Res Assignment

1Q.Discuss the potential of renewable energy sources with

reference to the present energy scenario. 
Ans-Today most of the energy is drawn from conventional non – renewable energy
resource, such as coal and petroleum products. At present coal alone accounts for about
70% of India’s electricity supply but it is not environment friendly. The main culprit behind
conventional non – renewable energy resources is the uncontrolled emission of
CO2whichleads to global climate change. The developing world community is struggling
with scarcity of power. Most of the power is derived from non – renewable conventional
energy resources which are decreasing day by day. Therefore renewable energy resource
utilization is the best solution to combat this problem.
RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL IN INDIA There is a large potential for renewable
energy in India, an estimated aggregate of over 150,000 MW. As against the estimated
84776 MW renewable energy based grid connected power generation potential in
the country, so far only about 17173.9 MW installed capacity has been achieved. The
renewable energy excluding large hydro power based power generation capacity presently
constitutes 9% of the total installed capacity in the country for power generation from all
sources. The country is aiming to achieve up to 10% of additional installed capacity to be
set up till 2012 to come from renewable energy sources.

Major sources are:-

Wind Energy
Wind Energy
Wind Energy
Wind Energy
 Wind Energy
 Solar energy
 Biomass energy
 Hydro energy
 Gio thermal
the challenges of present energy scenario offers India a window of opportunity in the form of
renewable energy sources to expand and diversify its energy supply towards greater
sustainability, as well as environmental and social responsibility. India has witnessed
substantial growth of renewable energy technologies in the country during the last two
decades. This growth can be attributed to the participation of the private sector, as a
consequence of favourable policy frameworks and investment options and
opportunities available for such technologies. However, much more remains to be done in
harnessing the true potential of renewable in the country. MNRE and other networking
agencies are to achieve the targets by 2012 to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, which
would result in a clean and green ‘Earth’.

2Q. What are the instruments used for measuring the solar radiation?
Explain briefly about them with neat sketches. 
Ans:-Pyranometers are radiometers designed for measuring the irradiance on a plane
surface, normally from solar radiation and lamps.
1.pyranometer

A typical analog pyranometer does not require power to operate and consists of a
thermopile sensor beneath a glass dome. The thermopile absorbs all the solar radiation
which encounters it and generates a small, proportional output voltage. Pyranometers
are typically used on or near solar panels to facilitate optimum panel positioning.
2. Pyrheliometers
Pyrheliometers are similar to pyranometers, but they are designed to measure only
direct beam solar irradiance. To this end they are occasionally used in identical
pyranometer applications, but are also used with solar tracking systems to ensure the
system is consistently aimed toward the sun. The device itself is often mounted directly
on the tracking system so that it is always measuring direct beam sunlight.
 Sunlight enters pyrheliometers through an integral lens, which projects sunlight onto a
thermocouple within the device. Most pyrheliometers can convert a thermopile's small
voltage output into watts per square meter and either output or record this data.

 3. Quantum Sensors

Quantum sensors are specialized devices which measure the quantity of
photosynthetically active radiation — or the portion of the visible spectrum which can be
used by photosynthetic organisms — within a band of solar radiation. Specifically,
quantum sensors measure the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of sunlight.
This measurement is useful in agriculture for choosing productive farmland locations or
maintaining growhouses, and is also used in oceanography to calculate the boundaries
of an ocean's sunlight zone. (For the latter reason, quantum sensors are often built with
waterproof housing.)
3Q. Enumerate the different types of concentrating type collectors. Explain
briefly about them with neat sketches. 
Ans. Concentrating solar collectors use reflective surfaces to concentrate sunlight on
a small area, where it gets absorbed and converted into heat.
...
Primarily there are four types of concentrating solar collectors, which are:
 Parabolic trough collector.
 Power tower receiver.
 Parabolic dish collector.
 Fresnel lens collector.
1. parabolic trough collector is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one
dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two, lined with a polished metal mirror.
The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of symmetry is focused along
the focal line, where objects are positioned that are intended to be heated. In a solar
cooker, for example, food is placed at the focal line of a trough, which is cooked when the
trough is aimed so the Sun is in its plane of symmetry.
2.Power tower receiver.
In power tower concentrating solar power systems, a large number of flat, sun-
tracking mirrors, known as heliostats, focus sunlight onto a receiver at the top of a
tall tower. A heat-transfer fluid heated in the receiver is used to heat a working
fluid, which, in turn, is used in a conventional turbine generator to produce
electricity. 

