Experiment: 1

Solar radiation and in its measurements

Solar radiation
Stars generate huge amounts of energy through the process of nuclear fusion.
Our own sun, an unremarkable medium-sized star, produces a total energy E of about
3.9x1026W. This energy is radiated into space uniformly in all directions. Fundamental
physical laws tell us that the intensity of this radiation decreases as the inverse square
of the distance from the sun. The solar constant (So) is defined as the average energy per
unit area of solar radiation falling on the surface of an imaginary sphere of radius R
around the sun:
So = E/(41 R2) = 1367 W/m2
where R is the average Earth/sun distance, about 150,000,000,000 m. The solar
"constant" actually fluctuates by a few Watts per square meter, and the energy the Earth
receives varies regularly with the seasonal change in the Earth/sun distance -- from a
maximum of about 1417 W/m2 in early January to a minimum of about 1324 W/m2 six
months later.
If one astronomical unit (AU) is the average Earth/sun distance, then the amount
of solar radiation reaching Earth varies according to:
Smax=So/(1-e)2=So/(0.983)2=1417W/m2
Smin = So/(1 + e)2 = So/(1.017)2 = 1324 W/m2
where e is the eccentricity (a measure of departure from a circle) of Earth's orbit
around the sun. Earths eccentricity varies slowly (with periods of hundreds of
thousands of years). The current value is about 0.017. The maximum and minimum
vary a little more than 3% from the mean. Earth is closest to the sun in early January
(yes, really), so this is when maximum solar radiation reaches Earth.
As solar radiation passes through the earth's atmosphere, it is absorbed,
reflected, scattered, and transmitted.

The atmosphere causes a reduction of the extraterrestrial solar input by about 30

per cent on a very clear day to nearly 90 percent on a very cloudy day. Figure 1 gives an
indication of the range of the absorption and scattering (forward and backward) caused
by different components of the atmosphere.

Fig. 1 Nominal range of clear sky absorption and scattering of incident solar energy

On the surface of the earth, we perceive a beam or direct solar irradiance that
comes directly from the disc of the sun and a diffuse or scattered solar irradiance that
appear to come from all directions over the entire sky. In this text we will use the term
direct to signify solar irradiance coming directly from the suns disc, and the term diffuse
to indicate solar irradiance coming from all other directions. We use the traditional
subscript b to represent the direct component of solar irradiance and the subscript d to
indicate the diffuse component. The sum of direct and diffuse solar irradiance is called
the global or total solar irradiance and is identified by the traditional subscript t.
On a clear day, direct solar irradiance represents about 80 or 90 percent of the
total amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the earth. Local blockage of the
direct component of solar irradiance produces shadows. On a cloudy or foggy day
when "you cant see the sun," the direct component of solar irradiance is essentially zero
and there are no shadows. The direct component of solar irradiance is of the greatest
interest to designers of high-temperature solar energy systems because it can be
concentrated on small areas using mirrors or lenses, whereas the diffuse component
cannot.
The diffuse or scattered component of solar irradiance is what permits us to see
in the shade. If there was no diffuse component of solar irradiance, the sky would
appear black as at night and stars would be visible throughout the day. The first
astronauts vividly described this phenomenon to us from the moon where there is no
atmosphere to scatter the solar radiation.
As depicted on Figure 1, diffuse radiation is the result of downward scattering of
solar irradiance by nitrogen, oxygen, and water molecules, water droplets, and dust
particles in the atmosphere. The amount of this scattering depends on the amount of
water and dust in the atmosphere and the altitude of the observer above sea level.
Since diffuse solar irradiance cannot be concentrated, only flat-plate (nonconcentrating) solar collectors and some low-temperature types of concentrators
(having wide acceptance angles) can collect diffuse solar irradiance. Few of the

collectors used in industrial applications can utilize the diffuse component of solar
radiation.
The variation of these factors, especially that of water droplets (i.e. clouds) as
they attenuate the direct component and change the diffuse component, is the major
unknown parameter in the design of systems to collect solar energy. Consequently, a
considerable amount of effort has been and is being spent in measuring, cataloging, and
developing analytical models to predict these effects.
Solar Radiation measurements
Good quality solar radiation data is becoming increasingly important in the field
of renewable energy with regard to both photovoltaic (PV) and thermal systems. This
applies in activities such as research and development, production quality control,
determination of optimum locations, monitoring the efficiency of installed systems and
predicting the system output under various sky conditions.
Radiation arriving at the Earths surface from the sun and the sky is split into
short-wave radiation (ultraviolet, visible and near infrared) in the wavelength range 300
to 4000 nm (4 m) and long-wave radiation (far infrared) from 4.5 to beyond 40 m. PV
materials have most of their sensitivity from approximately 400 to 1100 nm, with a peak
just beyond the visible range. There is no response to long-wave radiation, and little to
ultraviolet.
Measurements of solar radiation are usually made using thermopile type
radiometers with a flat spectral response. In a solar monitoring station the short-wave
radiation is measured in three ways:

Global Solar Radiation is measured by a Pyranometer, which is a radiometer

with a glass dome that has a hemispherical view of the whole sky.

