Renewable Energy Sources

Dr. Dillip Kumar Mohanty

BASIC CONCEPTS
of
SOLAR ENERGY

2
Introduction

• The sun is the largest member of the solar system.

• It is a sphere of intensely hot gaseous matter with a diameter of
1.39 × 109 m and at an average distance of 1.495 × 1011 m from
the earth.
• The temperature of the innermost region (core)is estimated
between 8 × 106 to 40 × 106 K.
• The core has density of about 100 times that of water and
pressure of 109 atm.
• Such a high inner temperature is maintained by enormous
energy released due to continuous fusion reaction.
• The fusion reaction involves the combination of 4 Hydrogen
atoms to form one Helium atom.
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• The mass of the helium nucleus being less than that of four
protons, the difference of mass is converted to energy in fusion
reaction.
• The fusion reaction is given as
4(1H1) → 2He4 + 26.7 Mev
• The Sun being a hot body radiates heat energy as
electromagnetic waves uniformly in all directions.
• The radiated heat energy from the sun is known as solar energy
and it provides the energy required to sustain life in solar
system.
• The surface of the sun is maintained at an average temperature
of approximately 5800 K.
Geometry of earth–sun relationship

• The shape of earth is as an oblate spheroid – a sphere flattened

at the poles and bulged in the plane normal to the poles.
• However, the earth is considered as a sphere with a diameter of
about 1.275 × 107 m.
• The earth makes one rotation about its axis every 24 hours and
completes a revolution about the sun in a period of
approximately 365.25 days.
• Its axis is inclined at an angle of 23.5° as a result of which the
length of days and nights keep changing.
• The earth reflects about 30% of the sunlight that fall on it. This
is known as earth’s albedo.
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• The average sun–earth distance is around 1.495 × 1011 m.

• The eccentricity of earth’s orbit is such that the distance
between the sun and the earth varies by ±1.7 %.
• The sun subtends an angle of 32o on earth surface.
The Radiation Spectrum of Sun and Earth

• The radiation emitted by a black body is given by Planck’s

law:

• C1 and C2 are often called Planck’s first and second radiation

constants respectively.
• C1 = 3.74 × 10–16 Wm2, and C2 = 0.01439 mK.
• λ is the wavelength in m and T is temperature in Kelvin.
• The total energy emitted by a black body at temperature T is
obtained by integrating Wλ over the wavelengths.
• The solar radiation can be estimated considering the surface
temperature of sun to be 5800 K.
Solar Day Length

• At sunrise, the sun rays propagate parallel to the horizontal

surface.
• Thus the zenith angle of incidence and zenith angle are equal.
θ = θz = 900
Hence the corresponding hour angle is
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• Similarly, the sun rays propagate parallel to the horizontal

surface during sunset.
• Thus the hour angle is same as that of sunrise.
• The value of hour angle corresponding to sunrise is positive
while it is negative for sunset.
• Thus the hour angle for sunset is

• The solar day length is the angle between the sunrise and
sunset.
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• The angle between sunrise and sunset is

• As the earth rotates by 3600 in 24 hours, one-hour duration is

equivalent to 15° of hour angle one-hour duration
• Thus the duration of sunshine hour or daylight hours (td)is
Problem 1

Calculate the number of day light hours (sunshine hours) in

Srinagar on January 1 and July 1. The latitude of Srinagar is 34°
05’ N.
Solution

• n = 1 for January 1.
• The declination angle (δ) is

• On January 1,
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 on July 1,
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Calculate the hour angle at sunrise and sunset on June 21 and

December 21 for a surface inclined at an angle of 100 and facing
due south ( γ = 0). The surface is located in Mumbai (19067’N,
72051’E)
Solution

• For June 21,

• For sunrise, θ = 0
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• For December 21,

n = 365 – 10 = 355.

For sunrise, θ = 0
SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY APPLICATIONS

• Energy from the sun can be converted into usable form of

energy for multi-purpose utilization.
Passive Systems

• This system collects energy, without the need for pumps or

motors.
• This system collects energy generally through the orientation,
materials, and construction of a collector.
• The collector absorbs, stores and uses the solar radiation.
• Passive systems are particularly suited to the design of
buildings (where the building itself acts as the collector) and
thermo siphoning solar hot water systems.
• A passive solar system relies on natural sources to transfer
heated water for domestic use.
• In colder climates, a passive solar system can reduce heating
costs by up to 40%.
Active System

• The common active systems use pumps to circulate water or

another heat absorbing fluid through solar collectors.
• These collectors are commonly made of copper tubes bonded to
a metal plate, painted black, and encapsulated within an
insulated box covered by a glass panel or glazing.
• For pool heating and other applications where the desired
temperature is less than 40°C, unglazed synthetic rubber
materials are most commonly used.
• An active pumped system can be either an open loop where the
water is directly heated by the solar collector.
• It can be a closed loop where antifreeze or glycol mixture is
heated before transferring its heat to water by a heat exchanger.
Direct Thermal Applications

• The sun’s energy can be collected directly to create both high-

temperature steam (> 100°C) and low-temperature heat (<
100°C) for use in a variety of heat and power applications.
• Solar thermal collectors are classified as low-, medium-, and
high-temperature collectors.
(1) Low-temperature collectors are flat plates generally used to
heat swimming pools.
(2) Medium-temperature collectors are also flat plates but are
used for heating water or air for residential and commercial use.
(3) High-temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using
mirrors or lenses and used for electric power production.
Solar Thermal Systems

It collects solar radiation to heat air and water for industrial

applications including:
1. Space heating for homes, offices, and greenhouses
2. Domestic and industrial hot water
3. Pool heating
4. Desalination
5. Solar cooking
6. Crop drying
Heating and Cooling System Design Considerations

For designing a heating or cooling system, the following points

need special consideration:
1. Solar and weather conditions in the locality
2. Amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of a
collector in a year
3. Development of improved collector materials with good
resistance to degradation from sun light
4. Economic collector design
5. Impact of a hot dry climate on the solar system
Solar Electric Conversion and Applications

• Energy from the sun is transformed into electricity through

solar thermal, ocean thermal, photovoltaic, or wind conversion.
• Solar thermal energy is concentrated and transferred to a
working fluid for use either in a Rankine or in a Brayton cycle
turbine generator.
• In photovoltaic cell, the electricity is generated without boilers,
turbines, generators, piping, or cooling tower.
• This electricity can either be used as it is or can be stored in the
battery
SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE

• Developing efficient and inexpensive energy storage devices

are as important as developing new sources of energy.
• The thermal energy storage can be defined as the temporary
storage of thermal energy at high or low temperatures.
• Thermal storage systems generally use readily available
materials with high specific heat capacities such as water, earth,
and stone.
• Well-designed systems can lower the peak demand, shift time-
of-use to off-peak hours, and reduce the overall heating and
cooling requirements.
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Sensible Heat Storage

• This means holding heat in a material without changing its
phase when heat is added or removed.
• For examples, rocks and bricks become hot but remain solid.
Oil may become hot but remains liquid.
• Much more heat can be stored in oil than in water since water
can only be raised to 100°C without pressurizing it.
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Latent Heat Storage

• This is usually accomplished by using solar heat to melt a
special material and then when the heat is needed, it is drawn
from the said material.
• As it re-solidifies, it releases this heat.
• A very large amount of heat is stored in this way, and the
temperature during melting or solidification remains constant.
• Phase change materials such as paraffin wax and Glauber’s salt
are another thermal storage media.
• These materials are inexpensive, readily available, and can
deliver domestically useful temperatures (approximately
64°C).