MET445-

RENEWABLE ENERGY
ENGINEERING
 ARAVIND R
SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY COLLECTORS
• A solar thermal energy collector is an equipment in which solar energy is
collected by absorbing radiation in an absorber and then transferring to a
fluid.
• Two types of collectors
❑Flat plate solar collector
❑Concentrating type solar collector
FLAT PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR
• No optical concentrator
• The collector area and absorber area are numerically the same, the
efficiency is low, and temperatures of the working fluid can be
raised only up to 100oC.
FLAT PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR
 FLAT PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR
• A metallic flat absorber plate of high thermal conductivity made of
 copper, steel or aluminium, and having black surface. The thickness of the
metal sheet ranges from 0.5 mm to 1 mm.

• Tubes or channels are soldered to the absorber plate. Water flowing

through these tubes takes away the heat from the absorber plate. The
diameter of the tubes is around 1.25 cm, while that of the header pipe
which leads water in and out of the collector and distributes
it to absorber tubes, is 2.5 cm.
FLAT PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR
• A transparent toughened glass sheet of 5 mm thickness is provided as the
 cover plate. It reduces convection losses through a stagnant air layer
between the absorber plate and the glass.

• Fibre glass insulation of thickness 2.5 cm to 8 cm is provided at the

bottom and on the sides in order to minimize heat loss.

• A container encloses the whole assembly in a box made of metallic sheet

or fibre glass.
FLAT PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR-Solar collector with air as the
heat transfer fluid
Concentrating type solar collector
• The area receiving the solar radiation is several times greater than
the absorber area and the efficiency is high.

• Mirrors and lenses are used to concentrate the sun’s rays on the
absorber, and the fluid temperature can be raised up to 500oC. • For
better performance, the collector is mounted on a tracking
equipment to face the sun always with its changing position.

Concentrating type solar collector

 • Used in medium temperature and high temperature energy conversion cycles.

• An optical system of mirrors or lenses projects the radiation on to an absorber

of smaller area.

• Concentrator is the optical subsystem that projects solar radiation on to the

absorber.

• Receiver shall be used to represent the sub- system that includes the absorber,
its cover and accessories.

DESIGN PARAMETERS
• Aperture (W): It is the opening of the concentrator through which solar
 radiation passes.

• Acceptance angle (2 θd): is the angle across which beam radiation may
deviate from the normal to the aperture plane and then reach the
absorber.

• Concentration ratio (CR): is the ratio of the effective area of the aperture
to the surface area of the absorber. The value of CR varies from unity (for
flat plate collectors) to a thousand (for parabolic dish collectors).

DESIGN PARAMETERS
Types of concentrating collectors
 1. Plane receiver with plane collectors
2. Compound parabolic collector with Plane receiver
3. Cylindrical parabolic collector
4. Collector witha fixed circular concentrator and moving receiver
5. Frensel lens collector
6. Parabolic dish collector
7. Central receiver with heliostat
1. Plane receiver with plane collectors
• It is a simple concentrating collector, having up to four adjustable
reflectors all around, with a single collector.
• CR varies from 1 to 4 and operating temperature can go up to 140oC.

2. Compound parabolic collector with Plane

receiver
• Reflectors are curved segments that are parts of two parabolas. The
CR varies from 3 to 10.
• For a CR of 10, the acceptance angle is 11.5o and tracking adjustment
is required after a few days to ensure collection of 8 hours a day.
 3. Cylindrical parabolic collector
• The reflector is in the form of trough with a parabolic cross section in
which the image is formed on the focus of the parabola along a line.
• The basic parts are (i) an absorber tube with a selective coating located
at the focal axis through which the liquid to be heated flows (ii) a parabolic
concentrator, and (iii) a concentric transparent cover.
4. Collector with a fixed circular concentrator and
moving receiver
• It consists of an array of long, narrow, flat mirror strips fixed over a
cylindrical surface.
• The mirror strips create a narrow line image that follows a circular
path as the sun moves across the sky. The CR varies from 10 to 100.

5. Frensel collector
• Frensel lens refraction type focusing collector is made of an acrylic
plastic sheet, flat on one side, with fine longitudinal grooves.
• The angles of grooves are designed to bring radiation to a line focus.
• The CR changes between 10 and 80 with temperature varying
between 150oC and 400oC.

