NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

MODULE 2

Solar Radiation Geometry: Flux on a plane surface, latitude, declination angle, surface azimuth
angle, hour angle, zenith angle, solar altitude angle expression for the angle between the incident
beam and the normal to a plane surface (No derivation) local apparent time. Apparent motion of
sum, day length, numerical examples.

Radiation Flux on a Tilted Surface: Beam, diffuse and reflected radiation, expression for flux on
a tilted surface (no derivations) numerical example.

Solar Thermal Conversion: Collection and storage, thermal collection devices, liquid flat plate
collectors, solar air heaters concentrating collectors (cylindrical, parabolic, paraboloid)
(Quantitative analysis); sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, application of solar energy water
heating. Space heating and cooling, active and passive systems, power generation, refrigeration.
Distillation (Qualitative analysis) solar pond principle

Solar Radiation Geometry (Definitions)

The following angles are used in solar radiation analysis
1) Declination (δ)
2) Latitude of location (φ)
3) Hour angle (ω)
4) Solar Azimuth angle (γs)
5) Zenith angle (θz)
6) Altitude angle (α)
7) Slope
8) Surface Azimuth angle (γ)
9) Incident angle (θ)

a) Declination (δ): It is defined as the angle made by the line joining the center of the earth and
the center of the sun with the projection of this line on the equatorial plane. It is denoted by δ
b) Latitude of location (φ): It is defined as the angle made by the radial line joining between
the place and center of the earth with the projection of this line on the equatorial plane. It is
denoted by φ.
360
𝛿 (𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠) = 23.45sin [( ) 284 + 𝑛]
365
Where n is the day of the year
c) Hour angle(ω): it is defined as the angle between the projections of the line joining the
location and the center of the earth and the line joining the center of the earth and the center

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 1

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

of the sun.
d) Solar Azimuth angle (γs): It the angle in the horizontal plane measured from the north to the
horizontal projection of the sun’s rays. It is taken as +ve when measured west wise.
e) Zenith angle (θz): It is the angle between the sun’s rays and a line perpendicular to the
horizontal plane at a point of intersection of east-west and north-south axis.
f) Altitude angle (α): it is the angle in the vertical plane between the sun’s rays and the
horizontal projection of sun’s rays.
g) Slope: It is the angle between the tilted surface and the horizontal. It is considered as +ve if
the surface is facing due south and -ve if it is facing due north.
h) Surface Azimuth angle (γ): It is the angle between the normal to the tilted surface and the
line due south.
i) Incident angle (θ): it is the angle between the beam of rays and normal to the plane.

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 2

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

Solar Thermal Conversion

Solar energy collection involves the absorption of solar radiation by exposing a dark surface to the
radiation. A part of the absorbed radiation is transferred to a medium (air or water) for further
utilization. The thermal energy collected can be of low-temperature type used for the heating and
cooling of buildings or high-temperature type used for the generation of electricity.

Solar collectors

Collectors are devices with which the solar energy incident on a given area is gathered and used to
heat a flowing fluid. There are two types of collectors:

1) The focusing or mirror collector

a) Parabolic/Cylindrical Collector

b) Paraboloid Collector

c) Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC)

2) The non-focusing type or plat plate collector

a) Parabolic/Cylindrical Collector: It consists of a cylindrical parabolic through reflector

and a metal tube receiver at its focal line as shown in figure1. The receiver tube is
blackened at the outside surface to increase absorption. It is rotated about one axis to
track the sun. The heat transfer fluid flows through the receiver tube, carrying the
thermal energy to the next stage of the system. This type of collector may be oriented
in any one of the three directions: East-West, North-South or polar. The polar
configuration intercepts more solar radiation per unit area as compared to other
modes and thus gives best performance. The concentration ratio in the range of 5-30
may be achieved from these collectors.

Fig1. Parabolic Collector Fig2. Paraboloid Collector

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 3
 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

b) Paraboloid Collector: When a parabola is rotated about its optical axis a Parabolidal
surface is produced. Above figure shows the details of this type of collector. Beam radiation
is focused at a point in the paraboloid. This requires two axis tracking. It can have
concentration ratio ranging from 10 to few thousands and can yield temperature up to
3000oC. Parabolidal dish collectors of 6- 7m in diameter are commercially manufactured.

c) Compound Parabolic Concentrator: Compound Parabolic Concentrator consists of two

parabolic mirror segments, attached to a flat receiver. The segments are oriented such that
the focus of one is located at the bottom end point of the other in contact with the receiver.
It has a large acceptance angle and needs to be adjusted intermittently. Rays in the central
region of the aperture reach the absorber directly whereas, those near the edges undergo
one or more reflections before reaching the absorber. The concentration ratio achieved
from this collector is in the range of 3-7.

