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Solar Energy—Basic Concepts

Introduction 2
▪ The sun is the largest member of our solar system. It is a sphere of extremely hot gaseous matter
with a diameter of 1.39 × 109 m and it maintains a distance of 1.495 × 1011 m from the earth as
shown in Fig.
▪ Sun’s high temperature is maintained by enormous nuclear energy being released by the
continuous fusion reaction. The fusion reaction involves four hydrogen atoms combining to form
one helium atom (4 × 1H1 → 2He4 + 26.7 MeV).
▪ The sun as other hot bodies radiates heat energy uniformly in all directions. The radiated heat
energy moves out as electromagnetic waves. The radiated heat energy increases the temperature of
a body on its interception and absorption. This radiated heat energy from the sun is called solar
energy and it provides the energy needed to sustain life in our solar system.

Fig: Sun and earth in the solar system.

 Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial Radiations
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Extraterrestrial radiation
▪ Solar radiation incident on the outer
atmosphere of the earth is called extraterrestrial
radiation.
▪ The extraterrestrial radiation varies based on the
change in sun-earth’s distance arising from
earth’s elliptical orbit of rotation.
▪ The extraterrestrial radiation is not affected by
Fig: Extraterrestrial and terrestrial regions with changes in atmospheric condition.
solar radiation.
Terrestrial radiation
▪ When radiation passes through earth’s atmosphere, it is subjected to the mechanism of
atmospheric absorption and scattering depending on atmospheric conditions.
▪ Earth’s atmosphere contains various constituents, suspended dust and solid and liquid
particles, such as air molecules, oxgen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone,
water vapour and dust.
▪ Therefore, solar radiation or intensity of radiation is depleted during its passage through the
atmosphere. The solar radiation that reaches earth’s surface after passing through earth’s
atmosphere is called terrestrial radiation.
Solar constant 4
▪ It is defined as the energy received from the sun per unit time on a unit surface area
perpendicular to the direction of propagation of solar radiation at the top of earth’s
atmosphere when earth is at its mean distance from the sun. The value of solar
constant is taken as 1367 W/m2.

The extraterrestrial radiation can be determined by using solar constant as follows:

Beam radiation 5

▪ Solar radiation along the line joining the receiving point and the sun is called beam
radiation. This is radiation has any unique direction.

Diffuse radiation

▪ It is the solar radiation which is scattered by the particles in earth’s atmosphere and this
radiation does not have any unique direction.

Total or global radiation

▪ Total or global radiation at any location on earth’s surface is the sum of beam radiation
and diffuse radiation.
 BASIC SUN-EARTH ANGLES
(i) Latitude or angle of latitude (𝝀) 6
▪ The latitude of a location on earth’s surface is the angle made by the radial line joining
the specified location to the centre of earth with the projection of this line on the
equatorial plane as shown in Figure. The latitude at equator is zero and and it is 90º at
poles.

Fig: The angle of latitude.

(ii) Declination angle (𝜹 ) 7
▪ It is the angle made by the line joining the centres of sun and earth with the equatorial
plane as shown in Figure. This angle varies from a maximum value of +23.5° on June 21
to minimum of –23.5° on December 21.
▪ The declination (in degrees) for any day may be calculated from the approximate
equation of “Cooper”.

where, n is the day of the year.

Fig: Angle of declination. Fig. Variation of declination angle

(iii) Hour angle (𝝎):
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▪ The hour angle at any instant is the angle through
which the earth has to turn to bring the meridian of
the observer directly in line with sun's rays. It is an
angular measure of time.
▪ It is the angle in degree traced by the sun in 1 h with
reference to 12 noon of the location. The convention
of measuring it is that the noon-based calculated
local apparent time (LAT) is positive in afternoon
and negative in forenoon as shown in Fig.
▪ The earth completes one rotation (360º) in 24 h.
Hence, 1 h corresponds to 15º of earth's rotation. Fig: Hour angle is an angular measure of time.

▪ As at solar noon the sun rays is in line with local meridian or longitude, the hour angle at that
instant is zero.

The hour angle can be given as follows:

(iv) Inclination or altitude angle (𝜶 )
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▪ It is the angle between sun’s ray and its projection on horizontal surface as shown
in Fig.

(v) Zenith angle (𝜽𝒛)

▪ It is the angle between sun’s ray and normal to

the horizontal plane as shown in Figure

(vi) Solar azimuth angle (𝜸𝐬)

▪ It is the angle between the projection of suns ray

Fig: Inclination (altitude) angle, solar
to the point on the horizontal plane and line due azimuth angle and zenith angle.
south passing through that point. The value of the
azimuth angle is taken positive when it is
measure form south towards west.
 Angle of incidence (𝜽)
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▪ The angle of incidence for any surface is defined as the angle formed between the
direction of the sun ray and the line normal to the surface as shown in the Figure.

