SOLAR ENERGY

b y :

Chapter 13

D a n i e l

P.

B a b a g a y

SO L AR EN ERGY

The report is limited to:

Introduction
Brief History
Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation
Terrestrial Solar Radiation
Solar-Electric Conversion Systems
Solar-Thermal Conversion
Photovoltaic Conversion

SO L AR EN ERGY

Introduction
Solution for reducing the use of fossil and nuclear
fuels
Have the potential to supply all energy needs
Have to take into account both the costs and its real
environmental impact.
Two kinds of costs:
Monetary cost of the finished products and of
assembling them into workable systems
The quantities of conventional energy sources to
be consumed in the processes of constructing the
systems.

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History
18th century serious experiments to use solar to generate energy for
specialized uses has began.
1774 Joseph Priestly concentrated it to a mercuric oxide. Air in a much
greater perfection.
A century later a relatively large distilling plant was installed in a desert in a
desert in northern Chile.
1878 in Paris sunlight was concentrated by a focusing collector on a steam
boiler that ran a small turbine that in turn ran a small printing press.
1901 in Pasadena, California larger 6 m2 focusing collector in the form of
a truncated cone generated steam for a 4.5 hp engine.
1907 and 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania F. Shuman built solar steam
engine used for pumping water.
1913 in Cairo, Egypt large 50 hp solar steam engine which used a long
parabolic collector that focused solar radiation onto central pipe. The engine
pumped irrigation water from the Nile.
Around 1915 in New Mexico an early attempt for solar-electric conversion
by J. A. Harrington to light electric bulbs inside a small mine.

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History

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Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

Energy incident on the earth outside the
atmosphere.
Is all of the beam radiation type, also called
direct radiation.

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Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

Elliptical orbit which the earth rotates the major

and

minor axes differs by only 1.7%.

December 21 the earth is closest to the sun by 1.45 x 10 11
m.
June 22 farthest by 1.54 x 1011 m.
Average distance of earth to the sun 1.49 x 10 11 m.
1.39 x 109 m diameter of the sun
5762 K effective black body temperature of the sun

SO L AR EN ERGY

Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

Solar Constant (S) extraterrestrial solar radiation
intensity
S = 1353 W/m2
= 1.353 kW/m2
= 1.940 langley/min
= 428 Btu/h*ft2
= 4871 kJ/h*m2
Langley is a unit of frequency used in solar engineering, it is
equal to 1.0 cal/cm2

SO L AR EN ERGY

Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

Solar constant deviates with a range roughly 3% because of
slightly elliptical orbit of the earth.
Polar Axis is inclined a 23.45 from the normal to the ecliptic
plane (EP)
Ecliptic plane (EP) the plane of the earths orbit around the sun.
Ecliptic Axis (EA) is the one that goes through the earths center
but which is always perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.
Declination angle (d) - the angle between the suns rays and the
earths equatorial plane (normal to the polar axis).

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Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

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Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

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Terrestrial Solar Radiation

Is the solar energy falling on the earths surface.
Is variably referred as radiation, irradiation,
irradiance, insolation, or energy flux.

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Terrestrial Solar Radiation

Two mechanisms of extraterrestrial radiation in the
atmosphere:
1. Scattering a mechanisms by which part of a radiation

beam is scattered laterally and is therefore attenuated

by the air molecules, water vapor, and the dust in the
atmosphere.
2. Absorption is mainly by ozone O3, water vapor H2O,

and carbon dioxide CO2.

SO L AR EN ERGY

Terrestrial Solar Radiation

Two parts of terrestrial solar radiation:
1. Beam Radiation is radiation that directly hits
earths surface.
2. Diffuse radiation is radiation that had its
direction changed by atmospheric scattering,
sometimes called sky direction.

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Terrestrial Solar Radiation

ma = air mass = ratio of optical thickness of the atmosphere
through which beam radiation passes to the surface to its
optical thickness if the sun were at the zenith
ma = (cosz)-1
Total radiation = is the sum of both beam and diffuse radiation
Clearness index (Ci)= ratio of the average radiation on a horizontal
surface for given period to the average extraterrestrial
radiation for the same period.
Extraterrestrial power (Pe) of the eath:
Pe = SR

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Terrestrial Solar Radiation

Example:
Radius of the earth (R) = 6.378 x 106 m
Solar constant (S) = 1.353 kW/m
Pe = (1.353) x (6.378 x 106)
= 1.73 x 1014 kW
Energy/year = (1.73 x 1014 )x (8766 h/year)
= 1.516 x 1018 kWh/year
= (1.516 x 1018 ) x 3.6
= 5.457 x 1018 MJ/year