6. Parabolic dish collector

• To achieve high CRs and temperature, it is required to build a point
focusing collector.
• A paraboloid dish collector is of point focusing type as the receiver is
placed at the focus of the paraboloid reflector.
 7. Central receiver with heliostat
• To collect large amounts of heat energy at one point, the central receiver
concept is followed.

• Solar radiation is reflected from a field of heliostats (an array of mirrors) to a

centrally located receiver on a tower.

• Heliostat follow the sun to harness maximum solar heat.

• Water flowing through the receiver absorbs heat to produce steam which
operates a Rankine cycle turbo generator to generate electrical energy.
7. Central receiver with heliostat
RANKINE CYCLE
RANKINE CYCLE
Detailed discussions related to this topic already done in the classroom.
So elaborate yourself…!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Solar air heaters

• A solar air heater constitutes a
flat
plate collector with an
absorber
plate, transparent cover at the
top,
a passage through which air flows and
insulation at the bottom and sides.
• Air passages are only a parallel plate
duct.
• Air to be heated flows between the
cover and the absorber plate which is
fabricated from a metal sheet 1 mm
thickness.
• Cover is either made of glass or
plastics of 4 mm to 5 mm thickness,
glass wool of thickness 5 cm to 8 cm is
used for bottom and side insulation.
Solar air heaters
• Full assembly is encased in a sheet metal box and kept inclined at a
suitable angle.
• The value of heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and
air is low and the operating efficiency of a simple air heater is also low.
• To boost heat transfer, the contact area of air with the absorber plate
is increased either by adopting a V-shaped absorber plate or by
designing two pass air heaters.
 Solar air heater
• The two pass solar air heater carries two glass cover sheets, separated
by an air gap which reduces heat losses.
• In matrix air heater, air flows through a porous metallic matrix which
receives and absorbs solar radiation directly.
• Solar air heaters have major applications like drying of agricultural
products, seasoning of timber, space heating.
 Solar thermal energy storage
• Solar energy is available only during the sunshine hours.
• Consumer energy demands follow their own time pattern and the solar
energy does not fully match the demand.
• There are three important methods for storing solar thermal
energy. 1. Sensible heat storage
2. Latent heat storage (Phase change heat storage)
3. Thermochemical storage
Sensible Heat storage
• Heating a liquid or solid which does not change phase comes under this
category.
• The quantity of heat stored is proportional to the temperature rise of the
material.
• If T1 and T2 represents lower and higher temperature,
• V the volume and ρ the density of the storage material, and cp the specific
heat, the energy stored Q is given by
 Sensible Heat storage
• For a sensible heat storage system, energy is stored by heating a liquid or a
solid.

• Materials that are used in such system include liquids like water, inorganic
molten salts and solids like rock, gravel and refractories.

• The choice of the material used depends on the temperature level of its
 utilisation.

• Water is used for temperature below 100oC whereas refractory bricks can be
used for temperature up to 1000oC.

Latent heat storage (Phase change heat storage)

• Heat is stored in a material when it melts, and heat is extracted from the material when it
freezes.

• Heat can also be stored when a liquid changes to gaseous state, but as the volume change
is large, such a system is not economical.

• The phase change materials like paraffin wax and fatty acids, hydrated salts such as
calcium chloride hexo hydrate and sodium sulphate deca hydrate and inorganic materials
like ice (H2O), sodium nitrate and soidum hydroxide can be used.
• Phase change materials such as sodium sulphate decahydrate melt at 32⁰C, with a heat of
fusion of 241 kJ/kg.

• Paraffin wax possess a high latent heat of fusion and is known to freeze without
supercooling.
Thermochemical storage
• In this solar energy can start an endothermic chemical reaction and
new products of reactions remain intact.

• To extract energy, a reverse exothermic reaction is allowed to take

place.

• The thermochemical thermal energy is the binding energy of

 reversible
chemical reactions.

Thermochemical storage
• Chemicals A and B react with solar heat and through forward reaction are
converted into products C and D.
• The new products are stored at ambient temperature.

• When energy is required, the reverse reaction is allowed to take place at a

lower temperature where products C and D react to form A and B.

• During the reaction, heat is released and utilized.

