NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES

UNIT – I: SOLAR ENERGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS

INTRODUCTION: Energy Scenario – Survey of Energy Resources –
Classification – Need for Non-Conventional Energy Resources.
SOLAR ENERGY: The Sun - Sun-Earth Relationship –Solar radiation –
Attenuation –Radiation measuring Instruments.
SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS: Solar water Heating, Space Heating –
Active and Passive heating – Energy storage – selective surface – solar stills and
ponds – solar refrigeration –photovoltaic generation.

UNIT - I
 INTRODUCTION:
 Energy scenario -Survey of energy resources
 Classification
 Need for non-conventional energy resources
 SOLAR ENERGY:
 The sun
 Sun-earth relationship
 Solar radiation
 Attenuation
 Radiation measuring instruments
 SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS:
 Solar water heating
 Space heating
 Active and
 Passive heating
 Energy storage
 Selective surface
 Solar stills and ponds
 Solar refrigeration
 Photovoltaic generation

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 INTRODUCTION:
 Energy is defined as the capacity to do work.
 Energy may exist in “electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various
forms.”
 The stored energy of a substance may be in the forms of mechanical
energy and internal energy (other forms of stored energy may be
chemical energy and electrical energy).
 Part of the stored energy may take the form of either potential energy
or kinetic energy due to velocity.
 Heat and work are the forms of energy in transition.
 Energy can be neither created nor destroyed but only changed from one
form to another.
 ENERGY SCENARIO-SURVEY OF ENERGY RESOURCES:
 Energy is one of the major inputs for the economic development of any
country.
 In the case of the developing countries, the energy sector assumes a
critical importance in view of the ever-increasing energy needs
requiring huge investments to meet them.
 Global energy resources:
 The average percentage consumption of various primary energy
resources in the world is shown is figure.
 There is currently heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Nearly 87% of
the world energy supply primarily comes from fossil fuels.
 India uses of fossil fuels constitutes more than 90% of its total
energy consumption.

Fig: Graphical representation percentage consumption of energy sources in the world

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 Fig: Graphical representation of global strategic petroleum reserves

 Energy resources in India:

In our country energy is tapped from both non-commercial (Fire

wood, animal dung etc.) and commercial sources (coal, natural gas etc.).
The amount of energy generation and consumption in India as mentioned
in fig.(a) and fig.(b) respectively, as exposed below. Energy sources can
broadly be classified into two sorts. They are:
 Renewable energy sources
 Non renewable energy sources

Fig:(a) Graphical representation amount of energy generation in India

Fig:(b) Graphical representation Amount of energy consumption in India

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 Potentials:
 Wind power - 20,000 MW
 Small hydropower - 10,000 MW
 Biomass power - 19,500 MW
 Solar power - 35 MW/Sq.km
 Goals:
 9th plan end (2002) - Installed capacity-2,500 MW
 11th plan end (2012) - Installed capacity-12,000MW
 Installed status:
 Wind power - 1080 MW
 Small hydropower - 2010 MW
 Biomass power - 222 MW
 Solar photovoltaic system - 49 MW
 Facilities:
 100% accelerated depreciation
 Five-year tax holiday
 Customs duty reliefs
 Excise duty exemption
 Soft loans from IREDA
 Power purchase policy by states
 State support
 Promotional measures:
 Resource assessment
 Support for project preparation
 Capital subsidy for demo-projects
 Interest subsidy for commercial projects
 Industry FI and SEB co-ordination
 Facilities by SEB of wheeling, banking, buy-back and third-party sale
 Support to industry
 R&D and technology development
 HRD and training
 Public information and awareness

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  Energy policy in India:
The Government of India has formulated an energy policy to ensure
adequate energy supply at minimum cost, self-sufficiency in energy supplies
and protection of environment from an adverse impact of utilizing energy
resources in any unjust manner. The policy has the following features:
 Accelerated exploitation of domestic conventional energy resources such as fossil
fuels, hydro and nuclear energy.
 Intensification of exploration to achieve, indigenous production of oils and gases.
 Management of demand of oil and other forms of energy
 Energy conservation and its management.
 Optimum utilisation of existing capacity in the country.
 Development and exploitation of renewable source of energy to meet energy
requirement of rural communities.
 Intensification of resources and development activities in new and
renewable energy resources.
 Organisation of training for personal engaged at various levels in the energy sector.

 CLASSIFICATION OF ENERGY SOURCES:

The energy resources can be classified on the basis of usability of energy
resources, traditional usage of energy resources, long-term availability of energy
resources, commercial application of resources and origin of resources. Based on
those classification of energy sources is mentioned below:
 Primary and secondary energy resources
 Conventional and non-conventional energy resources
 Renewable and non-renewable energy resources
 Commercial and non-commercial energy resources

 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ENERGY RESOURCES:

i. Primary resources:
 Resources available in the “nature in the raw form” are called primary
resources.
 These energy resources cannot be used in raw form.
 Primary energy resources have to be located, extracted, processed and
converted into a suitable form before use.
 Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), uranium and hydropower are primary
energy resources.

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 ii. Secondary resources:
 Secondary energy resources are “obtained from primary energy
resources by processing.”
 Processing helps in transformation of primary resources into the
secondary or usable energy form so that it can be utilized by
consumers.
 Electricity, steam, hot water, petrol, diesel, LNG and CNG are
secondary energy resources.
 CONVENTIONAL AND NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY RESOURCES:
i. Conventional:
 Conventional energy resources are energy resources
which have been” traditionally” used from many
years.
 These resources are also widely used at present and
likely to be depleted.
 Examples: Wood, coal, petroleum etc.
ii. Non-conventional:
 These are “alternate energy resources” to the
conventional energy resources which are being
considered to be used on large scale.
 The conventional energy resource is likely to be
depleted in about 50–60 years and non-conventional
energy resources should be fully developed by then to
meet the energy requirement.
 Examples: Solar, wind, biomass, ocean etc.
 RENEWABLE AND NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES:
iii. Renewable:
 Resources which can be “renewed by nature again
and again” so that their supply is not adversely
affected by the rate of their consumption are called
renewable resources.
 Examples: Solar, wind, biomass, ocean etc.
iv. Non-renewable:
 Resources which are available in certain finite
quantity and “cannot be replenished” are called non-
renewable.
 Examples: Coal, petroleum, nuclear fuel etc.

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 COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ENERGY RESOURCES:
i. Commercial energy resources:
 The secondary usable energy resources such as
electricity, CNG, LPG, petrol and diesel are
essential for commercial activities.
 The economy of a nation highly depends on its
ability to process and transform the “natural raw
energy sources” into usable commercial
energy sources.

ii. Non-commercial energy resources:

 The energy which can be “derived directly from
nature” so as to be used without passing through any
commercial outlet is known as the non-commercial
energy.
 Wood, animal dung cake and crop residues are non-
commercial energy sources.
 Advantages of non-conventional or renewable energy sources:
 Non-depletable
 Low gestation
 Modularity
 No transmission and distribution losses
 No fossil fuels
 Environment friendly
 Low operating and maintenance cost
 Cost-effective

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 TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES:
The energy resources based on their origin can be “nuclear, fossil fuel,
hydro, solar, biomass, wind, tidal, geothermal, ocean thermal and ocean tidal
resources.”
The energy resources can be
 Thermal
 Hydel
 Nuclear
 Solar
 Wind
 Tidal
 Geothermal
 Ocean Resources
 TYPES OF FOSSIL FUELS:

