Measurement of Solar Radiation

Measurement of
Solar Radiation
Types
• Irradiance (G, W/m2)
The rate of incident energy per unit area of a surface.
• Insolation (H, J/m2)
The amount of solar radiation arriving at the top of the
atmosphere.
• Direct / Beam
• Diffuse radiation
• Global / Total solar radiation = Direct + Diffuse
• Ground Reflected radiation
Global radiation on a horizontal surface
Clear day
Cloudy day
Measuring solar radiation
• Pyranometer - measure global and diffuse
radiation
•Principle of ‘heating proportional to radiation’ is
used together with thermopile
• Radiation are collected from a hemisphere
• For calculation of diffuse radiation, a shading
ring is used
•Pyrheliometer is used for measuring direct solar

radiation, principle similar to Pyranometer is
used, but only direct radiation falls on the
detector
Construction of Pyranometer
Generated emf = 0 to 10 mV
Black and white pyranometer
Pyrheliometer with tracker
Pyranometer on shadow
band stand
Sunshine Recorder (Campbell-stokes)
Glass sphere is about 10 cm diameter
of grooves for taking
e set of cards
ong curved for summer
hort curved for winter
traight cards for equinoxes
Spherical bowl
with grooves
Recorder cards (Burn)

Sun radiation intensity is more than 200 W/m 2
The amount of sunshine during the day is measured on a

sunshine recorder
• Measures the horizontal global and diffuse irradiance as well as
sunshine duration from a single, stationary sensor
• No need for cards / shading ring
• Electronic signals as output
Estimating solar radiation empirically:
Global radiation
Estimation of monthly average global radiation on horizontal
surface H  S 
 a  b a 
ga
H oa  S max a 
Hga = monthly averaged daily global radiation on a horizontal surface
Hoa = monthly averaged extra-terrestrial solar radiation at horizontal surface
(at top of atmosphere)
Sa and Smaxa = monthly averaged daily sunshine hours and maximum
possible daily sunshine hours (the day length) at a given location.
a and b = constant
Values of constant a and b
Location a b
Ahmedabad, India 0.28 0.48
Atlanta, Gerorgia, USA 0.38 0.26
Brownsville, Texas, USA 0.35 0.31 • The values of
Buuenos Aires, Argentina 0.26 0.50 the constant is
Charleston, S. C., USA 0.48 0.09 empirically
Bangalore, India 0.18 0.64 obtained from
Hamburg, Germany 0.22 0.57 know data
Malange, Angola 0.34 0.34
Miami, Florida, USA 0.42 0.22
Nagpur, India 0.27 0.50
New Delhi, India 0.25 0.57
Nice, France 0.17 0.63
Pune, India 0.31 0.43
•Ref: Lof J.A. et al, 1966
Rafah, Egypt 0.36 0.35
Stanleyville, Congo 0.28 0.39
Tamanrasset, Algeria 0.30 0.43
Estimation of Extra-terrestrial solar radiation
• Hoa is equal to Ho if calculated on following days of month;
January 17, February 16, March 16, April 15, May 15, June
11, July 17, August 16, September 15, October 15,
November 14 and December 10.
The monthly averaged daily solar extra-terrestrial radiation
H o  S t  cos  dt
24  360 n 
Ho  S 1  0.033 cos ( s sin  sin   cos  cos  sin  s )
  365 
S is in W/m2 the Ho will be W-Hour/m2

Problem
• Example: Estimate the monthly average daily global
radiation on the horizontal surface at Nagpur (21.06N, 79.03E)
during month of March 16 if the average sunshine hours per
day is 9.2. Assume values for a=0.27 and b=0.50
H ga  Sa  Given: Φ, a, b, Sa
 a  b 
H oa  S max a  Required: δ, ωs, Smax,a, Hoa, n, S
24  360n 
H o  H oa  S 1  0.033 cos (s sin  sin   cos  cos  sin s )
  365 
 360  cos s   tan  tan 
  23.34 sin  (284  75) 
 365  s  cos ( tan  tan  )
1
•Solution: On March 16, n=75
•δ= -2.4177
s  cos 1 ( tan 21.15 tan  2.4177)

s  89.0640
Day length=11.8752 hr, Sunrise and sunset hours?
24  360 * 57 
Ho  1.367 * 36001  0.033 cos (1.5544 sin 21.15 sin  2.4177 
  365 
cos 21.15 cos 2.4177 sin 89.0640)
•Ho=34140.2 kJ/m2-day
• Hga = 22442.46 kJ/m2-day
Monthly averaged daily Diffuse radiation
for  s  81.4and 0.3  K T  0.8
H da
 1.391  3.560 KT  4.189 K T2  2.137 KT3
H ga
for  s  81.4and 0.3  K T  0.8
H da
 1.311  3.022 KT  3.427 KT2  1.821K T3
H ga
s = sunrise hour angle
•KT = sky monthly averaged clearness index, = Hga / Hoa
• Typically diffuse radiation is about 10 to 20% of the

global radiation on horizontal surface
Solar Radiation
Map of India
Solar Radiation Potential - India
20 MW / km2
4-7 kWh/ m2 /day

Measurement of Solar Radiation

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Measurement of Solar Radiation

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Measurement of

•Pyrheliometer is used for measuring direct solar

Pyrheliometer with tracker

Recorder cards (Burn)

The amount of sunshine during the day is measured on a

The monthly averaged daily solar extra-terrestrial radiation

S is in W/m2 the Ho will be W-Hour/m2

s  cos 1 ( tan 21.15 tan  2.4177)

• Typically diffuse radiation is about 10 to 20% of the

Solar Radiation Potential - India

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