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Terrestrial Solar Radiation

Problem:
How much terrestrial radiation per year in (kWh/year) is
received by the continental United States given a land area of about
2.885 x 106 mi and a clearness index Ci of 50%?
Solution:
Land area = 2.885 x 106 mi = 7.5 x 1012 m
Pe = (1.353) x (7.5 x 1012 ) = 1013 kW
yearly average sunshine = 12 h/day
Total yearly extraterrestrial radiation = (1013 ) x (8766/2)
= 4.43 x 1016 kWh/year
Total radiation received = (4.43 x 1016 ) x (50%)
= 2.2 x 1016 kWh/year

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR ELECTRIC
CONVERSION SYSTEMS
Two types:
1. Solar-thermal conversion
2. Photovoltaic conversion

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR ELECTRIC
CONVERSION SYSTEMS
Solar-thermal conversion - is a method by which solar radiation
is converted to heat that in turn is added to a thermodynamic cycle
to produce mechanical work and electricity.
Types of receivers:
1. Central receivers
2. Dispersed or distributed recievers
3. Ponds
Conversion Systems used in solar-thermal-electric conversion:
4. Rankine cycle
5. Brayton cycle
6. Hybrid systems
7. Repowering systems

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SOLAR ELECTRIC
CONVERSION SYSTEMS
Photovoltaic conversion- consist of direct conversion devices
in the form of cells that convert the solar-radiant-energy
photons to electricity without benefit of a thermodynamic cycle
or working fluid
The cells are made of:
1. Single-crystal silicon
2. Silicon with many crystals
3. Thin films with a wide range of single chemical
compounds or combinations of them

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

uses a large field of reflecting mirrors called heliostats that
redirects the suns energy and concentrate it on a central
receiver mounted on top of a tower.
the receiver output is made greater that that required by the
steam cycle and the excess output during periods of
greatest solar incidence is bypassed to a thermal storage
system

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Heliostats are reflecting mirrors that are steerable so that they
can reflect the suns rays on a central receiver at almost all times
during the daylight hours.
Two types of reflecting surfaces:
1. Glass heliostats is typically divided into 10 to 14 panels and is
typically a second-surface mirror (household mirror). The
panels are usually rectangular, 1.2 x 3.6 m (4 x 12 ft) and are
made of thin (1.5-3 mm) low-iron glass sheets to minimize
absorption.
2. Plastic heliostats has a reflecting, stretched plastic film disc of
16.7 m area that is protected from wind loads by an air
supported plastic bubble.

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Heliostats (glass)

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Energy losses between the incident energy on the heliostats field and the
receiver:
1. Shadowing is caused by one heliostat casting a shadow on the
reflective surface of another to a certain times of the day.
2. Cosine loss the area of solar flux intercepted by the heliostat is less
than its reflective surface by the cosine of the angle between the
surface and the perpendicular to the beam.
3. Blocking is the result when the reflected light from one heliostat is
partially blocked by the back side of another.
4. Reflective losses result from absorption of the incident radiation by
the glass and silvering and by scattering by dirt on the reflective
surface.
5. Attenuation this represents losses by absorption and scatter by
water vapor, haze, fog, smoke, and particulates in the atmosphere
between the heliostat and the receiver.

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Energy losses between the incident energy on the heliostats field and the
receiver:

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Energy losses between the incident energy on the heliostats field and the
receiver:

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Two methods of Heliostat Control:
1. Use of active reflected-beam sensors control drive motors
on the heliostat to orient the reflective surfaces so that the
beam is continuously reflected to its aim point.
2. Use of preprogrammed computer control orients the
reflective surfaces according to their position with respect to
the receiver, time of day, and day of year.

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Receiver is designed to intercept, absorb, and transport most
of solar energy to a heat transfer fluid
Two Basic types of receivers:
1. Cavity receiver has coolant-tube panels lining the inner
walls of the cavity. The tube-panel arrangement within the
cavity is concave toward the heliostat field.
2. External receiver has the coolant-tube panels lining the
outside of the receiver. The panels may either be flat, or
slightly convex toward the heliostat field.

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Receiver

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Receiver

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Energy-loss mechanisms of the receiver:
1. Spillage is energy reflected by the heliostats but not
intercepted by the receiver heat-transport fluid.
2. Reflection is energy scattered back from the receiver heattransfer surface.
3. Convection This is energy loss by convection from the
receiver body to the surrounding air.
4. Radiation is energy lost by infrared radiation of the hot
receiver surface back to the environment.
5. Conduction is energy lost internally through structural
members, insulation, etc.

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Energy-loss mechanisms of the receiver:

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Five primary coolants in the heat transport
system of a central receiver:
1. Water Steam
2. Liquid metals
3. Molten Salts
4. Gases
5. Heat transfer oil

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Two types of thermal storage system:
1. Single-tank or thermocline Storage takes place by circulating
some of the hot primary coolant through the storage
medium and returning the cooled primary coolant from the
bottom of the storage tank back to the receiver for reheating.
Heat extraction is accomplished by reversing the process.
2. Dual tank or hot-cold system uses two tanks, during storage ,
cold liquid is drawn from the cold tank, heated and added to
the hot tank.

