Module-2

MEASUREMENTS OF SOLAR RADIATION

Solar radiation data are measured mainly by the following instruments:

(1) Pyranometer: A pyranometer is designed to measure global radiation, usually on a
horizontal surface, but can also be used on an inclined surface. When shaded from beam
radiation by using a shading ring, a pyranometer measures diffused radiation.

(2) Pyrheliometer: An instrument that measures beam radiation by using a long narrow tube to
collect only beam radiation from the sun at normal incidence.

(3) Sunshine Recorder: It measures the sunshine hours in a day.

(1) Pyranometer: A precision pyranometer is designed to respond to radiation of all

wavelengths and hence accurately measures the total power in the incident spectrum.
Construction: It contains a thermopile whose sensitive surface consists of circular, blackened,
hot junctions, exposed to the sun, the cold junctions being completely shaded. The temperature
difference between the hot and cold junctions is the function of radiation falling on the sensitive
surface. The sensing element is covered by two concentric hemispherical glass domes to shield it
from wind and rain which also reduces the convection currents. A radiation shield surrounding
the outer dome and coplanar with the sensing element, prevents direct solar radiation from
heating the base of the instrument.

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(2) Pyrheliometer: The normal incidence pyranometer uses a long collimator tube to collect
beam radiation whose field of view is limited to a solid angle of 5.5 (generally) by appropriate
diaphragms inside the tube.
Construction: The inside of the tube is blackened to absorb any radiation incident at angles
outside the collection solid angle. At the base of the tube a wire wound thermopile having an
sensitivity of approximately 8 µV/W/m² and an output impedance of approximately 200 Ω is
provided. The tube is sealed with dry air to eliminate absorption of beam radiation within the
tube by water vapour. A tracker is needed if continuous readings are desired.

(3) Sunshine recorder: This instrument measures the duration in hours of bright sunshine
during the course of a day.

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construction: It essentially consists of a glass sphere (about 10 cm in diameter) mounted on its
axis parallel to that of the earth, within a spherical section (bowl). The bowl and glass sphere are
arranged in such a way that the sun's rays are focused sharply at a spot on a card held in a groove
in the bowl. The card is prepared from a special paper bearing a time scale. As the sun moves,
the focused bright sunshine burns a path along this paper. The length of the trace thus obtained
on the paper is the measure of the duration of the bright sunshine. Three overlapping pairs of
grooves are provided in the spherical segment to take care of the different seasons of the year.

FLAT AND CONCENTRATING COLLECTORS

Heliothermal Process

In the heliothermal process, the radiant solar energy falling on the surface placed on the earth in
the form of the visible light is converted directly into thermal energy. The surfaces on which the
solar rays fall are called collectors. Basically, two types of collectors are used. In one of the types,
known as non-concentrating type, generally called flat plate collector, the incident solar rays are
absorbed by the collector's surface itself. In the other type known as the concentrating type,
generally called a focusing collector, the solar rays fall on a large curved reflecting surface which
reflects all the incident rays and focus them to form a highly concentrated narrow beam which
will be absorbed later.

The amount of solar radiation incident on a surface is called solar insolation. The total solar
insolation on a surface is composed of a direct component, called beam component and a
diffused component as well as short wavelength component reflected from other terrestrial

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surfaces. The amount of direct radiation on a surface held normal to the sun's rays depends on
the time of the year, time of the day, the latitude of the place, as well as the atmospheric
conditions. The amount of direct solar energy can be calculated with reasonable precision while
the amount of diffused radiation depends on the local meteorological conditions.

Flat plate collector:

In the flat plate collectors as shown in Fig, a blackened sheet of metal is used to absorb all the
sunlight, direct, diffuse and terrestrially reflected. A sheet of metal coated in black has the
property of absorbing the sunlight falling on it and convert it into heat. The heat generated in the
sheet of metal is subsequently transferred to the other fluids like, air, water, etc. The heat energy
will be continuously transferred to the fluid after the blackened surface attains a temperature at
which the equilibrium state is established between the rate at which the solar energy is absorbed
and the rate at which the heat energy is transferred to the fluid. When the conduction, convection
and radiation losses during absorption, generation and transfer are prevented, this method of
solar energy conversion will have very high conversion efficiencies, even as high as 100%.