Fig: Types of fossil fuels

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 NEED FOR NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY RESOURCES:
Energy is one of the universally recognised key input parameters for
the human comfort and economic growth. The commercial development
of every nation is mainly depending on the accessibility of the energy
sources. There is close agreement of strong connection between the
commercial growth and the energy usage. The balance of power
generation, distribution and energy consumption is highly difficult now
days. Many countries in the world have been witnessed the significant
shortage of fuel resources and its price hikes in several occasions in the last
few years. Now this framework, the demand of unconventional energy is
growing strongly in present days. Clean environment and more efficient
energy sources will be the primary concentration in future towards the eco-
environment. These issues brought the concentration in renewable energy
applications. The need of non-conventional energy sources occurs by the
following important parameters those are:
 Climate change:
 Energy plays an important role in all decades because
development of any nation depends on the generation,
distribution and consumption of energy.
 However rapid use of these conventional energy sources
leads to pollution.
 Climate has been affected by these “pollutants” due that
there is a “hazardous” change in climate occurs.
 This climate change leads to “greenhouse gas effect, global
warming and ozone layer depletion, acid rains etc.”
 The greenhouse effect is a natural process that warms the
Earth's surface. When the Sun's energy reaches the Earth's
atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to space and the
rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases. The
absorbed energy warms the atmosphere and the surface of
the Earth.
 Global warming nothing but a gradual increase in the
overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally
attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased
levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants.
 Ozone layer depletion is the gradual thinning of the earth’s
ozone layer in the upper atmosphere caused due to the
release of chemical compounds containing gaseous bromine
or chlorine from industries or other human activities.

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 Energy crisis:
 Now a days increasing in the large number of automobiles
in the recent years has resulted in greater demand for
petroleum sources.
 Due to continuous use of petroleum sources in
automobiles causes the “depletion of world petroleum
reserves” estimated to last or few decades, there has been
active search for renewable energy sources.
 Not only for automobile but also so for many industries
like power generation industries consume so much of
conventional energy resources.
 Due to this reason, energy sources were depleted which
leads to gradual hike the fuel prices.
 That’s why it is important to implement the non-
conventional energy sources.
 Energy security:
 Regular use of non-renewable energy resources causes
depleted.
 But energy is must for daily life applications so we need
“energy securities.”
 “Non-conventional energy” is the only secured energy
why because which is renewable, reusable and
inexhaustible.
 Sustainability:
 There has been ever increasing the various aspects of
available resources and production, in terms of need and
supply, conservation and environmental impacts and so
on.
 From the current energy scenario, it is very clear that there
are serious challenges related in achieving energy
“sustainability and security worldwide.”

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  The sun:
The sun, like other stars, is a huge spherical object made of hydrogen
and helium. Its “diameter reaches 1,400,000 km, or 109 times the earth’s
diameter”, but is 4 times less dense than the earth due to its composition. The
sun is not only made of the glowing gas that we see with a telescope. It has,
exactly like the earth, different layers at different temperatures. Every layer
has its own features.

Fig: Pictorial representation of layers of the sun

Above is a figure of the structure of the sun with all the different layers
and components named.

i. The core:
 The core of the Sun is the source of all its energy.
 The amount of energy produced is nearly continuous, so we do not see a
considerable variation in its brightness nor the heat that is given off.
 The core has a “very high temperature” and the material it is composed of
is very dense due to the “extremely high pressure.”
 It is the combination of these two properties that creates an environment
where nuclear reactions can take place.
 These nuclear reactions always produce heavier elements on the periodic table.

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ii. The Radiative zone:
 The transport of energy from the Sun’s core (where it is produced) to
the regions that surround it can be done by transferring it by radiation.
 This is how it travels from the centre of the Sun to the outer regions,
hence the name “radiative zone”.
 Through this area of the solar interior, the energy (in the form of
radiation) is transmitted by its interaction with the particles in the
surrounding.
 Some atoms are able to remain intact in the radiation zone, since the
“temperature is slightly cooler than what it is in the core.”
 These particles are capable to absorb energy, stock it for a short time,
and then later release that energy as new radiation.
 In this way the generated energy in the core is passed from one atom
to another, wandering on an upwards path, through the radiation zone.

iii. The convection zone:

 The energy that is initially created in the core needs a new transport
mechanism to carry on its passage to the Sun’s surface once it is out of
the radiation zone.
 This is necessary since the temperature is relatively cool outside of the
radiation zone (“2 million degrees Kelvin compared to 5 million in the
radiation zone”).
 Atoms will absorb energy much more easily at this temperature, but
they do not release it so readily since their surrounding is cool and
dense.
 Therefore, the energy transfer by radiation slows down considerably.
 The atoms are heated up by absorbing the and rise through the
convection zone, bringing this energy (heat) towards the surface.

iv. The photosphere:

 The photosphere is also named the apparent surface of the sun.
 Since “the sun is wholly made of gas, there is no solid surface” (like
there is on earth).
 However, when we observe the sun, there is a depth past which the
density of the gas becomes so high that we cannot see through it.
 This region is called the photosphere, or as mentioned the apparent
surface.
 This is the disk that one sees in the sky when one looks at the Sun
through a telescope that has a filter, or as a projection on, for
example, a sheet of paper.

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v. The chromosphere:
 The chromosphere is the layer above the photosphere and is thicker
than it.
 With a “very low density”, it´s impossible to observe it without
narrowband filters or during a total solar eclipse due to the
brightness of the photosphere behind it. Furthermore, it’s less dense
than the photosphere.
vi. The corona:
 It is the biggest and least dense structure of the Sun and it surrounds it.
 Composed of plasma escaping from the Sun that reaches “1,000,000
kelvins”, but with a density even lower than the chromosphere.
 Furthermore, the solar wind transports the material of the corona out
to the interplanetary medium.
 From Earth, the corona is only visible during a total solar eclipse.

Table: Properties of layers of the sun

 Sun-Earth Relationship:
 The quantity and strength of sun light which falls on the surface of the
earth is dependent upon the shape and size of the earth in accordance to
the sun.
 The location of the sun at any place of the earth is calculated by two
factors.

 Computation by simple equations where the input provided

are the time, day of the year, latitude and longitude.
 Computation by means of complex algorithms where the
input provided is the exact location of the sun.
 These algorithms are used only for specific period of time
i.e., 15 to 100 years.

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 The earth-sun geometry relationship with respect to the seasons in northern
and southern hemisphere are shown in the figure below,

Fig: Sun-earth geometry relationship

Fig: Elliptical orbit of earth’s revolution

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 The eccentricity at the earth’s elliptical path is the distance between the son
and the earth is differed by “±1.7%.”
 At an average of sun earth distance of one astronomical unit i.e,
“14.9x107km.”
 The earth makes an angle of 32′ with the sun.
 The changes in the seasons are caused due to the geometry of earth and sun.
 The amount of energy of solar radiation receives on the earth's surface gets
change due to the annual change in the earth-sun geometry.

 The three principle relationship between earth and sun are,

 The shape of earth's elliptical path around the sun

 The distance between the sun and the earth
 The till of earth's axis of rotation.
 The seasons are cussed due to the tilt of earth’s axis
 BASIC SUN-EARTH ANGLES:

Fig: Basic sun earth angles

 Declination angle(δ)
 Angle of latitude (λ)
 Inclination angle (or) Altitude angle(α)
 Zenith angle (θz)
 Solar azimuth angle (γs)
 Tilt angle or slope (β)
 Angle of incidence (θ)
 Surface azimuth angle (γ)
 Hour angle (ω)

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 Declination angle(δ):

Fig: Angle of the declination

 It is the “angle made by the line joining the centres of sun and earth with the
equatorial plane ” as shown in figure.
 Simply, it is the angular displacement of the sun from the plane of the earth’s
equator.
 The angle of declination varies when earth revolves around the sun.
 It has maximumvalue of 23.45º when earth achieves a position in its orbit
corresponding to 2l June and it has minimum value of –23.45º when earth
is in orbital position corresponding to 22 December.
 The angle of declination is taken positive when it is measured above the
equatorial plane inthe northern hemisphere.
 The angle of declination can be given by,

