Instrumentation for measuring solar radiation

❖ Construction of a Pyranometer:
✓ Protective Lens: The upper portion of the pyranometer is
equipped with a protective lens that is designed to be
transparent. This lens has a 180-degree field of view, allowing
it to capture both direct and diffuse solar radiation while
protecting the internal components from environmental
factors such as rain and wind.

Instrumentation for measuring solar radiation

✓ Black Body: At the core of the pyranometer is a black body,
which is a surface that absorbs solar radiation effectively.
This black body is often referred to as a black plate. It is
crucial for the measurement process as it absorbs heat from
the incoming radiation.
✓ Thermocouple: Attached to the black body is a thermocouple,
which consists of two different metals joined at one end. This
thermocouple generates a voltage when there is a
temperature difference between the hot junction (attached to
the black body) and the cold junction (reference junction). The
thermocouple converts the absorbed heat into an electrical
signal.
✓ Thermopile: When multiple thermocouples are connected in
series, they form a thermopile. This configuration enhances
the sensitivity and output voltage of the pyranometer,
allowing for more accurate measurements of solar radiation.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
Instrumentation for measuring solar radiation
❖ Working Principle:
✓ When solar radiation strikes the black body, it heats up. The
temperature difference between the hot junction (black body)
and the cold junction creates a voltage output. This voltage is
proportional to the intensity of the solar radiation. The output
voltage is then processed to calculate the solar radiation
intensity in watts per square meter.
❖ Applications of Pyranometers:
✓ Meteorology: To study solar radiation patterns and their
effects on weather.
✓ Solar Energy: To assess solar radiation for the design and
installation of solar power plants.
✓ Agriculture: To optimize crop growth by understanding solar
exposure.
✓ Environmental Monitoring: To measure the impact of solar
radiation on ecosystems.

Instrumentation for measuring solar radiation

❖ Advantages of Pyranometers:
✓ High Accuracy: Pyranometers provide precise measurements
of solar radiation.
✓ Stability: They are designed to maintain stability over time,
ensuring reliable data.
✓ Low Maintenance: Pyranometers require minimal
maintenance, making them cost-effective in the long run.

❖ Disadvantages of Pyranometers:
✓ Sensitivity to Temperature: Pyranometers can be affected by
temperature changes, which may impact their readings.
✓ Cost: While they are generally cost-effective, high-quality
pyranometers can be expensive compared to other measuring
instruments.

Assignment: Pyrgeometer and Pyradiometer

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Direct & Diffused radiation
➢ Sunlight reaching the Earth's surface unmodified by
any of the atmospheric processes is termed direct solar
radiation. Also known as beam radiation.

➢ Solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface after it

was altered by the process of scattering is called
diffused solar radiation. Also known as sky radiation.

➢ Not all of the direct and diffused radiation is available

at the Earth's surface. Some of the radiation received at
the Earth's surface is redirected back to space by
reflection.

*Latitude and the hour angle?

Direct & Diffused radiation

Feature Direct Radiation Diffused Radiation
Scattered in all
Path Straight from the sun
directions
Shadow Sharp Soft or none
Measurement Pyrheliometer Pyranometer
Weather
Higher on clear days Higher on cloudy days
Influence
Solar Energy Best for concentrated Useful for photovoltaic
System solar power (CSP) (PV) panels

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Factors Affecting Radiation
✓ Atmospheric Conditions: More clouds and pollutants increase
diffusion.
✓ Time of Day: Direct radiation is stronger at noon, while diffused
radiation is higher in the morning and evening.
✓ Seasonal Variations: More direct radiation in summer, more
diffusion in winter.
✓ Geographical Location: Higher latitudes receive more diffused
radiation due to the longer path through the atmosphere.

Chapter 3
Solar Heating &
Storage system

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Energy flow of flat-plate collectors
❑ The flat-plate solar collectors are probably the most fundamental
and most studied technology for solar-powered domestic hot water
systems.
❑ The overall idea behind this technology is pretty simple.
❑ The Sun heats a dark flat surface, which collect as much energy as
possible, and then the energy is transferred to water, air, or other
fluid for further use.
❑ The flat-plate systems normally operate and reach the maximum
efficiency within the temperature range from 30 to 80 oC
❑ However, some new types of collectors that employ vacuum
insulation can achieve higher temperatures (up to 100 oC).
❑ Due to the introduction of selective coatings, the stagnant fluid
temperature in flat-plate collectors has been shown to reach 200 oC.