In flat plate collectors, the conduction and convection losses can be minimised by placing the
blackened sheet of metal in a closed thermally insulated box having its top covered by a
transparent glass sheet so that the solar radiation can be allowed. The use of a glass cover serves
as a diathermanous medium permitting the short wavelength solar radiation to be transmitted
through it, while blocking the long wavelength radiation from the surface of the blackened sheet.
By coating the absorbing surface with selective coating substances having high absorptiveness in
the short wavelength region and low emissivities in the long wavelength region the radiation
losses from the absorbing surface may be reduced.

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Flat plate collectors are used for a wide variety of low temperature applications such as cooking,
water heating, drying of food grains and vegetables, seasoning of wood, desalination of water,
etc.

Concentrating/focusing collectors:

In the focusing collectors as shown in Fig, a mirror or a lens system is used to increase the
intensity of solar radiation. Generally parabolic reflectors of either cylindrical shape or spherical
shape are employed to focus the incident radiation. The focusing collectors intercept and
concentrate only the direct rays of the sun, and hence they do not perform satisfactorily when the
sky is cloudy or hazy. A very small quantity of the diffused radiation will fall upon the absorber,
hence ignored. The focusing collectors require tracking systems to follow the path of the sun.
The concentrated narrow focused beam is absorbed by a receiver placed at the focus of the
reflector.

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The focusing collectors may be used for high temperature heating applications for industrial
purposes.

Advantages and Disadvantages of concentrating collectors over flat Plate type collectors:

Advantages:
1. Reflecting surfaces require less material and are structurally simpler than flat plate
collectors. (less cost )
2. The absorber area of a concentrating system is smaller than that of a flat plate system for
same solar energy collection.
3. Loss of energy after collecting is less than FPC, because of large absorber area in FPC,
working fluid can attain higher temperature.
4. Owing to the small area of absorber per unit of solar energy collecting area, selective
surface treatment and/or vacuum insulation to reduce heat losses and improve collector
efficiency are economically feasible.
5. Can be used for electricity power generation.
6. Heat storage costs are less
7. Little or no anti-freeze is required to protect the absorber.
8. It is possible to get higher efficiencies.

Disadvantages:
1. Only beam components are collected.
2. Costly oriented systems

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 3. An additional requirement of maintenance is required.
4. Non uniform flux on the absorber.
5. Additional optical losses such as reflectance loss and the intercept loss, so they introduce
additional factors in energy balances.
6. High Initial cost.

Solar direct Thermal applications:

1. Solar water heating.

2. Solar Space heating.
3. Solar Space cooling and refrigeration
4. Power generation
5. Solar distillation
6. Solar cooking
7. Solar drying

Fundamentals of solar photovoltaic conversion

Helioelectrical Process: In the helioelectrical process, using the principle of photovoltaic effect,
the solar energy is directly converted into electrical energy.

The basic conversion device used is known as a solar photovoltaic cell or a solar cell. A solar
cell is basically an electrical current source, driven by a flux of radiation. Solar cells were first
produced in 1954 and were rapidly developed to provide power for space satellites based on
semiconductor electronics technology.