Fig. 2 The Pyranometer and its use in measuring global horizontal and tilted global solar irradiance.

Direct Solar Irradiance is measured by a Pyrheliometer. This is a radiometer

with a 5 view that is pointed accurately at the centre of the sun by an automatic
Sun Tracker. It only sees the sun and its aureole.

Fig. 3 A Normal incidence pyrheliometer (NIP) used for measuring direct component of solar radiation

Diffuse Solar Radiation is scattered by aerosols in the atmosphere and reflected

by clouds. It is measured by a Pyranometer mounted on a sun tracker with a
shading mechanism to block the direct solar irradiance.

The basic output from a pyranometer is solar energy, measured in units of Watts per
square meter.

Fig. 4 The pyranometer and its use in measuring diffuse components of solar irradiance.

Solar radiation measurement with Pyranometer

The following observations are required to know the solar radiation value at
particular site:

Date: ____________________
Name of Location: _____________________
Latitude of the location: _________________
Global Radiation Pyranometer No. 107012 & its Constant: 20.21 Volts/ W/m2
Diffuse Radiation Pyranometer No. 107013 & its Constant: 21.3 Volts/ W/m2

Observation table:

Sr.
No

Clock time

Solar
time

Direct
Global radiation
mV

W/m2

Diffuse radiation
mV

W/m2

radiation
W/m2

Calculations:
1. Global solar radiation (W/m2)

= Global solar radiation (mV) *1000/ Constant of

Pyranometer
= Global solar radiation (mV) *1000/ 20.21
2. Diffuse solar radiation (W/m2)

= Diffuse solar radiation (mV) *1000/ Constant of

Pyranometer
= Diffuse solar radiation (mV) *1000/ 21.3
3. Direct solar radiation (W/m2)
radiation (W/m2)

Plot:
1. Global radiation vs Time
2. Diffuse radiation vs Time
3. Beam radiation vs Time

= Global solar radiation (W/m2) - Diffuse solar

Questions:
1. Explain the following types of solar radiation with neat sketch.
(a) Beam radiation,

(b) Global radiation, (c) Diffuse radiation, (d) DNI

2. Explain the following angles:

(a) Latitude,

(b) Longitude, (c) Slope, (d) Surface azimuth angle, (e)

Hour

angle

(f) Declination angle, (g) Solar azimuth angle, (h) Altitude angle, (i) Zenith angle,
(j) Incidence angle, (k) Extraterrestrial radiation
3. What do you mean by solar constant?
4. Define air mass.
5. What do you mean by Local Apparent Time? How does it differ by Standard time?
Explain with suitable example.
6. With neat sketch, explain the working of pyranometer, pyreheliometer and Sun shine
recorder.

Experiment: 2
Performance evaluation of parabolic dish type solar cooker

1. Introduction
When a three dimensional parabola (i.e. a paraboloid) is aimed at the sun, all the
light that falls upon its mirrored surface is reflected to a point known as the focus. If a
black cooking pot is placed at the focus it will absorb the light's energy and become
very hot. A satellite dish is an example of a parabaloid that can be made into a cooker.
Parabolic Solar cookers heat up quickly and are used like a standard stovetop range to
saut or fry foods, boil water, or even bake bread. They can also be used to generate
steam, power sterling engines, crack water to produce H2 gas, and even plasma matter.
It is easy to see in today's world that this shape is successful in its use. The parabolic
shape can be seen in satellite dishes, radio towers, and yes, even in solar cookers around
the world. It is simple to say it works, and just as simple to understand how it works.
2. Concentrating Solar Cookers
Sun, itself a source of energy. We can use this energy in different ways by making
different type solar cooker we can save energy which containing in cooking. We have
different types of cooker (for ex: box type cooker, panel type cooker, parabolic disc type
cooker etc.)
Concentrating type parabolic cooker has a shape of parabola which has a
characteristics to concentrate all incoming sun rays comes in to face of parabolic area it
reflects it at one point known as focal length if we put a vessel containing food or water
than the temperature inside the vessel increases and ultimately it will helps to cook the
food and water and we can save the energy.
The Figure 1 shows how the sunrays are concentrated at a point. The point at
which the rays are concentrated are known as focal point of simply focus. It is the
characteristics of the paraboloid that it reflects the rays at the focus. The concentration
of the rays is depending