 Angle of latitude (λ):

Fig: Angle of latitude

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  The latitude of a location on earth’s surface is the angle made by the radial
line joining the specified location to the centre of earth with the projection of
this line on the equatorial plane as shown in figure.
 Simply, it is the vertical angle between the line joining that point of location
to the centre of the earth and its projection on equatorial plane
 The latitude at equator is zero and it is 90º at poles.
 When the point is north of equator the angle is positive and when south
it is negative.
 Inclination angle (or) Altitude angle(α):

Fig: Inclination angle (or) Altitude angle

 It is the angle between sun’s ray and its projection on horizontal surface as
shown in figure.
 The value of altitude angle (α)=0 at sun rise and sun set.
 Numerical relation for inclination angle (or) altitude angle is given by,

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  Zenith angle (θz):

Fig: Zenith angle

 It is the angle between sun’s ray and perpendicular (normal) to the horizontal
plane as shown in figure.
 Also, zenith angle is compliment of inclination (altitude) angle,
i.e., α+θz=900
⇒ θz=900- α
 Hence, at sunrise zenith angle is +900 whereas -900 at sun set.
 Zenith angle for horizontal surface is given by,

 Solar azimuth angle (γs):

Fig: Solar azimuth angle

 It is the angle between the projection of sun’s ray to the point on the
horizontal plane and line due south passing through that point.
 The value of the azimuth angle is taken positive when it is measure form
south towards west.
 The equation of the azimuth angle of sun is given by,
Cos γs =(cos θz sin λ -sin δ) /sin θz cos λ
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 Tilt angle or slope (β):

Fig: Tilt angle or slope

 The tilt angle is the angle between the inclined slope and the horizontal plane
as shown in the figure.
 For horizontal surface slope (β)=00
 Angle of incidence (θ):

Fig: Angle of incidence

 The angle of incidence for any surface is defined as the angle formed between
the directionof the sun ray and the line normal to the surface as shown in the
Figure.
 Simply, it is an angle between plane surface and normal to that surface.
 For horizontal surface, zenith angle(θz) =Angle of incidence(θ).

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 Surface azimuth angle (γ):

Fig: Surface azimuth angle

 It is the angle in horizontal plane between the line due south and the
horizontal projectionof normal to the inclined plane surface.
 It is taken as positive when measured form south towards west.
 Most noteworthy, one must make use of the following formula for the
purpose of azimuth calculation to the west: γ = 360 – d, where “γ” is
the azimuth, one intends to find, and “d” is the distance in the form of
degrees from due north.
 Hour angle(ω):

Fig: Pictorial representation of hour angle

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  The hour angle at any instant is the angle through which the earth has to turn to bring
the meridian of the observer directly in line with sun’s rays.
 It is an angular measure of time.

Case (i): At sun rise, hour angle:-

(a) For horizontal surface,

(b) For inclined surface,

ω=cos-1(-tan (λ- β) tan δ)
Case (ii): At sun set, hour angle:-
(a) For horizontal surface,

(b) For inclined surface,

-ω=cos-1(-tan (λ- β) tan δ)

Case (iii): The angle between sunrise and sun set or solar day length can be
given as,
a) For horizontal surface,

(b) For inclined surface,

Solar day length=2ω=2cos-1(-tan (λ- β) tan δ)

Case (iv): The duration of sunshine hour (td) or day light hours can be given as,
a) For horizontal surface,

(b) For inclined surface,

td= × cos-1(-tan (λ- β) tan δ)

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 Model problems on basic sun-earth angles

1. Calculate hour angle for the local apparent time given by

(i) 6 AM, (ii) 9 AM, (iii) 12 noon, (iv) 3 PM, (v) 6 PM and (vi) 9 PM.
Solution:

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2. Calculate the hour angles at sun rise and sun set for 1 January. Take
latitude as 450 N
Solution:

Case (i): At sun rise, hour angle:-

For horizontal surface,

= cos-1 (-tan 45 tan(-23.01))

ω =64.860
Case (ii): At sun set, hour angle:-

For horizontal surface,

=cos-1 (-tan 45 tan(-23.01))

ω =-64.860

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3. Calculate the number of daylight hours in Srinagar for 1 January and
1 July. Take latitude of Srinagar as 34º05' N.
Solution:

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4. Calculate the hour angle at sunrise and sunset on 21 June and 21 December
for a surface inclined at an angle of 10º and facing due south (γ = 0). The surface
is located in Mumbai (19º07' N, 72º51' E).

Solution:

5. Calculate the day light in hours in Mumbai on 1 December if latitude = 19.116 °

and declination angle = –22.108°.
Solution:

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6. Calculate hour angle at sunrise on 21 June for a surface tilted at 10° and facing
due south. The location has latitude 19° 07’ N and longitude 72° 51’ E.

Solution:

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 SOLAR RADIATION:

Fig: Solar radiation

 Solar radiation is “radiant energy emitted by the sun from a nuclear
fusion reaction that creates electromagnetic energy.”
 Solar radiation is made up of the following types of rays:
 Infrared rays (IR): Infrared radiation provides heat and
represents 49% of solar radiation.
 Visible rays (VI): Visible rays represent 43% of radiation
and provide light.
 Ultraviolet rays (UV radiation): Ultraviolet rays represent
7%.
 Other types of rays: Other types of rays represent about 1%
of the total.

Fig: Solar radiation spectrum

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  Types of solar radiation:

Fig: Different types of solar radiation

 Extraterrestrial radiation
 Beam radiation
 Diffuse radiation
 Total or global radiation
 Terrestrial radiation
 Extraterrestrial radiation:
 Solar radiation incident on the “outer atmosphere of the earth” is called
extraterrestrial radiation.
 The extraterrestrial radiation varies based on the change in sun–earth’s distance
arising from earth’s elliptical orbit of rotation.
 The extraterrestrial radiation is not affected by changes in atmospheric
condition.
 The extraterrestrial radiation can be expressed as

 Extraterrestrial radiation is also calculated by the equation given by solar

constant.
 Solar constant is defined as the energy received from the sun per unit time
on a unit surface area perpendicular to the direction of propagation of solar radiation
at the top of earth’s atmosphere when earth is at its mean distance from the sun.

 The value of solar constant is taken as l367 W/m2.

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  From extraterrestrial region, the solar radiation reaches earth's surface in two
ways:
i. Beam radiation
ii. Diffuse radiation

Fig: a) Beam radiation b) Diffuse radiation

 Beam radiation:
 A part of sun’s radiation travels through earth’s atmosphere and its reaches
“directly”, which is called direct or beam radiation.
 Simply, Solar radiation along the line joining the receiving point and the sun is
called beam radiation.
 This radiation has any unique direction.
 Diffuse radiation:
 Major part of the solar radiation is “scattered, reflected back” into the space
or absorbed by earth’s atmosphere.
 A part of this radiation may reach earth’s surface.
 This radiation reaching earth’s surface by the mechanism of scattering and
reflecting, that is, reradiation, is called diffuse or sky radiation.
 Simply, it is the solar radiation which is scattered by the particles in earth’s
atmosphere and this radiation does not have any unique direction.
 Total or global radiation:
 Total or global radiation at any location on earth’s surface is the sum of beam
radiation and diffuse radiation.
 Total radiation=Beam radiation + Diffuse radiation
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Table: Difference between beam radiation and diffuse radiation

 Global solar energy:

 The combination of both the beam radiation and diffuse radiation forms of
solar energy incident on a horizontal plane at earth’s surface is called global
solar energy, which is given by

 Terrestrial radiation:
 When radiation “passes through earth’s atmosphere, it is subjected to the
mechanism of atmospheric absorption and scattering” depending on
atmospheric conditions.
 Earth’s atmosphere contains various constituents, suspended dust and solid
and liquid particles, such as air molecules, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, water vapour and dust.
 Therefore, solar radiation or intensity of radiation is depleted during its
passage through the atmosphere.
 “The solar radiation that reaches earth’s surface after passing through
earth’s atmosphere is called terrestrial radiation.”
 ATTENUATION:
 Atmospheric attenuation is a “reduction in the intensity of electromagnetic
radiation in the earth’s atmosphere as a result of the absorption and
scattering of the radiation.”
 Solar radiation is absorbed primarily by water vapor and ozone and is
scattered by molecules of air and aerosols.
 Simply, attenuation is the removal of radiation from beam by the matter.
 Attenuation may occur due to scattering and absorption.
 Whereas absorption is defined as the taking up of the energy from the beam
by the irradiated material. It is absorbed energy, which is important in
producing the radiobiological effects in material or soft tissues.
 Scattering refers to a change in the direction of the photons and it
contributes to both attenuation and absorption.