Photovoltaic system for power generation
• In semiconductors, atoms carry four electrons in the outer valence
shell, some of which can be dislodged to move freely in the materials
if extra energy is supplied.
• Then, a semiconductor attains the property to conduct the current.
This is the basic principle on which the solar cell works and generates
 power.
• Sunlight is composed of tiny energy capsules called photons.
• The number of photons present in solar radiation depend upon the
intensity of solar radiation and their energy content on the wavelength
band.
Solar pond
• This technique is utilised for collecting and storing solar energy.
• An artificially designed pond filled with salty water maintaining a definite
concentration gradient is called solar pond.
• The top layers remain at ambient temperature while the bottom layer
attains a maximum steady state temperature of about 60⁰C – 85⁰C.
• For extracting heat energy from the pond, hot water is taken out
 continuously from the bottom and returned after passing through a heat
exchanger.
• Alternately, heat is extracted by water flowing through a submerged heat
exchanger coil.
Solar pond
 Solar pond
• As a result of continuous movement and mixing of salty water at the top
and bottom, the solar pond can have three zones.
• Surface Convective Zone (SCZ) having a thickness of about 10 cm – 20 cm
with a low uniform concentration at nearly the ambient air temperature.
• Non-convective Zone (NCZ) occupying more than half the depth of the
pond and serves as the insulating layer from heat losses in the upward
direction.
• Lower convective zone (LCZ) having thickness nearly equal to NCZ.
Characterised by constant temperature and concentration.
Solar pond
• The largest solar pond so far built is the 2,50,000 m² pond at Bet Ha Arava
in Israel.
• Based on Rankine cycle principle, this pond is used to generate 5 MWe of
electrical power with an organic fluid.
 Principle of working of Solar cell
Working of a solar cell depend on two steps
1. Creation of pairs of negative and positive charges (known as electron hole
pairs) in the solar cell by absorbing solar radiation.
2. Separation of the negative and positive charges by creating potential
 gradient in the cell.
• For achieving the first step, the cell to be manufactured of a material which
can absorb the photons energy of sunlight.
• The photon energy E has relation with Wavelength (λ) as
E= HV/ λ
Where H= Planck’s constant = 6.62 x 10-34 Joules second , V= Velocity of light
= 3x 108 m/s, λ = wavelength of photons in meters
Principle of working of Solar cell
• The energy in a photon must be higher than the semiconductor band
gap energy Eg in order to get absorbed in the cell material and create
an electron hole pair to generate potential gradient in the cell.
• A variety of compound semiconductors can be used to manufacture
thin film solar cells.

• Cadmium Sulphide (CdS), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Gallium Arsenide

(GaAs).

Solar cell- Manufacturing Process

• A variety of compound semiconductors can be used to manufacture
thin film solar cells.
• Cadmium Sulphide (CdS), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Gallium Arsenide
(GaAs).
(a) Gallium Arsenide cell: Ordinary GaAs cells have thin films of n type
and p type grown on a designed substrate.
• A GaAs has a direct band gap of 1.43 V which makes it suitable for PV
thin film material.
Solar cell- Manufacturing Process
• Single cell open circuit voltage is 0.8 V to 0.9 V.
• The efficiency is more than 20% which can be increased using more
expensive GaAs subtracts.
• Due to high cost of production this cell is used for space crafts.
(b)Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)
• Commercially used in Japan
• Thin film heterogeneous junction with n-type CdS and p type CdTe is
fabricated.
Current (I)-Voltage (V) Characteristics of a solar cell
Cell quality is maximum when the value of fill factor

approaches unity where the fill factor (FF) is given by

 The maximum efficiencyof a solar cell is
defined as the ratio of maximum electric power output to the
incident solar radiation

Solar thermal electric power plant

• Solar thermal power generation involves the collection of solar heat
which is utilised to increase the temperature of a fluid in a turbine
operating on a cycle such as Rankine or Brayton.
• Hot fluid is allowed to pass through a heat exchanger to evaporate a
working fluid that operates a turbine coupled with a generator.
• Solar thermal power plants can be classified as low, medium and high
temperature cycles.
• Low temperature cycle operate at about 100⁰C, medium temperature
cycles up to 400⁰C while high temperature cycle work above 500 C.
Solar thermal electric power plant
Low temperature Solar Power plant
It uses flat plate collector arrays.
Hot water (above 90 ⁰C) is collected in an air insulated tank.
It flows through a heat exchanger, through which the working fluid of
energy conversion cycle is also circulated.
The working fluid is either methyl chloride or butane having a low
boiling temperature upto 90 ⁰C.
 Low temperature solar power plant • Vapours so
formed operate a regular Rankine cycle by flowing through a turbine, a
condenser and a liquid pump.
• As the temperature difference between the turbine outlet and the
condensed liquid flowing out is small, about 50⁰C, the overall
 efficiency of the generating system is about 2%.

