Week 4: Solar Energy

Lesson 1: Solar Radiation

1
© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E.
Question
 What is a huge solar
energy spill called?

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 2

Answer

 A nice day.

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 3

Objectives
 How does solar energy reach a collector?
 What is irradiance and irradiation? How do
they differ?
 How much solar energy reaches the Earth’s
surface?

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 4

Solar Radiation Paths
 direct or beam

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Solar Radiation Paths
 diffuse or scattered

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 Solar Radiation Paths
 albedo (alˈbēdō) or reflected
 Particularly significant with snow cover.
 Used with concentrating collectors.

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 7

Solar Radiation Paths
 global (all together)

diffuse

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 8

Irradiance
 Power density of radiation
 Recall: Power is the energy rate
𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = ⁄𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡
𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
�𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡
 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 =
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
 Common units
 Watts per square meter 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤⁄
𝑚𝑚2
 algebraic symbol = “G”

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 9

Irradiation
 Energy density
 = 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒⁄𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
 Common units
 kilowatt-hours per square meter
 kWh/m2

 or Megajoules per square meter

 MJ/m2

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 10

Irradiance vs. Irradiation
 Irradiance is instantaneous
 Irradiation is over time
 In calculus terms
 Irradiation is the integration of solar
radiation

𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 = � 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 11

Definition: Peak Sun Hours
Peak Sun Hours, July 4th, Alfred, NY
Number of 1200

hours at 1
kW/m2, 1000
equivalent area
to area under
the curve of
800

daily
)
2
Irradiance

irradiation.
(watts/m

600
Peak Sun Hours =
8.4

400

200

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Time of Day
(Hour)

Data source, PV Watts

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 12
 Example: Low Peak Sun Hours
Peak Sun Hours, December 22, Alfred, NY
1200

1000

800
2
Irradiance

watts/m

600 Peak Sun Hours =

0.46

400

200

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Time of Day
Hour

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 13

Solar Constant
 Above Earth’s atmosphere, the solar
irradiance is

Gsc = 1367 Watts 2

m

 This is called the solar constant hence the

“sc”.

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 14

Solar Irradiance on Earth’s
Surface
 As a first approximation, about 70% of the
sun’s irradiance passes through the
atmosphere.

1367 Watts 2 × 0 . 70 = 957 Watts 2

m m

 Commonly approximated at 1000 W/m2

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 15

Zenith
The zenith is a line perpendicular to the
surface of the earth.
 The zenith angle θz is the angle between the
zenith and a line from the sun.

θz

The zenith angle is smallest at solar noon since the sun is highest, or
nearest the zenith.

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 16

Air Mass
 Sunlight passes through more atmosphere as sun
gets lower in the sky.

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 17

Air Mass Defined
 Air Mass is the ratio of the mass of
atmosphere through which beam radiation
passes to the mass it would pass through if
the sun were at the zenith.
 Thus at sea level with the sun directly
overhead, m =1.
1
 For zenith angles to 70°. . . 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 ≈
cos 𝜃𝜃𝑍𝑍

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 18

Air Mass
Air Mass as Sun gets Lower
3

2.8

1
AM ≈
2.6

2.4
cos θ Z
2.2
Air Mass

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Zenith Angle [Degrees]

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 19

Zenith Angle
𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍

Zenith Angle
𝜃𝜃𝑧𝑧

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 20

Example
 At some time and location, an observer
measures the zenith angle of the sun at 35º.
 Determine the air mass.
1 1
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = = = 1.22
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝜃𝜃𝑧𝑧 0.819

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 21

Solar Intensity Approximation
 Empirically
 (by experiment and curve fit)
 For clear sky
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴
𝐼𝐼 = 𝐺𝐺𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 0.7
 A slightly better approximation

𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴0.678
𝐼𝐼 = 𝐺𝐺𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 0.7

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 22

Example Irradiance
 For the previous problem, what is the
irradiance?
 First approximation:
𝐼𝐼 = 1367 𝑊𝑊⁄𝑚𝑚2 0.7 1.22 = 884 𝑊𝑊⁄𝑚𝑚2
 Empirical Approximation:
𝑊𝑊⁄ 1.22 0.678
 𝐼𝐼 = 1367 𝑚𝑚2 0.7 = 909 𝑊𝑊⁄𝑚𝑚2

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 23

Irradiance Values for Design
 Predicting the solar irradiance at particular
location and time depends on much more
than Air Mass.
 For design purposes the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory makes
irradiation calculations available through
PVWatts.
 PVWatts.nrel.gov

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 24

Irradiance Standard
 Standard conditions for testing and
specifications use an Air Mass of
 AM = 1.5

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 25

Next Level: Spectral Irradiance
 The sun’s irradiance reaching the Earth’s
surface is frequency dependent.
 For light, it is more common to speak of
wavelength.
 Recall: λ = c
v
λ = wavelength in meters
c = speed of light = 2.998 ×108 m
s
(vacuum)
v = frequency in Hertz = cycles
sec
© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 26
Blackbody Radiation
Emissive power per unit area per wavelength.

W
Eλ ,b (λ , T ) =
C1 m 2

 C2
 µm
λ  e λT − 1
5

 
8 W ⋅ µm
4
C1 = 3.742 ×10
m2
C2 = 1.439 ×10 µm ⋅ K 4

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 27

Solar Spectrum
Absorption of
solar irradiance
by the
atmosphere.

CCASA 3.0:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_spectrum_en.svg 28
© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E.
Solar Emissive Power Density
8
x 10 Blackbody Radiation Spectra for 5800 Kelvin.
2.5

Increasing
2

Energy
Spectral Irradiance [W/m2/um]

1.5

V YO
G
i B er
r R
0.5
Ultra o l l a
e e Infrared
violet l u l n
e d
ee og
n
0
0 0.2 t0.4 w0.6
e 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Wavelength [micrometers]

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 29

References
Duffie, J. A., & Beckman, W. (2020). SOLAR
ENGINEERING OF THERMAL
PROCESSES (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: JOHN
WILEY.
Hodge, B. K. (2017). Alternative energy
systems and applications. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.
https://pvwatts.nrel.gov

© Timothy J. Cochran, P.E. 30