24

In order to maximise the radiation received by the solar panel it needs to be at 90° to the incident radiation
from the sun.

SUN
EARTH

To incline a panel at 90° to the radiation at each of the 3 sites shown above the panel has to be at the angle
shown by the dotted lines. This angle corresponds to the latitude of the location.

All of the forgoing analysis assumes that the panel is inclined at the local latitude. However this condition
is only optimum when the sun is at its maximum angle in the sky. At the equator this will be midday .

However in reality the sun describes an arc in the sky from east to west due to the rotation of the earth.
In the northern hemisphere the panel will need to face due south to face the sun during its passage across
the sky. In the southern hemisphere the panel will need to face due north for the same reason.

In either location if the panel is set exactly at the local latitude then it will only be truly at 90° to the sun
when the sun is at its maximum height in the sky.
Either side of this time the sun will strike the panel at an additional angle that will further reduce the
effective radiation due to the Cosine rule.
This effect can be removed only if the panel is made to track the sun as it moves across the visible sky.
This adds complication to the panel installation and requires energy to move the panel.

The earth does not rotate about a vertical axis but at an angle of 23° 27’ . This means that the equator is
inclined (relative to the sun) at between +23° 27’ . and - 23° 27’ depending upon the time of year.

Optimum angle of inclination

At the equator the sunrise to sunset duration is 12 hours year round. However at northern and southern
latitudes the variation in daylight hours vary greatly depending upon the time of year. For example in the
British Isles (latitude 50-60°North) daylight lasts for less than 8 hours in mid-winter and up to 16 hours in
mid summer.
The effect of this is that the optimum angle for the panel in northern and southern regions is not
continuously the local latitude but it will vary depending upon the time of year.

Therefore if a solar panel is being sited at a particular location then typically the best angle will be the
local latitude plus 15° in winter and -15° in summer. If there is facility to change the angle of the panels
during the year some installations do this and optimise the efficiency of the system.

As winter is likely to be the most demanding some installations optimise the winter angle so that a higher
percentage is received at midday during the winter months as this is when the most energy is available.

For an optimum winter panel angle

Panel Angle =  Latitude  0.9   290
Panel Efficiency
If the instantaneous solar radiation is say 1000W/m2 then the total available energy per square meter of
panel will be 1000W (1kW). Hence a 1.6m2 panel has a potential heat input of 1.6kW.

The instantaneous efficiency of any panel will be the effective heat out of the panel relative to the total
heat input.
 25

Hence if a 1.6m2 panel has a heat output of 500W in a solar radiation field of 1000W/m2 its
instantaneous efficiency is
Q Water
  100%
QSolar
500
  100%
1600
 31.25%
The following procedure enables investigation of the instantaneous efficiency of the panel.

PROCEDURE
It is assumed that the unit has been installed following the procedure on pages 7 to 12.

Following the operation procedure on page 13 set the panel at the desired angle following the reference
procedure above or set to any other angle preferred.

Set the panel flow control(13) to 30grammes/second and adjust the bleed flow control valve(19) to give
a small flow rate.

Monitor the system temperatures T1 to T3 until the system reaches stability then record the following
parameters. Note that the bleed flow must be measured using the measuring cylinder and a stop watch as
described on page 16.

Panel Angle = 52°

Sample No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

qSolar Solar Flux W/m2 995
T1 Water In °C 14.6
T2 Water to Panel °C 34.0
T3 Water to Drain °C 42.6
T4 Ambient Air °C 25.0
V Bleed Volume ml 500
t Time for Volume s 35
m panel Panel Flow rate g/s 30

CALCULATIONS

The solar flux qSolar = 995 W/m2
From Useful Data on page 21 the effective panel area Ap  2.26 m
2

The effective heat available to the panel

Q Solar  qSolar  Ap
 995  2.26
 2248W

The cold water inlet temperature T1 = 14.6°C

The temperature of the water leaving the panel and going to drain T3 = 42.6°C
 26

The bleed flow rate of heated water to drain

500
m Bleed 
35
 14.4 g/s

The heat input to the cooling water by the system

Q Water  m Bleed  Cp (T 3  T 1)
14.4
  4.18  103  42.6  14.6 
1000
 1686W
Hence the panel instantaneous efficiency
Q Water
   100%
QSolar
1686
  100%
2248
 75%

The resulting efficiency is due to a number of factors.

- The panel surface is not a black body absorber.
- The clear plastic material covering the panel does not allow 100% of the incident
energy through.
- The heated black panel will re-radiate energy and the clear plastic panel will allow
some of this out.
- The panel is thermally insulated but this will allow some heat to escape.
Note that this is an instantaneous efficiency. There are other factors that will reduce this further.