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Two types of thermal storage system:
Single-tank or thermocline

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

1. Solar-thermal Central-receiver Systems

Two types of thermal storage system:
Dual tank or hot-cold system

SO L AR EN ERGY

SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

2. Distributed Solar-thermal Systems

Is characterized by the use of a large number of collectors, called
concentrators, each focusing the solar energy it receives directly
on its own receiver to heat locally a heat-transport fluid.
Two kinds of Distributed systems:
1. Point-focus system uses concentrators each in the form of a
mirrored parabolic dish that tracks the sun but focuses the
captured energy on a receiver mounted at the focal point of the
parabola.
2. Line-focus system also called trough system, uses
concentrators in the form of long troughs of cylindrical or
parabolic cross sections, which are lined with mirrors to
collect and concentrate the suns radiation onto a focal linear
conduit through which the primary coolant flows.

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

2. Distributed Solar-thermal Systems

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SOLAR-THERMAL CONVERSION

3. Solar Ponds

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
The basic unit of a photovoltaic system is the solar cell.
Silicon solar cells are typically circular wafers, about 3 in (7.6 cm)
in diameter and 300 m thick.
A single cell typically produces a power of 1 W at a voltage of 0.5 V.
They are connected electrically in series-parallel arrangement,
called module, to produce the required current and voltage.
A module is typically 4 x 4 ft (1.2 x 1.2 ft).
Several modules make up a panel. A panel is the design unit of
assembling large photovoltaic arrays to meet the required power
generation.

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Semiconductors
Intrinsic semiconductors such a material (pure material)
wherein at very high temperatures, as appreciable number of
electrons receive sufficient thermal energy to be promoted into
the conduction band, the number being a function of
temperature and the gap widthand thus the

both the

material becomes

a conductor.
Extrinsic or doped semiconductors are manufactured by adding
controlled amounts of impurity to the pure material, 1017
atoms per cubic centimeter being typical.

SO L AR EN ERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Semiconductors

n-type semiconductors the allowed energy level is near the

bottom of the conduction band; this is called the donor level.
p-type semiconductors the allowed energy level is near the top
of the valence band; this is called the acceptor level.

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Semiconductors

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Semiconductors

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Photons
Is the quantum of radiant energy (light).
Max Planck was the first to suggest that the energy of a photon is
proportional to the frequency of radiation;
Ep = hv = h(c/)
Where: Ep = photon energy
h = Plancks constant, 6. 6256 x 10-34 J*s, 4.13576 x 10-15 eV*s
v = frequency of radiation, hertz
c = speed of light, 2.997925 x 108 m/s
= wavelength of radiation, m

SO L AR EN ERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Problem:
What is the energy of a single photon of a monoenergetic
radiation beam having a wavelength of half a micrometer?
Solution:
Ep = hv = h(c/)
Ep = (4.13576 x 10-15 )(3 x 108 /0.5 x 10-6 )
Ep = 2.48 eV

SO L AR EN ERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
p

= number of photons crossing a unit area (usually a square

centimeter) perpendicular to beam radiation per unit time
(usually a second)
E = p hvav = ph(c/av)
Where:E = photon flux
vav = average frequency

SO L AR EN ERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Problem:
Outside the earths atmosphere, the solar energy flux is
equal to the solar constant S = 1359 W/m or 0.1359 W/cm,
and the average photon energy is 1.48 eV. Calculate p.
Solution:

E = p hvav
p = [0.1359/(1.48 x (1.602 x 10-19))]
p = 5.8 x 1017 photons/(s*cm)

SO L AR EN ERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Solar Cell
For single-crystal silicon , p is obtained by doping silicon with
boron and is typically 1 m thick; n is obtained by doping
silicon with arsenic and is typically 800 m thick.
Thin film cells are composed of copper sulfide for p, typically
0.12 m thick, and cadmium sulfide for n, typically 20 m
thick.

SO L AR EN ERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Input
on
array

Energy distribution
In
nonphotovoltaic
material

12

Reflection by and absorption in cover glass

13

Absorption by frames, structures, earth

Nonelectric

64

100
In photovoltaic
material

75

Electric

11

Dissipation as heat in silicon

1.5

Losses due to cell temperature

above 28C

0.5

Losses due to cell and module

mismatch

1.0

Losses in wiring and dc-to-ac

conversion

8.0 Delivered as ac power

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PHOTOVOLTAIC-ENERGY CONVERSION
Photovoltaic-energy storage
1. Electrochemical storage is storage of electric energy by
conversion to chemical energy in batteries.
2. Pumped-hydro storage involves the use of surplus electric
energy to pump water into high reservoirs during sunny
periods or periods of low demand and the extraction of
power during evening or cloudy periods or periods of high
demand by running the same down through the
waterturbines.
3. Cryogenic storage is a system in which electric energy is
directly stored in large underground electrical coils at liquidhelium temperatures, about 4 K.