liquid flat plate collector
Fig : Concentrating collectors
 Solar concentrators

Solar concentrator is a device that allows the collection

of sunlight from large area and focusing it on a smaller
receiver.
The cost per unit area of a solar concentrator is
therefore much cheaper than the cost per unit area of a
PV material. By introducing this concentrator, not only
the same amount of energy could be collected from the
sun, the total cost of the effect of concentrator on the
PV cellsolar cell could also be reduced .
Fig : Effect of concentrator on the PV cell
 Benefits of using the solar
concentrators
•Reduce the dependency on silicon cell and
increase the intensity of solar.
•Irradiance, hence increase the cell
efficiency.
•Reduce the total cost of the whole system.
Drawbacks of solar collectors

•Degrade the PV cell lifespan.

•Need to cool down the PV to
ensure the performance of the PV
is optimum.
•Mechanical tracking system may
required.
Design of solar concentrator

parabolic concentrator hyperboloid concentrator

Fresnel Concentrator
 Compound Parabolic concentrator :(a) geometry of a CPC,
and (b) trajectories of edge rays inside the CPC

flat high concentrator devices Quantum Dot Concentration (QDC)

 Solar heating
Water Heating with solar energy

A surface faces the sun’s rays and

absorbs them, converting the radiation
into warmth. The temperature of this
surface, the so-called absorber,
therefore rises. Every object placed in
the sun exhibits this effect to a greater
or lesser degree.
A black surface shows the greatest rise
in temperature, it absorbs about 90% of
the sun’s incident radiation and reflects
very little.
 Storage
The second important component in a solar energy
water warming installation is the storage. The
purpose of this is to bridge the intervals between
the collector’s supply and the user’s demand for
warm water. If the warmed water is held in an
insulated tank, then in principle it is made
available in the evening and the following morning.
In the following applications we shall encounter
heat-storage in various forms.
 APPLICATION
1. Water distillation :
S
The solar distiller purifies water by first evaporating and then
condensing it. Distilled water contains no salts, minerals or organic
impurities. It is not, however, aseptic, as is sterilized water; of which
more lately.
Distilled water can be used for drinking water, applications in hospitals,
battery water, and so on. Such an installation is suited to areas where
water is ample but polluted, salty or brackish; naturally, there must be
abundant sun. Finally, glass or UV-resistant transport foil – the most
important materials in the constructions – must be available and
affordable. A reasonably functional solar distiller is able to produce an
average of four liters of distilled water per day per square meter of
working surface.
2. Solar boiler :
A solar boiler with a collector surface of 3 to 4 m 2and a
storage capacity of 200 liters can provide 300 to 400
liters per day of water between 400c and 600c in
temperature. The yield is naturally dependent on the
amount of sun and on a judicious of the installation.

Fig: solar boiler

3. The Parabolic Solar Cooker :
The parabolic or concentrating solar cooker reflects the
sun’s rays in such a way that these are converged onto a
small area, in this area a dark metal cooking pot is fixed.
Because of the small size of the area of convergence there
is room for only one pot. It can be warmed up between
150 and 3500c, enough to fry.

Solar Cooker
 Heat Losses in FPC
• Heat losses from any solar water heating system take the three modes
of  the heat transfer: radiation, convection and conduction. The
conduction heat losses occur from sides and the back of the collector
plate. The convection heat losses take place from the absorber plate to
the glazing cover and can be reduced by evacuating the space
between the absorber plate and the glazing cover and by optimizing
the gap between them. The radiation losses occur from the absorber
plate due to the plate temperature.  The figure below shows the heat
loss pattern in a typical flat-plate collector.
• The heat losses from the transparent cover to the ambient air are due
to radiative and convective exchanges which are affected by the wind
velocity, ground, surrounding condition and by long wave radiation
from the sky.
Fig: Energy balance of a Flat-plate
collector 
Collector overall -heat loss coefficient, Ul:

The collector overall heat loss coefficient is the sum of the top,
edge and bottom loss coefficients:

For a well-designed collector having a very small collector

perimeter to area ratio, the edge losses are almost negligible.
The bottom loss coefficient, UB derives from the thermal
conductivity, KS and the thickness, Ls of the bottom insulator as:
Where,
UL = Overall Losses coefficient
UB = Bottom losses coefficient
UE = End losses coefficient
UT = Top losses coefficient
Following the basic procedure of Hottel and Woertz,
Klein developed an empirical equation for the top
loss coefficient, UT as:

Where, f = (1 + 0.089hw-0.1166hw εp) (1 + 0.07866N)

Cair = 520 (1-0.00005β2),
β is the collector tilt and σ is the Stephan Boltzmann
constant.
The convective heat-transfer coefficient hw, for air
flowing over the outside surface of the glass cover
depends primarily on the wind velocity, v and can be
determined from (Duffie and Beckman, 1974):

A more recent analysis carried out gives the overall loss

coefficient in terms of gap spacing, L and reflects the
effect of the collect tilt angle in a much simpler way.
 A more recent analysis carried out by (Malhotra et
al., 1981) gives the overall loss coefficient in terms of
gap spacing, L and reflects the effect of the collect
tilt angle in a much simpler way by which we can
simplify our calculations for better result.

Where,
Result: the effect of the number of glazing cover, N, wind
velocity, V, tilt angle, β, air gap spacing between collector
plate and the glazing cover, emissivity of the absorber
plate and the ambient temperature, respectively can be
chiefly counted as the factors of the flat plate collector
which causes losses in it.
 TRANSMITTANCE-
ABSORPTANCE PRODUCT
For solar collector analysis ,it is necessary to value the
transmittance absorptance product(τα ) of the radiation
passing through the cover system and striking the plate,
some is reflected back to the cover system. However, all this
radiation is not lost since some is reflected back to the plate.
The transmissivity-absorptivity product is defined as the
ratop of the radiation absorbed in the absorber plate to the
radiation incident on the cover system and is denoted by the
symbol (τα ),an appropriate subscript b or d to indicate the
type of radiation (i.e., either beam or diffused).
Here, τ =transmittance of the cover system
(τα) is absorbed by absorber plate and (1- α) τ is
reflected back to the cover systems.
The reflection from the absorber is probably more
diffuse than specular radiation so that fraction (1-)
that strikes the cover plate is diffused radiation and
(1- α) τ is reflected back to the absorber plate. the
quantity pd refers to the reflection of the cover plate
for incident diffuse radiation that may be partially
polarized due to reflections at it is passed through
the cover system.
 ENERGY BALANCE EQUATION
AND COLLECTOR EFFICIENCY
The performance of the solar collector is described by
an energy balance that indicates the distribution of
the incident solar radiation into the useful energy
gain and various losses. The thermal losses can be
separated into three components:

1. CONDUCTIVE LOSSES
2. CONVECTIVE LOSSES, and
3. RADIATIVE LOSSES.
Under steady conditions, the useful heat delivered by a solar collector is equal to the
energy absorbed in the metal surface minus the heat losses from the surface and
directly and indirectly to the surroundings. This principle can be stated in the
relationship:
Qi=I×A
Where , Qi= useful energy delivered by collector, watts or kcal/hr
A=collector area in m2
I= Intensity of solar radiation in W/m 2
However, as it is shown figure, a part of this radiation is reflected back to the sky,
another component is absorbed by the glazing and the rest is transmitted through
the glazing and reaches the absorber plate as short wave radiation. Therefore the
conversion factor indicates the percentage of the solar rays penetrating the
transparent cover of the collector (transmission) and the percentage being absorbed.
Basically, it is the product of the rate of transmission of the cover and the absorption
rate of the absorber. Then the amount of solar radiation received by the collector is:
Qi=(τα)×I×A
As the collector absorbs heat its temperature is getting
higher than that of the surrounding and heat is lost to
the atmosphere by convection and radiation. The rate of
heat loss (Qo) depends on the collector overall heat
transfer coefficient (UL) and the collector temperature.
Thus, Qo=ULA(Tc –Ta)

Thus, the rate of useful energy extracted by the collector

(Qu), expressed as a rate of extraction under steady
state conditions, is proportional to the rate of useful
energy absorbed by the collector, less the amount lost
by the collector to its surroundings.
•
This is expressed as follows:
Qu= Qi- Qo= (τα)IA-ULA(Tc –Ta)
It is also known that the rate of extraction of heat from the
collector may be measured by means of the amount of heat
carried away in the fluid passed through it, that is:
Qu=mCp(To–Ti)
Equation proves to be somewhat inconvenient because of the
difficulty in defining the collector average temperature. It is
convenient to define a quantity that relates the actual useful
energy gain of a collector to the useful gain if the whole collector
surface were at the fluid inlet temperature. This quantity is known
as “the collector heat removal factor (FR) and is expressed as:
The maximum possible useful energy gain in a solar collector
occurs when the whole collector is at the inlet fluid
temperature. The actual useful energy gain (Qu), is found by
multiplying the collector heat removal factor (FR) by the
maximum possible useful energy gain. This allows the rewriting
of equation :

QU = FRA [(τα)*I -UL *(Tc –Ta)]

This Equation is a widely used relationship for measuring

collector energy gain and is generally known as the
“HottelWhillier-Bliss equation”.
A measure of a flat plate collector performance is the
collector efficiency (η) defined as the ratio of the useful
energy gain (Qu) to the incident solar energy over a
particular time period.