*Advantages and Disadvantages of the flat-plate collectors

Energy flow of flat-plate collectors

❑ These are the main components of a typical flat-plate
solar collector:
✓ Black surface - absorbent of the incident solar energy
✓ Glazing cover - a transparent layer that transmits
radiation to the absorber, but prevents radiative and
convective heat loss from the surface
✓ Tubes containing heating fluid to transfer the heat
from the collector
✓ Support structure to protect the components and hold
them in place
✓ Insulation covering sides and bottom of the collector
to reduce heat losses

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Energy flow of flat-plate collectors
1) Incident Solar Radiation (I):
1. Sunlight strikes the collector surface.
2. Includes direct and diffused radiation.
2) Absorption by the Absorber Plate (Q_abs):
1. A portion of incident radiation is absorbed.
2. Efficiency depends on absorptivity and material properties.
3) Heat Transfer to the Working Fluid (Q_useful):
1. Heat is conducted to the fluid in the tubes.
2. The fluid carries heat to the storage system.
4) Heat Losses (Q_loss):
1. Convective Losses: Heat loss to surrounding air.
2. Radiative Losses: Emission of infrared radiation.
3. Conduction Losses: Through collector edges and mounting.

Factors Affecting Energy Flow

❖ Collector Orientation & Tilt: Maximizes solar absorption.
❖ Absorber Coating: High absorptivity and low emissivity improve
efficiency.
❖ Glazing Material: Reduces heat losses while allowing sunlight
through.
❖ Insulation Quality: Minimizes conduction losses.
❖ Working Fluid Flow Rate: Higher flow rate increases heat transfer
but reduces outlet temperature.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Flat-plate collectors
✓ The key considerations in flat plate collector design are
maximizing absorption, minimizing reflection and radiation
losses, and effective heat transfer from the collector plate to
the fluids.
✓ One of the important issues is obtaining a good thermal bond
between the absorber plate and changes (tubes or ducts
containing the heat-transfer fluids).
✓ Different construction designs (shown below) try to address
this issue.
✓ One of the considerations in choosing the assembly method is
cost of labor and materials.

Absorber plates
❑ The absorber coating is typically a selective coating.
❑ Selective stands for having the special optical
property to combine high absorption in the visible
part of the electromagnetic spectrum coupled to low
emittance in the infrared one.
❑ This creates a selective surface, which reduces black
body energy emission from the absorber and improves
performance.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Heat-transfer fluids
❖ The flat plate collectors can involve liquid or air heat
transport.
❖ Water is one of the common options as liquid fluid due to its
accessibility and good thermal properties:
•It has a relatively high volumetric heat capacity
•It is incompressible (or almost incompressible)
•It has a high mass density (which allows using small tubes
and pipes for transport)
➢ One disadvantage of water is that it freezes during winter,
which can damage the collector or piping system.
➢ This can be managed by draining down the collector at low
solar inputs.
➢ Drain down sensors are often employed to monitor the system
and to ensure complete draining, as pocket water freezing can
cause damage.
➢ Refilling the system with water on the next morning also is not
perfect.
➢ Possible air pockets in the collector can be a problem, blocking
water flow and decreasing system efficiency.

Heat-transfer fluids
❖ Antifreeze mixtures can be used instead of pure water to
alleviate the above-said problems.
✓ The common antifreeze components are ethylene glycol or
propylene glycol.
✓ Those chemicals are mixed with water require closed-loop
systems and proper disposal due to toxicity.
✓ Nominal antifreeze service like is about 5 years, after
which it needs to be replaced.
❖ Air can be used as transport fluid in some designs of flat -plate
collectors.
✓ This option is better suited to space heating applications or
crop drying.
✓ A fan is usually required to facilitate air flow in the system
and efficient heat transport.
✓ Certain designs can provide passive (no fan) movement of
air due to thermal buoyancy.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Heat-transfer fluids
❖ Phase-change liquids can also be used with flat-plate
collectors.
✓ Some refrigerants are included in this group of
fluids.
✓ They do not freeze, which eliminates troubles
explained above for water, and, due to their low
boiling point can change from liquid to gas as
temperature increases.
✓ Those fluids can be practical in settings where quick
response to rapid temperature fluctuation is needed.

Efficiency of flat-plate collectors

❖ In steady state, the useful energy output of the
collector is the difference between the absorbed solar
radiation and the total thermal losses from the
collector
Useful energy = Absorbed solar energy - Thermal losses
Obviously, the higher the useful energy output from a
particular design, the higher the expected efficiency.
𝑄𝑢
𝜂=
𝐴𝑐 𝐺𝑇
where 𝑄𝑢 is the useful energy output from a collector, 𝐺𝑇
is the incident solar radiation flux (irradiance), and 𝐴𝑐 is
the collector area.
𝑄𝑢 = 𝐴𝑐 𝑆 − 𝑈𝐿 𝑇𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 − 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Efficiency of flat-plate collectors
where S is the absorbed solar radiation, 𝑈𝐿 is the total
losses, 𝑇𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 is the temperature of the absorbing plate,
and 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 is the temperature of the air.
In a general case, when measurements of incident solar
radiation (GT) are available, the convenient
approximation for the absorbed energy is given by:
𝑆 = 𝜏𝛼 𝑎𝑣 𝐺𝑇

where (τα)av is the product of transmittance of the

collector cover and absorptance of the plate averaged
over different types of radiation. In fact, (τα)av
≈ 0.96(τα)beam based on practical estimations.