2) The non-focusing type or plat plate collector

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 4

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

➢ The schematic diagram of a FPC is as shown in fig. it consists of a casing either made up of
wood or plastic having an area of about 2m*1m*15cm.
➢ The casing insulator is provided at the bottom to check conductive heat transfer, mineral
wool, glass wool, fibre glass, asbestos thermocol etc. are used as insulator.
➢ Above the insulator the absorber plate is fixed. The absorber plate is made of good
conducting material like aluminum or copper.
➢ It is coated black to increase its absorption property. Usually, the black coating is done by
chemical treatment.
➢ In the flat plate collector as shown in the figure a blackened sheet of metal is used to absorb
all the sunlight, direct, diffuse and terrestrially reflected.
➢ A sheet of metal coated in black has the property of absorbing the sunlight falling on it and
convert into heat
➢ The heat generated in the sheet of metal is subsequently transferred to the other Fluids like
air, water etc
➢ The heat energy will be continuously transferred to the fluid after the blackened surface
attains a temperature at which the equilibrium state is established between the rate at
which the Solar Energy is absorbed and the rate at which the heat energy is transferred to
the fluid.
➢ When the conduction Convection and radiation losses during absorption generation and
transfer are prevented this method of solar energy conversion will have very high
conversion efficiencies even as high as 100%

Sensible heat storage

In the sensible heat storage, thermal energy is stored in certain materials using their specific heat.
In addition, the energy stored depends on their density and the operating temperature.

a) Packed Bed Energy Storage:

This is a sensible heat storage system. This consists of a packed bed of rock, gravel or crushed
stones in a container, placed on perforated screens.

In this, air is used as the medium for energy transport mechanism. The materials used for the
bed (rock, stones) should have a high specific heat, thus increasing the thermal energy storage
capacity of the unit.

This unit works as a regenerative heat exchanger. First hot air is passed through the unit, so that
the bed absorbs the heat and hence their temperature is raised. They store this

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 5

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

heat energy till it is taken out from them by passing cold air in the form of sensible heat.
Whenever required cold air can be passed from the opposite side of the unit and heat from the
storage unit can be extracted.

Latent heat Storage

➢ The transition from solid to liquid or from liquid to vapour is a type of energy storage called
latent heat storage. In which no temperature range is involved.

➢ It is possible for both sensible and latent heat storage to occur in the same material, as when solid
is heated and then melted, and then raised further in temperature.

➢ Energy is stored in a material whenever it changes its phase from solid to liquid or liquid to gas,
and energy is released when the phase changes back from gas to liquid or from liquid to solid
phase.

➢ The heat storage capacity of a material is given by the relation.

Qs = m Cp Δt
Where, Qs---→ heat energy stored
m---→ Mass
Cp-→ Specific heat
Δt -→ Temperature difference
One simple latent heat storage system is shown in Fig. The system consists of a insulated
container. The storage material is kept in long and thin sealed tubes 9vertically or horizontally)
in the path of the heat transfer medium like gas, water etc., when the hot medium passes over the
tubes containing the storage medium, the phase change occurs in the sealed container and energy
transfer takes place. When the stored energy is to be extracted cool air/water is passed over the
hot tubes, from where the heat is passed on to the cool medium.

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 6

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

Thermal application of solar energy water heating

There are a number of applications where the incident solar energy can be used. The applications
range from water heating, domestic cooking, room heating/cooling, agriculture production, and to
power generation. Some of these important applications are

a) Solar water heating

b) Solar Distillation

c) Solar Pond

d) Solar Space heating for building

e) Power generation

f) Solar Space cooling for building / Refrigeration.

i) Solar water heating

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 7

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

➢ It consists of a titled collector with transparent cover glasses, a separate highly insulated water
storage tank, and well insulated pipes connecting the two.
➢ The bottom of the tank is at least 1ft the top of the collector, and no auxiliary energy is
required to circulate water through it.
➢ The density difference betweenthe hot and cold water thus provides the driving force for the
circulation of water through the collector and the storage tank.
➢ Hot water is drawn off from the top of the tank as required and is replaced by cold water from
the service system.
➢ As long as the sun shines the water will quietly circulate, getting warmer. After sunset, a
thermosiphon system can reverse its flow direction and loss heat to the environment during
the night.
➢ The thermosiphon system is one of the least expensive solar hot-water systems and should be
used whenever possible.
➢ Thermosiphon solar water heaters are passive systems and do not require a mechanical pump
to circulate the water.

ii) Solar Distillation:

Fig.: Solar Distillation

A device that distills water by first evaporating it and then condensing it in a separate system
by using solar energy.