The instantaneous thermal efficiency of the collector is:

 SELECTIVE PAINT
AND SURFACES FOR
FLAT PLATE
COLLECTORS
 INTRODUCTION ABOUT
FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS

• Flat plate collector is one of

the important solar energy
trapping device which uses air
or water as working fluid. Of
the many solar collector
concepts presently being
developed, the relative simple
flat plate solar collector has
found the widest application so
far.
• Moreover, it is capable of using both
the diffuse and the direct beam
solar radiation. For residential and
commercial use, flat plate collectors
can produce heat at sufficiently high
temperatures to heat swimming
pools, domestic hot water, and
buildings; they also can operate a
cooling unit, particularly if the
incident sunlight is increased by the
use of reflector
 SOLAR COLLECTORS
• Solar water heaters play a vital
role in low temperature
applications especially in
domestic sector .
• Solar collector absorbs the
incoming solar radiation,
converting it into thermal energy
at the absorbing surface, and
transferring the energy to a fluid
flowing through the collector.
• The fluid may be used for various
purposes such as to heat the
building and to dry the
• 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 the use of
solar energy.
• The solar radiation flux
available in the hottest
regions on earth rarely
exceeds 1kW/m2; these are
low values from the point of
view of technological
utilization. Hence large
SELECTIVE
•
COATING
Selective coating of the heating panel
has been suggested to increase the
energy absorbing properties. By way of
example, a solar heating panel may be
coated with black paint which is
expensive and absorbs a great amount
of solar energy. However, it has been
found that paint flakes, chips, and it is
not very durable. Black paint also
enables much of the absorbed energy
to be lost by emittance.
 SELECTIVE surfaces
• In solar thermal collectors, a selective
surface or selective absorber is a
means of increasing its operation
temperature and/or efficiency. The
selectivity is defined as the ratio of 
solar radiation-absorption (alpha) - to 
thermal infrared radiation-emission
 (epsilon).
• Selective surfaces take advantage of
the differing wavelengths of incident
solar radiation and the emissive
radiation from the absorbing surface.
• The most successful and stable
selective surfaces developed so
far is black chrome. It is made by
electroplating a layer of bright
nickel on absorber plate, then
electrodepositing an extremely
thin layer of chromium oxide
(black chrome) on the nickel
substrate.
• . Black chrome on copper shows
good selectivity and humidity
resistance but is not feasible
because of the high cost of copper
substrate.
• Black copper oxide coating on
copper or aluminum is the most
commonly used selective surface
and is extensively
commercialized in solar collector
industries.
• Cobalt oxide selective surface
can be produced on bright nickel-
plated steel substrate by
electroplating techniques.
 TECHNIQUES USED FOR
SELECTIVE SURFACE COATING
1. Vacuum evaporation
2. Vacuum sputtering
3. Ion exchange
4. Chemical vapour disposition
5. Chemical oxidation
6. Dipping in chemical baths
7. Electroplating
8. Spraying
9. Screen printing
• Black nickel has also been used
as a coating for solar heating
panels. Black nickel is good
heat conductor, but coatings of
this material are vulnerable to
moisture. Various attempts
have been made to improve
the black nickel coatings.
• However this bright-black
nickel selective coating has
been difficult to control in the
deposition of black nickel
coating in order to achieve the
desired optimum properties
and coating thickness.
• As the black nickel is being deposited, the substrate
cannot be removed from the plating bath without
the requirements for stripping the black nickel and
restarting the deposition process again.
• Also, the black nickel, as deposited, is still subject to
corrosion from the atmosphere and other sources.
• These problems have been solved by
the present invention where in black
chrome is utilized as the selective
solar coating.
• The black chrome deposit has a high
absorptivity in the visible range and a
low emissivity in the infrared range
when the coating is between about
0.5 micron and about 2.5 microns