Efficiency of flat-plate collectors

The maximum possible useful energy gain can be achieved
when the collector is at the same temperature as the inlet
fluid. In this case, the heat losses are minimized. However,
in an actual operation setting, this is not always the case.
To describe the effective (actual) useful energy gain via
heat exchange, we should introduce the heat removal
factor – FR
𝑄𝑢 = 𝐴𝑐 𝐹𝑅 𝑆 − 𝑈𝐿 𝑇𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 − 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝑄𝑢 = 𝐴𝑐 𝐹𝑅 𝜏𝛼 𝑎𝑣 𝐺𝑇 − 𝑈𝐿 𝑇𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 − 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝑄𝑢
𝜂𝑖 =
𝐴𝑐 𝐺 𝑇

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Insulation and glazing
✓ Solar thermal collectors use a transport medium or heat
transfer fluid to convert solar radiation into thermal energy.
✓ This is why insulation materials are so critical as they help
to save and concentrate energy.
✓ Insulation materials prevent heat loss and stop the
supporting material from overheating.
✓ By stopping thermal losses through the rear and the sides of
the collector, insulation increases the efficiency of the
collector, meaning the maximum amount of collected heat to
be relocated to the circulating fluid.
✓ Insulation materials also enhance operational efficiency as
they are easily accessible and serviceable, meaning they can
be inspected and maintained easily.
✓ Insulation materials also mean components are safe to touch
and the ambient air is cooler, resulting in a more
comfortable work environment.

Insulation and glazing

❑ Materials for insulation
➢ Fibrous material (like Mineralwool, Glasswool, Asbestos
fibers, Ceramic fibers, Woodwool etc.),
➢ Organic foams (like polyisocyanurate foam, polyurethane
foam,
➢ phenolic foam, expanded polystyrene etc.),
➢ Cellular material (like foam concrete),
➢ Powders (like Saw dust, Rice husk etc.),
➢ Granular material (like Calcium Silicate, 85% Magnesia,
etc.)

❑ The transparent cover is tempered soda-lime glass

having reduced iron oxide content. The glass may
also have a stippling pattern and one or two anti-
reflective coatings to further enhance transparency.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Applications of Flat-Plate Collectors
✓ Residential Water Heating: Used in homes for domestic hot water.
✓ Space Heating: Supplies heat to buildings and greenhouses.
✓ Industrial Process Heating: Supports food processing, chemical
industries, etc.
✓ Swimming Pool Heating: Maintains water temperature efficiently.

Thermal heat storage

❑ it allows excess thermal energy to be stored and used
hours, days, months later, at scales ranging from the
individual process, building, multiuser-building,
district, town, or region.
❑ The different kinds of thermal energy storage can be
divided into three separate categories: sensible heat,
latent heat, and thermo-chemical heat storage.
❑ Each of these has different advantages and
disadvantages that determine their applications.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Sensible heat storage
❑ The most direct way is the storage of sensible heat.
❑ Sensible heat storage is based on raising the
temperature of a liquid or solid to store heat and
releasing it with the decrease of temperature when it
is required.
❑ Materials used in sensible heat storage must have
high heat capacity and also high boiling or melting
point.
❑ Although this method of heat storage is currently less
efficient, it is least complicated compared with latent
or chemical heat and it is inexpensive.
❑ From thermodynamics point of view, the storage of
sensible heat is based on the increase of enthalpy of
the material in the store, either a liquid or a solid in
most cases.
❑ The sensible effect is a change in temperature.

Sensible heat storage

❑ Heat stored can be obtained by the equation:

❑ Heat Capacity:
➢ When a given amount of heat is added to different
substances, their temperatures increase by different
amounts.
➢ This proportionality constant between the heat Q that the
object absorbs or loses and the resulting temperature
change T of the object is known as the heat capacity C of an
object.
C = Q / ΔT

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU
 Sensible heat storage
❑ Multiple forms are already being used and improved
while new ones are being investigated actively. Some
important ones are:

❖ Molten-salt technology:
➢ The sensible heat of molten salt is also used for storing
solar energy at a high temperature.
➢ Presently, this is a commercially used technology to
store the heat collected by concentrated solar power.
➢ The heat can later be converted into superheated
steam to power conventional steam turbines and
generate electricity.
➢ Various eutectic mixtures of different salts are used
(e.g., sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium
nitrate).

Working principle
✓ The salt melts at 131 °C (268 °F) and it is kept liquid at 288 °C
(550 °F) in an insulated "cold" storage tank.
✓ The liquid salt is pumped through panels in a solar collector where
the focused sun heats it to 566 °C.
✓ It is then sent to a hot storage tank.
✓ With proper insulation of the tank the thermal energy can be
usefully stored for up to a week.
✓ When electricity is needed, the
hot molten salt is pumped to a
conventional steam-generator
to produce superheated steam
for driving a conventional
turbine/generator set as used
in any coal or oil or nuclear
power plant.
✓ A 100-megawatt turbine would
need a tank of about 30 ft tall
and 79 ft in diameter to drive
it for four hours by this design.

Dr. A.T.M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Dept. of EEE, BSMRSTU