Rer Unit-2
Rer Unit-2
Unit-II
Solar Thermal Energy: Solar radiation, flat plate
collectors and their materials, applications and
performance, focusing of collectors, solar thermal power
plants, thermal energy storage for solar heating and
cooling, limitations.
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Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation
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Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation
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Terrestrial Solar Radiation
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Types of Solar Radiations
(A) Direct or Beam Radiation (𝑰𝒃 ): The radiation received
on the earth’s surface directly without change in direction and
does not get absorbed, reflected and scattered while passing
through atmosphere.
(B) Diffuse radiation (𝑰𝒅 ): The radiation received on earth
surface at a location from all the directions. This radiation
changes the original direction after scattering, reflection in the
atmosphere as well as by ground surface. Its average value is
nearly 20% in the morning hrs and decreases to 5-10% of the
total radiation during the clear day but increase in the hazy and
cloudy conditions of sky.
(C) Total or Global Radiation (𝑰𝒕 ): The sum of beam and
diffuse radiation intercepted at the surface of the earth per unit
area of location is called the total /global radiation or
insolation: 10/20/202
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𝑰𝒕 = 𝑰𝒃 + 𝑰𝒅
Air Mass
It is a term used to assess the distance travelled by a beam
radiation through the atmosphere before reaching the location
on the earth’s surface.
It is defined as the ratio of the path of the sun’s ray through the
atmosphere to the length of the path when the sun is directly
over head or sun is at its zenith.
𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛′ 𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒
𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑚 =
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑
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Basic Sun-Earth Angles
Angle of latitude of a particular location: It is the vertical angle between
the line joining that point of location to the center of the earth and its
projection on an equatorial plane. It is 00 for a point on the equator and
±900 for a point at the poles.
Declination angle (δ): It is the angle made between the line joining the sun
to earth and its projection on the equatorial plane. Due to the inclination of
earth’s axis, the line joining the Sun and Earth will not lie on the equatorial
plane. It varies through the year from + 23.450 to -23.450.
Its value can be calculated as:
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Basic Sun-Earth Angles
Hour angle (ω): It is the angle representing the position of the sun with
respect to clock hour and with reference to sun’s position at 12 noon. In
other words it represents the angle through which the earth must rotate so
that the meridian at a point comes into alignment with sun’s rays. It is a
constant and equal to 150 /ℎ𝑟.
Solar altitude angle (α): It shows a horizontal plane drawn at any place on
earth. At any point the line joining sun to the center of this horizontal plane
and the line joining the projection of sun and the center of the horizontal
plane makes a vertical angle α, which is called the altitude angle.
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Basic Sun-Earth Angles
Zenith angle (θZ): If a vertical line is drawn to this horizontal plane, at its
center, the line joining sun and the center of the plane will make an angle
θZ with this vertical. This angle is called the zenith angle.
Local solar time (LST): This is also called Local Apparent Time (LAT)
td calculated using various values of θZ. The time so calculated is the Local
Solar Time. This will vary from the actual clock time by approximately 4
minutes. This variation changes with the month of the year.
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Solar Angles
Sun’s position relative to a vertical surface
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Earth Angle
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3. Hour Angle (ω)
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Sun Angle
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Solar Thermal Energy
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Solar Collectors
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Non concentrating collectors
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Comparison of Concentrating type and Non-
concentrating type Solar collectors
In the Concentrating type solar radiation is converged from a
large area into a smaller area using optical means
Beam radiation which has a unique direction and travels in a
straight line, can be converged by reflection or refraction
techniques
Diffused radiations, however, have no unique direction and so
do not obey optical principles
Therefore, diffuse components can not be concentrated.
Thus concentrating type solar collectors mainly make use of
beam radiation component (plus very little diffuse component
coming directly over absorber), while non-concentrating (flat
plate) collectors absorb both beam as well as diffuse radiation,
which is a distinct advantage of flat plate collector 10/20/202
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Flat Plate Collectors
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Flat Plate Collectors
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Flat Plate Collectors
These are the most important part of any solar thermal energy system.
It is simplest in design and absorbs direct and diffuse radiations both and
converts it into useful heat.
It is suitable for heating to temperature below 1000 C.
Advantages Disadvantages
1. Utilizes the both the beam as well as 1. Large heat losses by conduction and
diffuse radiation for heating radiation.
2. Less maintenance requires 2. No tracking of sun.
3. Low water temperature is achieved. 3. Low water temperature is achieved.
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Vacuum Tube Collectors
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Vacuum Tube Collectors
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Vacuum Tube Collectors
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Unglazed Flat Plate Collectors
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Unglazed Flat Plate Collectors
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Construction and Materials for Flat Plate
Collectors
Material needed for flat plate collectors can be classified into following
groups:
Physical properties – tensile strength, density etc.
Thermal properties – thermal conductivity, heat capacity etc.
Environmental properties – corrosion resistant, degradation of material
due to UV radiation, moisture penetration etc.
The materials generally used for various components of a flat plate
collector are as given below:
(a) Absorber Plate and Tubes:
(b) Thermal Insulation:
(c) Transparent Cover Plates:
(d) Casing:
(e) Selective Coating: 10/20/202
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Materials for Flat Plate Collectors
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Materials for Flat Plate Collectors
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Performance of Flat Plate Collectors:
Fin Efficiency Factor (F)
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Performance of Flat Plate Collectors:
Collector Efficiency Factor (F’)
It is defined as the ratio of useful heat removed by flowing
fluid in the tubes to the heat removed with the assumption that
the collector absorbing plate is at local fluid temperature (Tf)
throughout.