• Finally, the organic fluid is pumped back to the evaporator for

repeating the whole cycle.

Medium Temperature Solar Power plant • It uses

line focusing parabolic collector for heating a synthetic oil flowing in the
absorber tube.

• A suitable sun tracking arrangement is made to ensure that maximum

quantity of solar radiation is focused on the absorber pipeline.
• Preheater and superheater are used to increase the inlet steam
temperature for the High pressure turbine.

Medium Temperature Solar Power plant

Medium Temperature Solar Power plant
• Reheaters are used to raise the steam temperature for Low pressure
turbine.
• The system generates superheated high pressure steam to operate a
Rankine cycle with maximum efficiency.

High temperature Solar Thermal

 Power Generator
• For efficient conversion of
solar heat into electrical
energy,
the working fluid needs to
be
delivered into turbine at a
high
temperature.
• Two possible systems- the
paraboloidal dish and central
receiver to achieve high
temperature.
Solar pumping system
 Solar pumping system
• With heat engine cycle, discharged vapour from the turbine flows into
the condenser where the vapour gets condensed.
• Working liquid is fed into the heat exchanger by a feed pump to
complete the cycle.
• Pumped water is used as coolant in the turbine condenser.
• As higher temperature in a heat exchanger or boiler, provides a high
engine efficiency.
• An optimum range of operating temperature is used for a solar
pumping system to attain maximum efficiency.
Solar cooker
• Cooking is a common application of solar energy in

India. • Types of solar cookers for different requirements

are 1. Box solar cooker

2. Dish solar cooker

3. Community solar cooker for indoor cooking

1. Box solar cooker
• It consists of an outer box made of either fibre glass or aluminium sheet, a
blackened aluminium tray, a double glass lid, a reflector, insulation and
cooking pot.
• A blackened aluminium tray is fixed inside the box, and sides are covered with
an insulating material to prevent heat loss.
• A reflecting mirror provided on the box cover increases the solar energy
input. • Metallic cooking pots are painted in black on the outer side.
• Food to be cooked is placed in cooking pots and the cooker is kept facing the
sun to cook the food.
• An electric heater may also be installed to serve as a back up during non
sunshine hours.
1. Box solar cooker
 2. Dish solar cooker
• A dish solar cooker uses a parabolic dish to concentrate the incident solar
radiation.
• A typical dish solar cooker has an aperture of diameter 1.4 m with focal
length of 0.8 m.
• The reflecting material is an anodized aluminium sheet having reflectivity
of over 80%.
• The cooker needs to track the sun to deliver power of about 0.6 kW.
• The temperature at the bottom of the vessel may reach up to 400oC
which is sufficient for roasting, frying and boiling.
2. Dish solar cooker
3. Community solar cooker for indoor cooking
• Like dish solar cooker, the community solar cooker is a parabolic
reflector cooker.
• It has large reflector ranging from 7m² to 12m² of aperture area.
• The reflector is placed outside the kitchen so as to reflect solar rays
into the kitchen.
• A secondary reflector further concentrates the rays on to the bottom
of the cooking pot painted black.
• Temperature can reach upto 400⁰C and food can be cooked quickly for
50 persons.
3. Community solar cooker for indoor
cooking
Solar still
• Safe drinking water is scarce in arid, semiarid and coastal areas.
• At such places, saline water is available underground or in the ocean.
This water can be distilled utilising the abundant solar insolation
available in that area.
• A device which produces potable water by utilizing solar heat energy
is called solar water still.
 Solar still
• A solar still consists of a basin with black bottom having trays for saline water
with shallow depth.
• A transparent air tight glass or a plastic slanting cover encloses completely the
space above the basin.
 • Incident solar radiation passes through the transparent cover and is absorbed
by the black surface of the still.
• Distilled water then transferred into a storage tank.
• This system is capable of purifying sea water with salinity of about 30,000
mg/litre.
• The production rate is about 3 litres/m2/day in a well designed still on a good
sunny day.
• The performance of solar still is expressed as the quantity of water produced
by each unit of basin area per day.
• The production rate depends on the intensity of solar radiation, the ambient
air temperature, wind speed and the sky condition.
Solar drier
• Solar energy is effectively utilised for controlled drying of agricultural
products to avoid food losses between harvesting and consumption. • High
moisture crops are prone to fungus infection, attack by insects and pests.
• Solar dryers remove moisture with no ingress of dust, and the product can
be preserved for a longer period of time.
• Openings are provided at the bottom and top of the enclosure for natural
circulation.
• The material to be dried, is spread on perforated trays.
• Solar radiation enters the enclosure, is absorbed by the material and internal
surfaces of the enclosed.
• Consequently, moisture from the product evaporates, the air inside is heated
and natural air circulation starts.
Solar drier
Solar drier
• The temperature inside the cabinet ranges from 50⁰C to 75 ⁰C and the
drying time for products like dates, grapes, apricots, cashew nuts and
chillies varies from 2 to 4 days.
• For large scale drying like seasoning of timber, corn drying, tea
processing, tobacco curing, fish and fruit drying solar kilns are used.