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 RADIATION MEASURING INSTRUMENTS:
Solar Radiation nothing but the radiant energy emitted by the sun in the
form of electromagnetic waves. Instruments which are used to “measure or detect
this radiation” is called radiation measuring instruments. The effective and
frequently used instruments are:
 Pyranometer
 Pyrheliometer
 Sunshine recorder
 Pyranometer:

Fig: Construction of pyranometer

 Pyranometer is a Greek word composed of Pyr (fire) + ano (something
above) + meter (measurement), which means “measuring fire from above”,
that is, measuring sun’s radiation.
 A pyranometer is radiation energy measuring device which is designed to
measure “global or total radiation” usually on horizontal plane but it can
also be used to measure on an inclined plane.
 A pyranometer is an instrument used to measure the entire “solar
irradiance” on a plane surface and solar radiation flux density from a field
view of 180o.
 It consists of a thermopile whose sensitive surface has circular blackened,
hot junction exposed to sun and the cold junction completely shaded.
 A sensor is provided to sense the radiations emitted by sun, which is
covered by concentric hemi-spherical glass domes in order to prevent it
from wind and rain.

31
  A shaded ring placed at 0.3 meters is provided to prevent the direct fall of
beam radiation on to the sensor and to measure the diffuse components of
radiation.
 The typical pyranometer is shown in figure.
 The black surface exposed to solar radiation gets heated up and increases
the temperature till the rate of gain by solar radiation is equal to the rate of
heat loss by convection, conduction and re-radiation.
 Due to this, the potential difference is obtained at the junctions (i.e., hot
and cold) which is the main cause to generate an e.m.f.
 The e.m.f generated will be of order 0-10 mV, which can be read, recorded
and integrated over a period of time (few hours, a day) which further
represents the measure of global radiation.
 The thermopile output of approximately 9 μV/(W/mV) which is recorded
on a chart paper by a recorder.
 The daily values of radiation are recorded on hourly basis and a
pyranogram is obtained which is a graph of radiation incident versus hour
lines.
 Different types of pyranometers are:
 Eppley pyranometer
 Yellot solarimeter (Photovoltaic solar cell)
 Moll-Gorczyheski solarimeter
 Bimetallic action-graphs of rabitzsch type
 Velochme pyranometer
 Thermometric pyranometer
 Eppley pyranometer:
 It is based on the principle as that there is “a difference between the
temperature of black surfaces (which absorb most solar radiation) and
white surfaces” (which reflect most solar radiation).
 The “detection of temperature difference is achieved by thermopile.”
 It uses concentric silver rings 0.25 mm thick, appropriate coated black and
white, with either 10 or 50 thermocouple junctions to detect temperature
differences between coated rings.
 Later models use wedges arranged in a circular pattern, with alternate black
and white coatings.
 The disks or wedges are enclosed in a hemispherical glass cover.
 Similar instruments are manufactured in Europe under the name Kipp. The
Eppley pyranometers, and similar instruments are calibrated in a horizontal
position.
 Calibration of these instruments will vary to some degree if the instrument
is inclined to measure radiation on other than a horizontal surface.

32
 Fig: Eppley pyranometer

 Yellot Solarimeter (Photovoltaic solar cell):

 Pyranometers have also been used on photovoltaic (solar cell) detectors.
 Silicon cells are the most common for solar energy.
 Silicon solar cells have the property that their light current (approximately
equal to the short circuit current at normal radiation levels) in a linear
function of the incident solar radiation.
 They have the disadvantages that the spectral response is not linear, so
instrument calibration is a function of the spectral distribution of the
incident radiation.

Fig: Yellot Solarimeter

33
 Pyrheliometer:

Fig: Construction of pyrheliometer

 It is an instrument to measure beam radiation.
 It has a narrow long tube called collimator tube to collect beam radiation
from the sun at normal incidence.
 The long collimator tube ensures that a beam radiation having field of
view limited to a solid angle of 5.5° should be collected.
 The collimator tube is further blackened from inside and provided
diaphragm along the length to absorb any radiation entering the tube but
incident at any angle outside the designed angle of 5.50°.
 At the base of the collimator tube, a wire-wound thermopile having
sensitivity of about 8 μV/(W/ m2) is positioned which has impedence of
about 200 Ω .
 The tube is sealed with dry air with the help of silica gel to avoid any
absorption of beam radiation owing to presence of moisture in the air.
 A tracker is provided in the instrument to keep the collimator tube
continuously face the sun rays for the measurement.
 Three types of pyrheliometers are usually used to measure the incident
beam radiation, which are:
 The Angstrom compensation pyrheliometer
 The Abbot silver disc pyrheliometer
 Eppley pyrheliometer

34
 Angstrom compensation pyrheliometer:

Fig: Electrical circuit for Angstrom compensation pyrheliometer

 The instrument has a thin blackened strip besides the detector made of a
similar strip.
 The detector is exposed to the beam radiation while this strip is kept shaded
so that it has no heating effect from the beam radiation.
 However, this strip is heated electrically using an electric circuit so that the
strip can achieve the same temperature which is present at the sensitive solar
detector strip owing to the incidence and absorption of solar beam
radiation.
 The leads of thermopile are connected in opposition through a sensitive
galvanometer to find null position by testing the presence of equality of
temperature at both the strips.
 The beam radiation energy (Hb) at the place can be determined by the
following equation:

35
 Sunshine recorder:

Fig: Construction for sunshine recorder

 The instrument is used to measure the duration of bright sunshine hours in a day.
 It mainly consists of a glass sphere (diameter = l0 cm) mounted on its axis parallel
to the axis of earth within a spherical section called bowl as shown in Figure.
 The bowl and glass sphere are arranged in such a way that sun’s rays are focused
sharply as a spot- on recording papercard held in a groove in the bowl.
 The card is made of a special coated paper with the printed time scale.
 The paper card has the property to burn a spot wherever sun’s rays fall on it.
 As the sun moves, the focused bright sun’s rays burn a path along the card paper.
 The length of the trace formed by the burn spots on the card paper is the
measure of the duration of sunshine hours in a day.
 To take care of different seasons of the year, three overlapping pair of grooves
to fix the card paper are provided in the bowl of the instrument.

Fig: Real time diagram for sunshine recorder

36
  Differences between pyranometer and pyrheliometer:
 Pyranometer is a dome like structure that measures diffused sun energy
while pyrheliometer is an instrument that measures direct sun’s energy.
 Both are often used in conjunction in meteorological research stations.
 While pyranometer measures global solar radiation, pyrheliometer
measures direct solar irradiance.
 Pyrheliometer is used for measuring the intensity of direct solar
radiation at normal incidence, whereas pyranometer is used for
measuring global solar radiation received from the entire atmosphere.
 In pyrheliometer the sensor disc is located at the base of the tube, whose
axis is aligned with the direction of the sun rays, thus, blocking the
diffuse radiation from sensor surface.
 In case of a pyranometer, the beam radiation is prevented from falling
on instrument sensor disc, thus measuring diffuse radiation.
 MERITS AND DEMERITS OF SOLAR ENERGY:
 Merits:
 Non-polluting source of energy
 Available free of cost in nature
 Non-depleting source of energy
 Demerits:
 It is intermittent type in nature and it is unavailable at night-time. Hence,
energy generated in day hours is required to be stored for using in night
hours.
 The cost of solar devices is high and their efficiency of conversion is low.
 It has seasonal variation.
 It requires large area to entrap.

 SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS:

 Solar water heating
 Space heating
 Active and Passive heating
 Energy storage
 Selective surface
 Solar stills and ponds
 Solar refrigeration
 Photovoltaic generation

37
 SOLAR WATER HEATING:

Fig: Small capacity water heating system with natural circulation

• A small capacity water heating system with natural circulation is as shown

in Figure.
• It is suitable to supply hot water for domestic purposes.
• It has two main components which include
i. Flat plate collector to convert solar radiation into heat
energy and
ii. Water storage tank to store hot water.
• The tank is located above the level of collector.
• Heat is transferred to the water in the solar collector and hot water rises to
flow in the water tank.
• The hot water enters the top of the water tank and cold water from the water
tank moves out from the bottom of the tank so as to enter the inlet of the
collector.
• The natural circulation of water is established from the collector to water
tank and then from water tank to the collector.
• The hot water for use is withdrawn from the top of tank, which is replaced
by cold water entering at the bottom of the tank.
• Water heating system is also provided with an auxiliary heating system so
that the system can also work during cloudy and rainy days when sufficient
solar radiation is unavailable.

38
 SPACE HEATING:
 Solar heating refers to the renewable energy system that collects energy from
the sun in the form of heat rather than using the sun’s energy to produce
electricity, as is the case with solar photovoltaics.
 Solar heating systems can be used to provide space heating and water heating
to be used in residential, commercial, or industrial facilities.
 Solar space heating techniques circulate the heated liquid in a radiant heat
system through piping in the walls or floors to allow the heat to naturally warm
indoor spaces.
 These are two solar thermal techniques that are commonly used:
 Solar passive heating:

Fig: Solar passive heating

 This technique relies on the natural tendency for water to circulate freely as
some of it warms (in the sun) while some cools.
 Solar energy can be used for passive heating of buildings to maintain
comfortable temperature inside the buildings.
 Passive heating of buildings does not require any mechanical device.
 This heating consists of natural processes such as convection, radiation and
conduction which are used to transport heat in the space.
 The heating necessitates a suitable building design to ensure natural flow of
heat in the space inside building.
 Such specially designed building is called solar house.
 In the northern hemisphere, the sun rays come from south direction.
 Hence in order to achieve solar passive heating in cold regions, south facing
wall is made thick using concrete or stones to store the maximum heat energy
from the incident solar radiation.
 The entire south wall is further provided with a plastic or glass sheet covering
with an air gap in between the wall and the sheet covering.
 The incident solar radiation after passing through the sheet covering is
absorbed by the thermal storage wall.
 The warm air in air gap rises and enters into the space inside the building to be
heated as shown in figure.
 The warm air enters into the space from the upper inlet vents and cold air is
removed from the space from the lower outlet vents.

39
 Solar active heating:

Fig: solar active heating

 In these systems, pumps and other mechanical components use electricity

to circulate water or a heat medium through the system.
 Most of the hundreds of solar-heated residences built throughout the world
use the active system, in which separate collectors are used together the
solar radiation, transfer it to water or air, and store it in tanks of water or
rock piles or both.
 The water and air are circulated by pumps or fans and conventional means
are used to distribute the heat to the interior of the residences.
 General principle for solar active heating is “nearly all existing or proposed
active solar space-heating and/or hot-water supply systems utilize three
main components in addition to pumps and blowers:
i. a solar radiation collector with its associated heat
transport (or heat-transfer) fluid,
ii. a heat-storage medium, and
iii. a distribution system
 The same arrangement of components can also be used to provide hot water
for domestic and related use and, with the addition of other components,
space cooling (air conditioning).
 In the collector the solar radiation is collected and converted into heat.
 The heat-transport fluid removes the heat and carries it to the heat-storage
system; the heat can then be withdrawn from the storage and distributed
throughout the building.

40
 ENERGY STORAGE:
The solar energy storage systems can be classified as follows:
 Thermal energy storage system
 Chemical energy storage system
 Electrical energy storage system
 Hydrogen energy storage system
 Electromagnetic energy storage system
 Biological storage system
 Thermal energy storage:
Thermal energy storage can be
i. Sensible heat storage by the virtue of heat capacity and the
change in temperature of the material and
ii. Latent heat storage by the virtue of latent heat necessary to
change the phase of the storage medium.
 Chemical energy storage:
 Lead acid batteries are the most commonly used means in chemical energy
storage system.
 The advantages are
i. good working efficiency (up to 80%),
ii. low cost,
iii. rapid changefrom charging to discharging mode and
iv. slow discharge rate.
 A storage battery takes electrical energy generated by solar radiation and stores it
as chemical energy.
 It later supplies electric energy by converting this stored energy.
 Electrical energy storage:
 A capacitor is used to store electrical energy in an electrostatic field when it
is charged.
 The capacitor of large capacity is required to store a significant amount
of energy.
 Hydrogen energy storage:
 The electrical energy is used to decompose water by the electrolysis
reaction into hydrogen and oxygen.
 These substances can be recombined to release the stored energy when required.

41
 Electromagnetic energy storage:
 The electrical energy is used to store energy in a magnetic field.
 The resistance of the coilwire is made almost negligible so that the stored
energy in the coil is not dissipated out and stored energy in the magnetic field
can be maintained indefinitely.
 The electromagnetic energy storage requires the use of superconducting
materials.
 These materials develop almost zero resistance to electricity flow when cooled
below a critical or transition temperature.
 This method of storing electromagnetic energy is also called super
conducting magnetic energy storage (SMES).
 The electric energy can be recovered when coil is discharged.
 Biological storage:
 The solar energy is stored in plants by a process known as photosynthesis.
 Photosynthesis is the process in which organic compounds are formed in
green plants using carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide in the presence
of sunlight.
 The plants on decaying form biomass which can be converted into
various types of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.
 Sensible Heat Storage:

Fig: Short-term sensible heat storage by water

Fig: Long-term sensible heat storage by water

42
  Thermal energy is stored in this type of storage by virtue of heat capacity and
temperature difference developed during charging and discharging.
 The temperature of the storage material rises when thermal energy is absorbed
and temperature drops when thermal energy is taken out.
 In this storage, the charging and discharging can be performed reversibly for
an unlimited number of times.
 The sensible heat storage can be liquid media storage and solid media
storage.
 Water is considered as the most suitable media for storage below l00°C.
 Liquids such as oils, liquid metals and molten salts are also used as
liquid media storage.
 The water thermal energy storage can be short term and long term.
 A short-term thermal energy storage system has a well-insulated storage
tank as shown in figure.
 The storagein such tank is economical for few days only as heat losses
over long duration make the storage uneconomical.
 Long-term sensible heat storage by water is possible in underground
reservoirs having special insulation.
 In this system, water is heated in charging mode by passing it through a heat
exchanger and then it is stored in an underground reservoir.
 In the discharge mode, the hot water is made to flow back through the heat
exchanger, where it releases the stored energy as shown in figure
but with reverse circulation.
 Advantages:
Water has the following advantages:
 It is abundantly available.
 It is inexpensive.
 It has high specific heat which enables to store more heat per unit mass.
 It has low viscosity requiring less energy to pump through the pipe system.
 It can be used for both storage and working medium.
 It is stable.
 It has no harmful effect.