Working principle
➢ The basic principles of solar water distillation are simple yet effective, as distillation replicates
Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 8
 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

the way nature makes rain.

➢ “Solar distillation” is a technology for producing potable water from brackish and
underground water of low-quality at low cost.
➢ It can reduce water-scarcity problems together with other water purification technologies.
➢ Solar distillation is analogous to natural hydrological cycle.
➢ It uses an apparatus called a solar still in which water is evaporated using solar energy, a form
of renewable energy,
➢ The sun’s energy heats water to the point of evaporation
➢ As the water evaporates, water vopor rises, condensing on the glass surface for collection.
➢ This process removes impurities such as salts and heavy metals as well as eliminates
microbiological organisms.
➢ The end results is water cleaner than the purest rainwater.
➢ The sola Aqua still is a passive solar distiller that only needs sunshine to operate.
➢ There are no moving parts to wear out.

iii) Solar Pond:

• A salinity gradient solar pond is an integral collection and storage device of solar energy.

• By virtue of having built-in thermal energy storage, it can be used irrespective of time and
season.

• In an ordinary pond or lake, when the sun's rays heat up the water this heated water, being
Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 9
 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

lighter, rises to the surface and loses its heat to the atmosphere.

• The net result is that the pond water remains at nearly atmospheric temperature.

• The solar pond technology inhibits this phenomenon by dissolving salt into the bottom layer
ofthis pond, making it too heavy to rise to the surface, even when hot.

• The salt concentration increases with depth, thereby forming a salinity gradient.

• The sunlight which reaches the bottom of the pond remains entrapped there.

• The useful thermal energy is then withdrawn from the solar pond in the form of hot brine.

• The pre-requisites for establishing solar ponds are: a large tract of land (it could be barren), a
lot of sun shine, and cheaply available salt (such as Sodium Chloride) or bittern.

• Generally, there are three main layers. The top layer is cold and has relatively little salt
content.

• The bottom layer is hot -- up to 100°C (212°F) -- and is very salty.

• Separating these two layers is the important gradient zone.

• The hot brine solution enters in to evaporator coil releases steam, these steam transfer to turbine,
it rotates with high speed by converting mechanical energy into electricity.

• The steam transfer to condenser and it will condensate from liquid phase, this cooled liquid
transfer to upper convective zone, to maintain the atmospheric temperature and cycle repeats.

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 10

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

iv) Solar Space heating for building

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 11

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

➢ The fig. shows the schematic of a air-type solar heating system. In this system, air required to
heat the house is directly passed through heat to a rock storage bin.

➢ The air coming out of room (return air) is passed through the collectors and heated air is
supplied to the room through the ducts.

➢ As it is necessary to collect the heat during day-time (when the collection of solar heat is more
than required) which is required to be used during night time, the part of the heated air is
passed through a storage bin where the heat of air is given to the storage bin and collected.

➢ The same heat is used during night times.

➢ This system in arrangement is almost similar to the air type solar heating system. But this
system utilizes water to collect heat from the absorber (solar hot water tank), also a heat
exchanger is provided, to transfer the heat from hot water to the air, to be used for space
heating.

➢ A usual water-to-water heat exchanger is provided to supply hot water for domestic purposes,
as the water directly from the collector is too hot for domestic purpose.

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 12

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

v) Solar Space Colling and Refrigeration

VI) Solar Power generation

➢ The above fig. shows the schematic diagram of Solar Power generation.

➢ In this solar collector the mirror or aluminum foil is attached in the surface collector and

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 13

 NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES (18ME651)

absorbs the solar radiation and transmit to the water.

➢ The water is starts for heating and reach above the boiling point.

➢ The hot water from the hot water tank transfer to the heat exchanger through the pump, hot
water circulated in the tubes and steam formation occurs.

➢ Water transfer to the heat exchanger through the pump form the condenser, this water
absorbs the heat from the heat exchanger and water converted into steam formation.

➢ Steam in the form of superheated steam transfer to the turbine, which concerts mechanical
energy in to electrical energy.

➢ Some quantity of steam escape form the turbine and it is transfer to the condenser, in this
phase change takes place converting steam to water droplets.

• The function of cooling tower is removing heat from the hot water and same water using for
recycling for the power generation

Mr. Rajesh S C, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. SKIT., B’lore 14