A solar cell is the most expensive component in a solar PV system (about 60% of the total
system cost) though its cost is falling slowly. Commercial photocells may have efficiencies in the
range of 10-20% and can produce electrical energy of 1-2 kWh per sq. m per day in ordinary
sunshine. Typically, it produces a potential difference of about 0.5 V and a current density of
about 200 A per sq. m of cell area in full solar radiation of 1 kW per sq. m. A typical commercial
cell of 100 sq. cm area, thus produces a current of 2A.
It has a lifespan in excess of about 20 years. As a PV system has no moving parts, it gives almost
maintenance-free service for long periods and can be used unattended at inaccessible locations.
A wide variety of materials exhibit the photovoltaic effect. But semiconductors have the
capability of generating electric power at a level sufficiently high enough for practical
applications. Among the semiconductors, the most commonly used are silicon, germanium,
cadmium sulphide,gallium arsenide, etc. The silicon is the one that is generally used because of
its higher conversion.

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The major uses of photovoltaics have been in space satellites, remote radio-communication
booster stations and marine warning lights. These are also increasingly being used for lighting,
water pumping and medical refrigeration in remote areas especially in developing countries.
Solar-powered vehicles and battery charging are some of the recent interesting applications of
solar PV power.

The major advantages of solar PV systems over conventional power systems are given here:
1. It converts solar energy directly into electrical energy without going through the
thermal-mechanical link. It has no moving parts.
2. Solar PV systems are reliable, modular, durable and generally maintenance-free.
3. These systems are quiet, compatible with almost all environments, respond
instantaneously to solar radiation and have an expected lifespan of 20 years of more.
4. A solar PV system can be located at the place of use and hence no or minimum
distribution network is required, as it is universally available.

It also suffers from some disadvantages such as given here:

1) At present, the costs of solar cells are high, making them economically uncompetitive
with other conventional power sources.
2) The efficiency of solar cells is low. As solar radiation density is also low, a large area of
solar cell modules are required to generate sufficient useful power.
3) As solar energy is intermittent, some kind of electrical energy storage is required, which
makes the whole system more expensive.

Solar cell

Principle of conversion of Solar Energy into Electrical Energy

In an ordinary copper wire, the copper atoms have electrons that are free to move from atom to
atom. Such a flow of electrons makes up an electric current. In an ideal state, the semiconductor
materials are insulators as they have no free electrons. But if very small amounts of impurities
such as antimony, arsenic, or phosphorus are present in semiconductor materials, a few free
electrons are produced that can move and form an electric current. When photons from the sun
are absorbed by a semiconductor, they create free electrons with higher energies than the
electrons which provide the bonding in the base crystal. Once these electrons are created, there
must be an electric field to induce these high energy electrons to flow out of the semiconductor.

The actual conversion of solar energy directly into electrical energy in a semiconductor, for
example a silicon cell.

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Fig shows a typical silicon cell (solar cell). The silicon is neither a good conductor nor a good
insulator. It has an outer electron shell of four valence electrons.

Formation of p-n junction:

In its crystalline state, a silicon atom forms covalent bonds with four neighbouring atoms.
Addition of traces of an element such as arsenic, or phosphorus, or antimony that contain one
more electron than the silicon i.e., five valence electrons, renders the silicon conductive. Four of
the five electrons complete covalent bonds with adjacent silicon atoms. The fifth, or the excess
electron, at room temperature, has sufficient energy to become a free electron which will be
negatively charged. The conduction in silicon which is added with materials such as arsenic or
phosphorus is affected by such negative free electrons. The silicon with added materials such as
arsenic or phosphorus is called n-type silicon.

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The addition of elements such as boron or gallium to silicon reduces the number of valence
electrons in the atom to three, i.e., one less than in the silicon. This type of atom has insufficient
valence electrons to complete four valence bonds. The incomplete hond results in a vacancy or
hole. The hole acts as positive charge and makes the silicon conductive. The silicon with added
materials such as boron is called p-type silicon.

A semiconductor device is made either from p-type or n-type base material into which one or
more impurities of the positive polarity are introduced to form p-n-layers. The interface between
the layers having opposite polarity is called p-n junction.