43
 Disadvantages:
Water has the following disadvantages:
 It has limited temperature range of 0–l00°C.
 It results in the corrosion of pipes.
 It can leak easily as it has low surface tension.
 Solid media storage or packed media storage:

Fig: Solid media storage

 This type of storage has a bed of loosely packed solid materials such as rocks, sand,
concrete, pebbles and metals to store sensible heat.
 A fluid such as air is circulated through the be to add or remove heat from the storage.
 This type of solid media storage has no limitations such as
i. Low temperature due to freezing and
ii. High temperature due to vaporizing as applicable in the case of liquid media
storage.
 A typical packed bed storage unit is shown in figure.
 It consists of a container, a screen to support the bed, inlet duct and outlet duct.
 The charging or adding of heat is done by passing hot air through the bed in one
direction and the removable of heat is done by passing the normal air through the bed in
the opposite direction.
 Advantages:
The advantages of solid media storage are as follows:
 Stones or pebbles are abundantly available
 Low cost
 Non-combustible
 Easy to handle
 Possibility of high storage temperature
 No freezing point during heat removal
 No corrosion problem
 No requirement of heat exchanger

44
  Disadvantages:
The disadvantages are as follows:
 The size of the storage container should be large
 Simultaneously charging and discharging of energy is impossible
 Large pressure drop needs high- c a p a c i ty air blower.
 Latent heat storage:

Fig: Arrangement for latent heat storage

 In the latent heat storage, heat energy is stored by virtue of latent heat which
is required to bring about phase change of storage medium.
 The heat required to bring about phase changeof a material is much larger
compared to sensible heat change of the same material.
 The phase change of a material also involves absorption or release of a
large quantity of heatenergy at constant temperature, which is impossible
in the case of sensible heating andcooling.
 Therefore, latent heat storage system is more compact for a certain heat
storage compared to sensible heat storage system.
 The phase change which can be used for storage system are solid–solid,
solid–gas, solid–liquid and liquid–gas.
 Solid–gas and liquid–gas transformation involves large volume changes,
thereby making such storage systems impractical and complex.
 However, solid–solid transition involves transformation of the material
from one crystalline form to another, thereby resulting in the transformation
with small volume changes.
 Hence, such storage systems are practical and preferred in spite of small
changesin latent heat possible during transformation.
 For phase-change storage media, salt hydrates called Glauber’s salt
(Na2SO4·l0H2O) are preferred.

45
 These have solid–liquid transformation. Besides hydrates, paraffins
(C18HS6) and non-paraffins (ester, fatty acids, alcohols and glycols) are
also suitable for such storage.
 The hydrate crystals have water of crystallization and these can be
represented by X(Y)n·mH2O (one atom of X, n atoms of Y and m
molecules of water in one crystal).
 When hydrate crystals are heated to transition temperature, these crystals
release their water of crystallization and anhydrous salt (hydrates without
water) get dissolved in the released water.
 The reaction is as follows:

 The problems faced with the use of salt hydrate for latent heat storage are
as follows:
(i) The released water of crystallization is insufficient to dissolve all the solid
salt produced on heating. The anhydrous salt settles down at the bottom
of the container. The recrystallization becomes impossible on removal
of heat. The process becomes irreversible and performance
degradation takes place.
(ii)Mechanical means (vibration or stirring), the suspension media or
thickening agents have to be used to make the system work in reversible
manner without performance degradation. The problem can also be
resolved by limiting vertical height of the container.
(iii) Heat of fusion is small (25l kJ/kg).

46
 Model problem(s) on energy storage

1. Glauber’s salt is used as medium for phase-change storage in a solar

heating system. Determine how much energy is stored per unit mass of the
salt when the salt is heated from 25° to 50°C. Specific heat of salt crystal is
1.95 kJ/(kg K) and of anhydrous salt solution is 3.55 kJ/(kg K). Take
melting point of salt as 32°C and latent heat as 250 kJ/kg.
Solution:

47
 SELECTIVE SURFACE:

 Almost all the selective surfaces will absorb and emit as much radiation
as possible at all wavelengths i.e., a black body.
 These includes metal oxides and sulphide layer coated on various
metals such as
 Nickel-zinc sulphide (Ni/ZnS) generally known as nickel black
 Black chromem (Cr/Cr2 O3)
 Copper oxide20,23 (CuO)
 Iron oxide (Fe3 O4)21.23.24 and
 Cobalt oxide (CO3 O4)25.26

 Black Chrome (Cr-Cr, 0₂):

 This is the most important and extensively used selective coating and is
obtained by electroplating a layer of bright nickel on the absorber plate.
 Then after electrodepositing of thin layer of chromium oxide (black
chrome) on the nickel surface, nickel black, copper oxide, cobalt oxide,
undoped and doped tin oxide (SnO₂) etc., all these selective coatings are
coated on the absorber materials by the processes like,
 Chemical deposition
 Electrodeposition or Electroplating
 Spray technique
 Painting and other methods of application.

 However, the selective coating is basically a double layered deposition

of thin coating (i.e., Bright and black dull metal).

 Selective surface for collectors:

 It basically consists of a flat metallic surface usually made of copper,

steel or aluminium, which has high absorptivity for solar radiation, called
the absorbing surface.
 The thickness of this metallic surface ranges from 1 to 2 mm.
 The tubes that are attached to the absorber plate has the diameter from
1 to 1.3 cm.
 Heat is transferred from the absorber plate to a point of use by circulation
of fluid across the solar heated surface.
 Insulation of 5 to 10 cm thickness is provided behind the absorber plate
to avoid the heat losses from the rear surface.

48
 SOLAR STILLS OR SOLAR DISTILLATION:

Fig: Working of a solar still

 It is used to purify the water.

 In this solar energy is used to convert saline water into distilled water.
 The process to convert saline water into pure water using solar
radiation is called solar distillation.
 A solar device used for this purpose is called solar still.
 A solar still consists of a shallow blackened basin filled with saline
or brackish water to be distilled.
 It is covered with sloping transparent roof as shown in figure.
 The sun rays can pass through transparent roof and these rays are
absorbed by the blackened surface of the basin, thereby increasing the
temperature of water.
 The water in basin evaporates due to solar heat and rises to the roof.
 The water vapour cools down and condenses at the under surface of the roof.
 The water dropsor condensed water slip down along the sloping roof.
 The condensed water is collected by the condensate channel and
drained out from the solar still.
 SOLAR PONDS:

Fig: The three zones in the pond

49
 Fig: Variation of density Fig: Variation of temperature

Fig: The concept of solar pond

 Principle:
• In ordinary pond, when water is heated up by the sun rays, the heated
water rises to the top of the pond.
• The hot water loses heat to the atmosphere, and so the net temperature
at the top of the pond remains nearly at atmospheric temperature.
• The solar pond technology ensures that heated brine water remains at the
bottom of the pond due to more brine concentration and density in it.
 Construction and working:
• The solar pond serves the dual purpose of a large flat collector and a
thermal storage system.
• It consists of a large size brine pond (depth of about l m) which has salt
concentration gradient in such a way that the most concentrated and
dense part of the brine solution is at the bottom of the pond and brine
concentration gradually reduces from bottom to top of the pond based
on the variation of brine solution density.
• A solar pond has three zones as shown in figure.
• The top zone is surface zone which has the least salt content and its
temperature is the atmospheric temperature.
• The bottom zone has the maximum salt content and it has a high
temperature (70–85°C).
• This is the zone that collects and stores the solar energy as heat energy.
• In between these two zones there is the gradient non-convective zone.
 SOLAR REFRIGERATION:
 Refrigeration is a process of maintaining the temperature lower
than the surroundings.
 Usually there are two kinds of refrigeration systems are available
i. Solar vapour compression refrigeration system
ii. Solar absorption refrigeration system

50
 Solar vapour compression refrigeration system:

Fig: Solar vapour compression refrigeration system

 Vapour compression system can be used for both cooling and

heating.
 If the vapour compression system takes heat from space and
releases to atmosphere, it is working as cooling system.
 On the other hand, if the vapour compression system takes heat
from atmosphere and releases the same into the space, it is
working as heat pump.
 The vapour compression system working with solar radiation to
cool a space is shown in figure.
 Solar power is converted into mechanical work using turbine
which then runs a compressor coupled with it.
 The compressed refrigerant is expanded into evaporator, providing
the requisite cooling.