Solar Kilns
• Heating and drying on a large scale using solar energy.
• It operates on the principle that a transparent glass sheet or
polythene sheathing allows solar radiation to pass through into the kiln
and blocks long wavelength radiation emitted by products like timber
back into the atmosphere.
Solar Kilns
• Factors affecting the drying process are:

1. Relative humidity and temperature of air 2.

Air flow rate

3. Initial moisture content of the product

4. Final desired moisture content of the product

• Solar kiln used for seasoning of timber consists

of three major parts: (i) a wood seasoning
chamber, (ii) a flat plate collector, and (iii) a
chimney seasoning chamber which is placed
on a raised masonry platform.
 Solar Kilns
• The chimney creates a natural draught in the seasoning chamber,
causing hot air circulation around stacked wood.

• Circulating air carries heat from the solar absorbing plate to timber
logs and evaporates moisture.

• Drying is basically a heat and mass transfer process, the moisture from
surface and inside the product is vaporized and removed by circulating
hot air.
 Solar air-conditioning and refrigeration • One of
the thermal applications of solar energy is for cooling buildings
(air-conditioning) or for refrigeration needed for preserving food.

• Three modes of solar energy cooling

1. Evaporative cooling

2. Absorption cooling

3. Passive desiccant cooling

Evaporative cooling
• It is a passive cooking technique.
• It works on the principle that when warm air is used to evaporate
water, the air itself becomes cool and then cools the living space of
the building.
• Common techniques used for cooling are vapour absorption and
vapour compression.
 Vapour Absorption cooling system
• Water is heated in a flat plate collector array and is passed through a
heat exchanger called the generator.
• Suitable chemical solutions for absorption cooling are (i) NH3- H2O
where NH3 is used as the working fluid and (ii) LiBr- H2O soultion where
 H2O operates as the working fluid.
• The whole system consists of following four units: generator, condenser,
evaporator and absorber.
• The generator contains a solution mixture of absorbent and refrigerant,
and this mixture is heated with solar energy.
• Refrigerant vapour is boiled off at a high temperature and flows into
condenser, where it gets condensed rejecting heat and becomes liquid at
high pressure.
Vapour Absorption cooling system
• Refrigerant then passes through the expansion valve and evaporates in
the evaporator.
• The refrigerant vapour is then absorbed into a solution mixture taken
from the generator in which the refrigerant concentration is quite low.
• A heat exchanger is provided to transfer heat between solutions flowing
between the absorber and generator.
Vapour Absorption cooling system
 Passive Desiccant Cooling
• The passive desiccant cooling method is effective in a warm
and humid climate.
• Desiccant materials have a high affinity for water vapour
 which are used to dehumidify moisture.
• In solar air-conditioning, silica gel, molecular sieve and
triethylene glycol are used as desiccant materials. • In
desiccant cooling, the hot and humid air from rooms is first
dehumidified with a solid or liquid desiccant, then cooled by
exchange of sensible heat and finally it is evaporately cooled.
Passive Desiccant Cooling
• The triethylene glycol (TEG) is atomised in order to cause rapid
absorption of water vapour in the absorption chamber.
• The TEG is then pumped through a heat exchanger to a stripping
 chamber (regenerator), sprayed counter-currently to solar heated air
from solar collectors.
• Hot air takes a part of moisture from glycol solution and is
exhausted to the atmosphere.
Solar furnace
• Solar furnace is an optical equipment which concentrates solar
radiation on a small area for creating a high temperature.
• To make a concentration radiation in a small area from a large area
receiving solar radiation, there are two ways:
• (i) refraction from a big single lens or multiple lenses • (ii)
paraboloidal reflector either single or heliostat type.