In a p-n junction, free electrons from n-side tend to diffuse into p-side where they readily
recombine because of the very large hole concentration. Similarly all holes from the p-side of the
junction tend to diffuse into n-side of the region and rapidly combine with numerous free
electrons. Free electrons moving from n-side to p-side leave a net positive charge behind in the
n-side of the junction, while migrating hole from p-side to n-side leave a negative charge on the
p-side of the junction. This charge distribution near the junction gives rise to an electric field and
hence a potential difference across the junction. This electric field originates mainly due to the
chemical difference in the material on the two sides of the junction. This electric field built in the
vicinity of the junction is permanent in nature.

Working: When a p-n junction of a semiconductor is exposed to sunlight some of the solar
photons are absorbed in the vicinity of the p-n junction. The photons absorbed at the p-n junction
will have high energy to dislodge an electron from the fixed position in the material and give it
enough energy to move freely in the material. The electron evicted from its customary bond can
travel through the entire crystalline solid and is capable of responding to electric fields and other
influences. The bond from which the electron was ejected is short of one electron creating a hole
which is also mobile. Thus the ejected free electron and the hole form an electron-hole pair. The
electrons and the holes being of opposite charge will be pushed in different directions by the
electric field which already exists in the vicinity of the junction if they come into the region near
the p-n junction. The permanent electric field which was built-in near the p-n junction pushes the
hole into the p-region and the electron into the n-region. Thus the p-region becomes positively
charged and the n-region becomes negatively charged. If an external load is applied, this charge
difference will drive a current through it. The current will flow so long as the sunlight keeps
generating the electron-hole pairs.

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SOLAR PV POWER GENERATION

Solar Photovoltaic Systems: Solar Photovoltaic System uses solar cells to convert light into
electricity. A PV system consists of PV modules and balance of systems (BOS). Balance of
systems includes module support structure, storage, wiring, power electronics, etc.

DC (direct current) electricity is generated when solar radiation strikes the PV module. Power
can be used in any DC load directly during this generation. But the generation exists during
daytime. So, some storage device is needed to run the system at night or in low sunshine hour.
Again this power cannot be used to run any AC (alternate current) load. Inverter has to be used
to convert DC into AC.

Solar PV systems are categories into 3 types

1. Stand-alone PV systems (also called off-grid systems)

2. Grid connected PV systems (also called on-grid systems)
3. Hybrid systems

Stand-alone PV systems: Stand-alone systems are not connected with utility power lines and
these are self-sufficient systems. These systems could either be used to charge the batteries that
serve as an energy storage device or could work directly using the solar energy available in the
daytime.
These systems consist of the following: Solar panels mounted on the roof or in open spaces.
Photovoltaic modules produce direct current (DC) electrical power. Batteries to store DC energy
generated by the solar panels. Charge controller to prevent overcharging the battery. Inverter to
convert electricity produced by the system from DC to AC power.
The following diagram shows a PV system powering AC loads with a battery bank. DC loads
can also be connected directly to the battery bank. It is also possible to power the AC load
without a battery, but in that case it would be confined only to daytime when solar radiation is
sufficient to generate required electricity.

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Grid connected PV systems: A grid connected photovoltaic system will be interacted with
utility grid. The main advantage of this system is that power can be drawn from the utility grid
and when power is not available from grid, PV system can supplement that power. These grid
connected systems are designed with battery or without battery storage.
These systems consist of the following:
Solar panels mounted on the roof or in open spaces. Photovoltaic modules produce direct current
(DC) electrical power. Batteries to store DC energy generated by the solar panels. Charge
controller to prevent overcharging the battery. Specially designed inverter to transform the PV
generated DC electricity to the grid electricity (which is of AC) at the grid voltage.m. Whenever
the solar PV supply exceeds the building’s demand, excess electricity will be exported into the
grid. When there is no sunlight to generate PV electricity at night, the power grid will supply all
of the building’s demand.
The following diagram shows PV system powering AC loads. This system is connected to utility
power supply and having battery storage for backup.

