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SOLAR ENERGY
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Where
tsolar and tzone are respectively the local solar and civil times (measured in hours)
zone is the longitude where the Sun is overhead when tzone is noon is positive in the evening and negative in the morning The small correction term eq is called the equation of time; it never exceeds 15 min and can be neglected
latitude , declination , and slope of a collector at P. is the angle of incidence on the north/south-facing collector.
Slope .
horizontal.
Angle of incidence
normal. vertical.
Solar altitude s = 90 z.
The complement to the (solar) zenith angle; angle of solar beam to the horizontal. the angle between the solar beam and the longitude meridian.
Sun (solar) azimuth angle s. Projected on the horizontal plane, (Solar) hour angle . The angle Earth has rotated since solar noon.
With this sign convention, basic, yet careful, geometry gives equations essential for solar modeling:
A collector oriented towards the equator will directly face the solar beam at noon if its slope is equal to the latitude . In this case = 0, =, the equation will be reduced to:
Two cautions should be noted about the previous equation, and other formulas similar to it that may be encountered.
1- At higher latitudes in summer, noticeably exceeds 90o in early to mid morning and from mid to late evening, when the sun rises from or falls to the observers horizon (i.e. cos negative). When this happens for instance in the northern hemisphere, sunshine is on the north side of buildings and on the rear side of a fixed south-facing collector, not the front. 2- Formulas are normally derived for the case when all angles are positive, and in particular >0. Some northern writers pay insufficient attention to sign, with the result that their formulas do not apply in the southern hemisphere. Southern readers will be wise to check all such formulas.
Components of Radiation
The radiation will be observable from the direction of the Suns disc in the direct beam, and also from other directions as diffuse Radiation.
Even on a cloudless, clear day, there is always at least 10% diffuse irradiance from the molecules in the atmosphere. It is important to identify the various components of solar radiation and to clarify the plane on which the irradiance is being measured.
Components of Radiation
Subscripts as illustrated in Figure: b for beam, d for diffuse, t for total, h for the horizontal plane, c for the plane of a collector, the asterisk denotes the plane perpendicular to the beam and subscript 0 denotes values outside the atmosphere in space. Subscripts c and t are assumed if no subscripts are given, so that G no subscript Gtc.
Components of Radiation
Components of Radiation
where is the angle between the beam and the normal to the collector surface. where z is the (solar) zenith angle between the beam and the vertical.
The total irradiance on any plane is the sum of the beam and diffuse components.
A concentrating collector should always point towards the direction of the solar beam (i.e. = 0). However, the optimum direction of a fixed flat plate collector may not be obvious, because the insolation Hc received is the sum of both the beam and the diffuse components: A suitable fixed collector orientation for most purposes is facing the equator with a slope equal to the latitude. However, since cos 1 for < 30, variations of 30o in azimuth or slope should have little effect on the total energy collected.