SOLAR ENERGY

CONTENTS
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°.
• We call 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
• On the 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.
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.
•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 DECLANATION
The 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 which it arrives
These may be plotted on a set of Cartesian Axes for different days 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 –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)+(equation of time correction)

Time Correction Factor (TC)

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 cell or solar 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.
 APPLICATIONS
1. Water distillation :
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 m2and 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 ratio 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
α =angular absorptance of the absorber plate
(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/m2
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:
mCp To − Ti
Fr =
A[(τα)I − UL(Tc – Ta)]
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 agricultural products etc.
• 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 collecting area is required.
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
Thank You