Hybrid solar PVsystems: Sometimes, it is not economical or practical to provide all energy
from a PV system. In such cases, it may be more economical to provide some of the system
energy needs by other means, such as diesel/gasoline generators or any other non-conventional
source like wind or fuel cells. Such a system is called a hybrid system. The best
cost-effectiveness is generally obtained when none of the PV- generated energy is wasted.

Solar PV applications

1. Grid interactive PV power generation

2. Water pumping
3. Lighting
4. Medical refrigeration
5. Village power
6. Telecommunication and signalling
7. Power in Space
8. Transportation

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Grid-interactive PV power generation: It uses solar energy to generate renewable power that
charges batteries for use during power failures and feeds power into the electricity grid.

Water pumping: Solar power is commonly used for water pumping facilities which has been
proved more effective in villages for agricultural purposes. The energy from the solar panel is
used to operate the pump that is used to lift the water from lower level to higher level.

Lighting: Solar photovoltaic lighting system can be used for street lights, and rural areas. Small
sized panels can easily harness enough energy to glow a street light and LEDs.

Medical refrigeration: Many life-saving medical supplies, particularly vaccines, require

refrigeration during storage and transportation in order to remain effective. WHO has specified
technical details for PV-based refrigerators using solar energy for such applications. The volume
of a refrigerator chamber varies from 20-100 litres with the freezer volume ranging from 10-35
litres. The PV module size ranges from 100 W to over 600 W with a 12 V/24 V battery, of 150 to
over 600 Ah.

Village power: Solar PV power can be used to meet low energy demands of many remote,
isolated and generally unapproachable villages in most developing countries. Two approaches
have generally been used:

(1) Individual SPV system for every household.

(2) A centralized SPV plant to meet combined load demand of the whole village.

Both approaches have been extensively tried out in most parts of the world,particularly in
developing countries. Whereas a centralized village PV power system requires large scale
integrated planning and execution, individual village household systems may be available
off-the-shelf.

Telecommunication and signalling: Solar PV power is ideally suited for telecommunication

applications such as local telephone exchange, radio and TV broadcasting, microwave and other
forms of electronic communication links. This is because, in most telecommunication
applications, storage batteries are already in use and the electrical systems are basically DC.
Radio and TV signals may not reach in hilly and mountainous terrain as they get blocked or
reflected back due to the undulating terrain. At these locations, either low-power transmitters
(LPT) or very low-power transmitters (VLPT) are installed to receive and retransmit the signals
for the local population. As these locations are generally remote and normal grid supply is not
available, these are powered by solar photovoltaic electricity.

Power in Spacel:

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 ● The solar arrays arranged in the space station produce more than required power for the
space station. When the station is in sunlight, about 60 percent of the electricity that the
solar arrays generate is used to charge the station's batteries.
● Solar panels on spacecraft supply power for two main uses, firstly, power to run the
sensors, active heating, cooling and telemetry.
● Power for spacecraft propulsion – electric propulsion, sometimes called solar - electric
propulsion. Solar panels used in space are not the same as ones used in terrestrial
applications. They do not require any glass lamination to prevent moisture. They must be
capable to withstand elevated temperatures and hence the material used is different.

Transportation: PV can provide auxiliary power for vehicles such as cars and boats.
Automobile sunroofs can include PV for onboard power needs or trickle-charging batteries.
Lightweight PV can also conform to the shape of aeroplane wings to help power high-altitude
aircraft.

References

● Rai. G.D., "Non Conventional Energy Sources", Khanna Publishers, New Delhi, 2011.
● B. H. Khan, Non-Conventional Energy Resources, The McGraw Hill.
● Twidell, J.W. & Weir, A. Renewable Energy Sources, EFN Spon Ltd., UK, 2006.
● S. P. Sukhatme and J.K. Nayak, Solar Energy – Principles of Thermal Collection and
Storage, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
● Garg, Prakash, Solar Energy, Fundamentals and Applications, Tata McGraw Hill.
● A text book of Elements of mechanical Engineering, KR Gopalakrishna

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