51
 Solar absorption refrigeration system:

Fig: Solar absorption refrigeration system

• A simple solar operated absorption refrigeration system to cool a space

is as shown in figure.
• The hot water transported from a flat plate collector is passed through a
generator which is a heat exchanger.
• The heat is transferred to a refrigerant and absorber solution.
• The refrigerant can be ammonia or water while absorber is water or
lithium bromide which generates refrigerant vapours at high pressure.
• The high-pressure vapours are condensed into high-pressure liquid in the
condenser.
• The high-pressure refrigerant liquid is throttled to low pressure and
temperature by an expansion valve.
• The low-pressure refrigerant takes heat from the evaporator and
vapouries, thereby cooling air or water which can be used for cooling the
space inside the building.
• The refrigerant vapour is ultimately absorbed into the weak solution
taken from generator to the absorber, thereby converting it into strong
solution of the refrigerant.
• The strong solution is pumped from the absorber to the generator for the
repeat of the refrigeration cycle.

52
  Lithium bromide-water system:
Water is refrigerant and lithium bromide is absorber. The absorber
has pressure of 0.l atm and temperature of 90°C while evaporator has
pressure of 0.008 atm and temperature of 4°C.
Merits
• It is a comparatively simple system.
• It has high coefficient of performance.
• It requires less power for pumping water from absorber to
generator due to lesser pressure in the generator.
• Water as refrigerant has more latent heat of vapourisation.
• Lithium bromide is non-volatile which helps to prevent
water vapour from going out of generator to condenser.
Demerits
• As it can develop low temperature of 4°C only in
evaporator. The system can be used for only air
conditioning purpose.
• The solution is corrosive.
• Maintaining very low pressure in the evaporator and
absorber is problematic.
• Condenser has to be water cooled. Air cooling of condenser
is not possible.
 Aqua-ammonia absorption system:
It has ammonia as refrigerant and water as absorber. The generator has
pressure of l0 atm and temperature of l20°C, while evaporator has pressure of l atm
and temperature of –5°C.
Merits
• It is suitable for both air conditioning and refrigeration.
• Condenser can be air or water cooled.
• The absorber is water, which is non-toxic and inflammable.
Demerits
• A rectifier is required to separate water entering into condenser.
• High pumping power to pump refrigerant from the absorber to the
generator is required.
• Ammonia is inflammable.
• Ammonia is toxic.
53
 PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION:
 Photovoltaic effect is a process in which two dissimilar materials in close
contact produce an electrical charge when struck by light or any other radiant
energy.
 Solar power is the production of electricity directly from sunlight.
 The solar photovoltaic(PV) power is produced using photovoltaic effect so
that when sunlight strikes a solar voltaic cell, it releases electrons from the
p-n junction of the cell and pushes these electrons acrossa potential barrier
or electric field at the junction.
 These electrons then travel through an external circuit to return to their usual
state and in this process create electric power.
 A photovoltaic (PV) system is able to supply electric energy to a given
load by directly converting solar energy through the photovoltaic
effect.
 The system structure is very flexible.
 PV modules are the main building blocks; these can be arranged into
arrays to increase electric energy production.
 Normally additional equipment is necessary in order to transform
energy into a useful form or store energy for future use.
 Electricity Generation with Solar Cells:
 The photovoltaic effect is the basic physical process through which
a PV cell converts sunlight into electricity.
 Sunlight is composed of photons (like energy accumulations), or
particles of solar energy.
 These photons contain various amounts of energy corresponding to
the different wavelengths of the solar spectrum.
 When photons hit a PV cell, they may be reflected or absorbed.
 Only the absorbed photons generate electricity.
 A solar cell is essentially a p-n junction with a large surface area.
 The n-type material is kept thin to allow light to pass through it and
strike the p-n junction.
 The light travels in packets of energy called photons.
 The generation of electric current takes place inside the depletion
zone of the p-n junction.
 The depletion zone as explained previously is the area around the p-n
junction where the electrons from the n-region diffuse into the holes
of the p-region.
 When a photon of light is absorbed by one of these atoms in n-region
of silicon, it will dislodge an electron from any atom, thereby
creating a free electron and hole pair.

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  The free electron and hole pair has sufficient energy to jump out of
the depletion zone.
 If a wire is connected from the cathode at n-type silicon to an anode
of p-type silicon, electrons flow through the wire.
 The electron is attracted to the positive charge of p-type material and
travels through the external load (bulb or resistance), thereby
creating a flow of electric current.
 The hole created by the dislodged electron is attracted to the negative
charge of the n-type material and travels to “back electrical contact”.
 As the electron reaches the p-type silicon from the “back electrical
contact”, it combines with the hole, thereby restoring the electrical
neutrality.

Fig: n-type semiconductor Fig: p-type semiconductor

Fig: Generation of “emf” across junction to move the charge carriers

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Fig: Photon generating pairs of electron and hole to move electric current in the
external circuit

Fig: Depletion layer

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 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 ENERGY SCENARIO AND SURVEY

 Renewable energy sources:

These are inexhaustible resources also non-traditional in use. The issue related with
sustainable power sources is that the vitality won't be accessible to us consistently and
in sufficient quantity. Examples of renewable energy sources are:

 Wind energy
 Geothermal energy
 Ocean thermal energy conversion
 Wind energy:

In India, greater wind speeds are available in coastal areas of Saurashtra,

some regions of central India and west Rajasthan. In these areas, there would be a
possibility of using medium and large size wind mills for the generation of electricity. In
our nation, the enthusiasm for the wind plants was found in the late fifties and mid-
sixties. The wind energy generated annually over land area of earth is about 1.67×10 5
kWh. This is through natural phenomena and 10 times of obtained value gives over the
entire global region. Wind energy generation as represented in fig. as exposed below.

Many projects on the wind mill systems for water pumping and for production of
electrical power were taken up by many organizers in our country. Some of the
developments were given below,

 WP-2 water pumping wind mill by NAL Bangalore

 CAZRI wind mill at Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
 12PU 500 wind mill at NAL Bangalore
 Madurai wind mill at Madurai (Tamil Nadu)
 MP-1 soil wind mill at NAL Bangalore

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 Fig: Representation of wind power generation

 Geothermal energy:

The geothermal power is roughly estimated for a depth of 3km to be

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8×10 joules of total energy stored while for a depth of 10 km, the total energy stored is
found to be 4×1022 joules approximately. Geothermal power generation as represented
in fig. as exposed below.

In India, Himachal Pradesh is reported to have geothermal energy is

exploitable amount. Under the sponsorship of DNES, a 7.5 tonne capacity cold storage
pilot plant based on geothermal energy is installed at Manikarh, Himachal Pradesh.

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 Fig: Representation of geothermal power generation

 Ocean thermal energy conversion:

In India, the department of non-conventional energy sources (DNES)

has proposed to introduce a 1 MW OTEC plant in Lakshadweep Island at Minicoy and
Kavaratti. Primer oceanographic studies on the eastern side of Lakshadweep Island
shows the likelihood of the foundation of shore based OTEC plant at the Island.

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 Both the Islands possess large lagoons on western side. The OTEC plant will raise
the water from 1000 m depth which has huge supplement esteem. Ocean thermal energy
conversion as represented in fig. as exposed below.