Tilt or slope angle (𝜷 )

▪ The tilt angle is the angle

between the inclined slope and
the horizontal plane as shown
in the Fig.

Fig: Angle of incidence and tilt angle.

Surface azimuth angle (𝜸 )
▪ It is the angle in horizontal plane between the line due south and the horizontal projection of
normal to the inclined plane surface. It is taken as positive when measured form south towards
west.
 Relationship Between Different Sun–Earth Angles
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▪ The angle of incidence can be given by the following expression.

where,
𝜃 = Angle of incidence,
𝜆 = Angle of latitude,
𝛿 = Angle of declination,
𝛾 = Angle of surface azimuth, and
𝛽 = Tilt angle (angle of slope).
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Problem 1: Calculate hour angle for the local apparent time given by (i) 6 AM, 13
(ii) 9 AM, (iii) 12 noon, (iv) 3 PM, (v) 6 PM and (vi) 9 PM.
 Sunrise, Sunset and Solar Day Length 14
▪ At sunrise, the sun rays propagate parallel to the horizontal surface. Hence, the angle of
incidence and zenith angle are equal and have the value of 90º (θ = θz = 90º). The
corresponding hour angle can be given as

▪ Similarly, the sun rays are parallel to horizontal plane during sunset and hour angle is

▪ The angle between sunrise and sunset or solar day length can be given as
▪ The sun traverses is 15º in 1 h duration. The sunshine is available between
sunrise and sunset or in solar day length. The duration of sunshine hour (td) or 15
daylight hours can be given as
Problem 2: Calculate the number of daylight hours in Srinagar for 1 January and 1 16
July. Take latitude of Srinagar as 34º05’ N.
Problem 3: Calculate the hour angle at sunrise and sunset on 21 June and 21 17
December for a surface inclined at an angle of 10º and facing due south (𝜸 =0).
The surface is located in Mumbai (19º67’ N, 72º51’ E).

For sunset, we have

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Example: Calculate the day length in hours in Mumbai on 1 December if latitude = 19.116
and declination angle = -22.108°.
Example: Find the solar altitude angle at 2 h after local solar angle on 1 June for
place located at 26.75° N latitude. Also, determine the sunrise and sunset hours as 19
well as the day length.
Local Apparent Time 20
▪ It is the time used for calculating the hour angle. LST can be obtained from the standard
time observed on a clock by applying the following two corrections:
I. The correction which arises due to the difference in longitude between a location
and the meridian on which standard time is based. This correction has a
magnitude of 4 minutes for every degree difference in longitude.
II. This correction called the equation of time correction is due to the fact that earth’s
orbit and rate of rotation are subjected to small perturbations. This correction is
based on experimental observations.
Hence,
Local Solar Time (LST) = Standard time ± 4 (Standard time longitude –
longitude of location) + (Equation of time correction).

The + ve sign is used for ‘Western hemisphere’ and – ve sign for ‘Eastern hemisphere’.
 Measurement of Solar Radiation 21

▪ It is important to measure solar radiation, owing to the increasing number of solar

heating and cooling applications, and the necessity for accurate solar radiation data to
predict performance.
▪ The following three devices are used for measuring the solar radiations.
1. Pyranometer;
2. Pyrheliometers;
3. Sunshine recorders.
Pyranometer 22
▪ A pyranometer is a device used to measure the
“total hemispherical solar radiation”. The total
solar radiation arriving at the outer edge of the
atmosphere is called the ‘solar constant’
Working:

▪ When the pyranometer is exposed to sun, it starts

receiving the radiations. As a result, the surface
temperature starts rising due to absorption of the
radiation. The increase in the temperature of the
absorbing surface is detected by the thermopile.
▪ The thermopile generates a thermo emf which is
Fig. Pyranometer.
proportional to the radiations absorbed; this thermo
emf is calibrated in terms of the received radiations.
This will measure the global solar radiations.
Pyrheliometers 23
▪ A pyrheliometer is a device used to measure “beam or direct radiations”. It collimates
the radiation to determine the beam intensity as a function of incident angle.

Working

▪ One strip is placed in radiation and a current is

passed through the shaded strip to heat it to the
same temperature as the exposed strip.
▪ When there is no difference in temperature, the
electrical energy supplied to shaded strip must
equal the solar radiation absorbed by the exposed
strip.
▪ Solar radiation is then determined by equating the
electrical energy to the product of incident solar
radiation, strip area and absorptance.
Sunshine Recorder
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▪ A sunshine recorder is a device used to
measure the “hours of bright sunshine
in a day”.

Working.

▪ The glass-sphere, which acts as a convex lens, focusses the sun’s rays/beams to a
point on the card strip held in a groove in the spherical bowl mounted concentrically
with the sphere.
▪ Whenever there is a bright sunshine, the image formed is intense enough to burn a
spot on the card strip. Through the day, the sun moves across the sky, the image
moves along the strip. Thus a burnt space whose length is proportional to the
duration of sunshine is obtained on the strip.
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