This factor is constant for given collectors and depends on the
design and flow rate of fluid through tubes.
Decreases with an increase in spacing between the tubes and
increases with the thermal conductivity of the material and its
thickness.
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Performance of Flat Plate Collectors:
Collector Heat Removal Factor (FR)
It is defined as a ratio of actual useful energy gain by fluid to
the energy gain if the entire collector is at fluid inlet
temperature.
It reduces the actual useful heat gain by flowing fluid in the
tube.
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Factor Affecting the Performance of Flat
Plate Collectors:
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Number of Cover Plates: The increase in number of cover
plate reduces the internal convective heat losses but also
prevents the transmission of radiation inside the collector.
More than two cover plate should not be used to optimize the
system.
Collector Tilt: The flat plate collectors do not track sun and
should be tilted at angle latitude of the location for an average
better performance. The collector is placed with south facing at
northern hemisphere to receive maximum radiation throughout
the day.
Spacing between Absorber Plates and Glass Cover: The
more space between the absorber and cover plate the less
internal heat losses. The collector efficiency will be increased.
However on the other hand, increase in space between them
provides the shading by side wall in the morning and evening
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and reduces the absorbed solar flux. PM
Fluid Inlet Temperature: As the inlet temperature of the fluid
increases, the operating temperature of the collector increases.
This lead to increased losses and decrease in efficiency.
Dust on Cover Plate: The efficiency of collector decreases
with dust particles on the cover plate because the transmission
radiation decreases by 1%. Frequent cleaning is required to get
the maximum efficiency of collector.
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Concentrating Type Collectors
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Concentrating Type Collectors
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Types of Solar Concentrating Collectors
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Mirror Strip Reflector Type Concentrating Collector
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Fresnel Lens Concentrating Collector
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Parabolic Dish Collector
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Types of Solar Concentrating Collectors
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Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC)
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Center Receiver Type (Solar Power Tower)
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Solar Thermal System
A solar thermal system is use to convert solar energy into other
forms of energy which may be utilized for various applications
like:
Heating water for domestic use and for swimming pools;
Heating and cooling of buildings;
Day lighting of buildings;
Cooking food;
Solar distillation (water treatment etc);
Electricity generation;
Powering earth satellites etc.
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Solar Thermal Power plant
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Low Temperature Solar Power System
•The low temperature solar power plants uses the working fluid
temperatures in the range of 600 ℃ to 1000 ℃ which can be
obtained using flat plate collectors.
•Since the water can be only heated 800 ℃ in FPC, the systems
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needs to use a working fluid having low boiling temperature like
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butane gas.
The cold water is circulated into the collector with the help of
a circulating pump.
The heated water is circulated in a heat exchanger called butane
boiler, where it generates the butane gas at high pressure. This
butane gas supplied to a butane turbine to produce mechanical
power due to expansion of butane gas.
The vapour coming out of the turbine is condensed in a
condenser and sent back for recirculation with the help of feed
pump.
The mechanical power output of turbine is converted into
electric power by generator.
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Medium temperature Solar Power Plant
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High Temperature Solar Thermal Power Plants
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Solar Pond
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The heat of hot brine solution from solar pond is used to
evaporated the working substance at constant pressure in the
boiler.
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The cycle used for cooling with utilization of solar energy is vapour
absorption cycle is used in remote area having scarcity of power.
The performance of vapour absorption system depends upon the working
fluid pair i.e. refrigerant and absorbent.
The absorption systems are classified as:
(a)Ammonia/water absorption system
(b)Ammonia/water/hydrogen Electrolux absorption system
(c)Lithium bromide (Libr)/water absorption system.
Simple Ammonia/Water Absorption System
The most commonly used refrigerant in the absorption system is ammonia.
It is cheap and readily available and has a great affinity with water is used
as an absorbent and absorbs NH3 very fast.
The ammonia-water absorption system is used for cooling duties up to
-500 ℃. The heat required in the generator is supplied by water heated in
FPC.
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Its main components and their working can be explained as:
(a)The Absorber: The absorber acts as a suction pump. The
water is used as absorbent to absorb the low-pressure suction
vapour of NH3 coming out of evaporator. During absorption
the ammonia discharges its latent heat of condensation to the
water which raises its temperature. Thus it is always desirable
to cool the absorbent solution by cooled circulated external
water or by means to keep the absorbent temperature as low as
possible.
(b) Pump: The NH3 rich solution from the absorber is pumped
to the generator by means of using small capacity pump. The
pump raises the pressure of mixture.
(c) Generator: The heat from collector is supplied to the
generator to boil off the rich mixture of NH3/water. 10/20/202
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(d) Pressure Reducing Valve: The weak solution left in the
generator at condensed pressure is returned back to absorber
through pressure reducing valve. The pressure reduces from
condenser pressure to absorber pressure.
(e) Condenser: The high pressure ammonia vapour leaving the
generator gets condensed in water-cooled condenser.
(f) Expansion Device: The condensed liquid ammonia from
condenser is supplied through expansion device to evaporator.
The Expansion device lower the pressure and temperature of
liquid ammonia.
(g) Evaporator: Low temperature and low pressure liquid
ammonia enters in the evaporator where it boils of by
absorbing latent heat from surrounding to produce
refrigeration effect. The liquid NH3 changes to low pressure
suction vapour. The suction vapour is absorbed in absorber to
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maintain the continue circulation of NH3 in system. PM
Thank You
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