Fig: Representation of ocean thermal energy conversion

 NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES:

These are exhaustible resources and traditional in use. The traditional source stores
can be respected to be in fixed amount. Each time we consume non-renewable energy
source, we drain an energy supply which has taken 600 million years to develop. At the
present utilization amount, we may devour earth's whole supply of non-renewable energy
source in under hundred years from the all the way.

Examples of traditional sources are:

 Coal
 Oil
 Nuclear power

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  Coal:

Coals are the rocks in earth’s crust which are produced due to the decay of
plant materials, which are accumulated millions of years ago. Coal is represented in fig.
as exposed below. The coal is formed from the vegetation in the following sequential
order,

Plant debris → Peat → Lignite → Brown coal → Sub-bituminous coal → Bituminous

coal → Semi anthracite → anthracite coal → Graphite.

Fig: Representation of coal

Since the emergence of industrialization coal has become the most common source
of energy. The commissioning of an additional 500 MW unit at Korba thermal power
station, this power station has the largest power station of India. The plant is situated on
the west bank at the Hardeo river near Korba. The project is the 2nd in the series of super
thermal power stations set up by the NTPC. The 500 MW generators were provided by
BHEL. States like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa were befitted from
the project. Thermal power plant layout and its overview as mentioned in fig. as exposed
below.

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 Fig: Thermal power plant layout

Fig: Over view of power plant

 Oil:

Nearly forty percent of the energy needs of the world are bolstered by oil. In
the last three decades, the world has changed over from coal to oil as a major source
of energy because it is cleaner and simpler to obtain useful energy from oil. Our
nation is not specifically rich in gasoline reserves.

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 Fig: Representation of oil

The potential oil bearing areas are situated in Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Manipur,
Punjab, Kutch, Ganga Valley, Himachal Pradesh and eastern and western coastal areas
such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Also Lakshadweep, Andaman and
Nicobar Islands and in the continental shelves adjoining these regions.

Fig: Global strategic petroleum reserves

 Nuclear power:

The uranium reserves in the world presently small. A nation like India
has uranium, satisfactory enough simply to produce 6×106 kW, only 1% of its current
energy requirements. Our nation has abundant capitals of nuclear fuel which will
advantage growth of nuclear power in the country. Uranium reserves located at
Jaduguda, Narwapahar and Bhattin (Bihar) are total about 33000 tonnes. Overview of
nuclear power plant is exposed below in fig.

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 In India, plentiful thorium deposits are obtainable from monazite sand in the west
coast. Hence, India’s interest lies in thorium breeder reactors. The following are the
nuclear power plants in India,

 Capacity of 400 MW at Maharashtra

 Capacity of 440 MW at Tamil Nadu
 Capacity of 940 MW at Gujarat etc.

Fig: Overview of nuclear power plant

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 SOLAR COLLECTORS:
 Solar energy reaching earth’s surface has small intensity of about 5–7.5 kWh/m2.
 Hence, for any worthwhile application, sufficient solar energy should be
collected from a large ground area with the help of many solar collectors.
 Solar collector is a device for collecting solar radiation and then transferring
the absorbed energy to a fluid passing through it.
 A solar collector absorbs solar energy in the form of heat and simultaneously
transfers this heat to a fluid so that the heat can be transported by the fluid.
 The transport fluid takes this transferred heat from the collector and delivers it to
a thermal storage tank, boiler or heat exchanger so that it can be utilized in a
solar thermal system.
 Hence, solar collector is essential and it forms the first basic unit in a
solar thermal system
 Classification of solar collectors:

Fig: Classification of solar collector

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 Differences between solar flat plate and concentric collectors:

 Differences among flat plate, parabolic through and paraboloidal collectors:

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 Descriptive questions

Q.No. Description questions

1. Explain the global and India wise energy scenario and survey of energy resources.
Explain the prospects of non-conventional energy sources availability in India? What is
2. the energy policy formulated by the government of India?
Classify and explain the energy resources and describe the need and future of non-
3. conventional.
4. Illustate the sun earth realatinship with the help of basic sun earth angles.
Define solar constant? What is the difference between extraterrestrial and terrestrial solar
5.
radiations?
Explicate i. Beam radiation ii. Diffuse radiation
6.
iii. Global radiation iv. Attenuation

7. What are the radiation measuring instruments? and describe them with help of neat sketch.
8. How are solar collectors classified? What are the important features of a solar collector?
9. List the various applications of solar energy.
10. Demonstrate the working of Solar water heating.

11. Explain the different types of Space heating.

What is meant by solar energy storage? Mention the various solar energy storage
12. systems.

13. Which kind of parameters will you observe in selective surfaces for solar systems?

14. Explain the working of solar stills.

15. Describe the construction of solar ponds.

Illustrate production of the refrigeration by using solar systems and explain the different
16. methods?
17. Explain the electricity production by using photovoltaic generation.
Calculate the number of daylight hours in Srinagar for 1 January and 1 July.Take latitude
18.
of Srinagar as 34º05' N.
Calculate the hour angle at sunrise and sunset on 21 June and 21 December for a surface inclined
19. at an angle of 10º and facing due south (γ = 0). The surfaceis located in Mumbai (19º07' N,
72º51' E).
Glauber’s salt is used as medium for phase-change storage in a solar heating system.
Determine how much energy is stored per unit mass of the salt when the salt is heated from
20. 25° to 50°C. Specific heat of salt crystal is 1.95 kJ/(kg K) and of anhydrous salt solution
is 3.55 kJ/(kg K). Take melting point of salt as 32°C and latent heat as 250 kJ/kg.

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 Quiz questions

Q.No. Quiz questions Ans

1. Direct Solar energy is used for
D
(A) Water heating (B) Distillation (C) Drying (D) All of the above
2. The power from the sun intercepted by the earth is
approximately B
(A) 1.8 x 108 MW (B) 1.8 x 1011 MW (C) 1.8 x 1014 MW (D) 1.8 x 1017 MW
3. The following is indirect method of Solar energy utilization
D
(A) Wind energy (B) Biomass energy (C) Wave energy (D) All of the above
4. A liquid flat plate collector is usually held tilted in a fixed
position, facing _____ if located in the northern hemisphere. B
(A) North (B) South (C) East (D) West
5. The collection efficiency of Flat plate collector can be improved
by
(A) putting a selective coating on the plate
C
(B) evacuating the space above the absorber plate
(C) both (A) and (B)
(D) None of the above
6. The efficiency of various types of collectors ______ with _______
temperature.
B
(A) increases, decreasing (B) decreases, increasing
(C) remains same, increasing (D) depends upon type of collector
7. Maximum efficiency is obtained in
(A) Flat plate collector (B) Evacuated tube collector D
(C) Line focusing collector (D) Paraboloid dish collector
8. The following type of energy is stored as latent heat
(A) Thermal energy (B) Chemical energy (C) Electrical energy A
(D) Mechanical energy
9. Which of the following type of collector is used for low
temperature systems?
(A) Flat plate collector (B) Line focussing parabolic collector A
(C) Paraboloid dish collector (D) All of the above

10. In the paraboloid dish concept, the concentrator tracks the sun
by rotating about B
(A) One axes (B) Two axes (C) Three axes (D) None of the above

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 Assignment questions

Q.No. Assignment questions

1. Write the limitations on the use of non-conventional sources of energy.
Define the following:
2. i. Air mass ii. Longitude iii. Latitude
iv. Local apparent time
Analyze the expression for the angle of incidence (θ) for an inclined
surface? Find the angle of incidence (θ) when
(i) tilt angle β= 0,
3. (ii) tilt angle β= 90º,
(iii) surface azimuth angle ɣ= 0 and
(iv) β = 90º and ɣ = 0º.
4. Describe the working principle of paraboloidal dish collector.
5. Illustrate the working principle of central tower receiver collector.
6. Analyse the I-V characteristics of solar cell.

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