3.Parabolic dish collector.

These collectors consist of a set of parabolic dish–shaped mirrors. The operating
temperature of the systems is over 1800K while the concentration ratio typically is in
the range between 1000 and 5000K. Solar parabolic-dish concentrating systems are
most appropriate for concentrated photovoltaic application due to its high
concentration ratio and operating temperature.
4.Fresnel lens collector
Fresnel lens collector is popularly used as a solar concentrator since it offers high
optical efficiency. It has minimal weight and low cost. It gathers sunlight and makes it
available for solar panels. So, a Fresnel lens collector has the potential to maximise your
benefit from a solar power system.

4Q.Explain the environmental impact of solar power

Ans;-

Land use

Depending on their location, larger utility-scale solar facilities can raise concerns about land
degradation and habitat loss. Total land area requirements varies depending on the
technology, the topography of the site, and the intensity of the solar resource. Estimates for
utility-scale PV systems range from 3.5 to 10 acres per megawatt, while estimates for CSP
facilities are between 4 and 16.5 acres per megawatt.

Unlike wind facilities, there is less opportunity for solar projects to share land with
agricultural uses. However, land impacts from utility-scale solar systems can be minimized
by siting them at lower-quality locations such as brownfields, abandoned mining land, or
existing transportation and transmission corridors [1, 2]. Smaller scale solar PV arrays,
which can be built on homes or commercial buildings, also have minimal land use impact.
Water use

Solar PV cells do not use water for generating electricity. However, as in all manufacturing
processes, some water is used to manufacture solar PV components.

Concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP), like all thermal electric plants, require water for
cooling. Water use depends on the plant design, plant location, and the type of cooling
system.

CSP plants that use wet-recirculating technology with cooling towers withdraw between 600
and 650 gallons of water per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. CSP plants with once-
through cooling technology have higher levels of water withdrawal, but lower total water
consumption (because water is not lost as steam). Dry-cooling technology can reduce water
use at CSP plants by approximately 90 percent .
5Q.Define the following terms: 
a) Solar constant & calculate the solar constant for 21st August 2017. Consider Isc
= 1367 w/m2
b) Hour angle  
c) Declination angle & calculate the declination angle on 15 December 2022.
d) Solar azimuth angle. 
e) Surface azimuth angle
f) Zenith angle
g) Incident angle

ANS – a) A solar constant is a measurement of the solar electromagnetic radiation

available in a meter squared at Earth's distance from the sun.

b) Hour angle  - The hour angle is the angular displacement of the sun east or west
of the local meridian due to rotation of the earth on its axis at 15° per hour with
morning being negative and afternoon being positive.

c) Declination angle- The following equation can be used to calculate the declination
angle: δ=−23.45°×cos(360/365×(d+10)) where the d is the number of days since the start of
the year The declination angle equals zero at the equinoxes (March 22 and September 22),
positive during the summer in northern hemisphere and negative during winter 

d)Solar azimuth angle.- The solar azimuth angle is the azimuth (horizontal angle
with respect to north) of the Sun's position. This horizontal coordinate defines the Sun's
relative direction along the local horizon, whereas the solar zenith angle (or its
complementary angle solar elevation) defines the Sun's apparent altitude.

e)zenith angle- A Zenith angle is measured from the upper end of the vertical line
continuously all the way around, Figure F-3. It ranges from 0° directly upward (zenith) to 90°
on the horizontal to 180° directly downward (nadir) to 270° on the opposite horizontal to 360°
back at the zenith
f)Incident angle- The incident angle refers to the angle between the impact direction
and the solid surface. For a vertical impact, this angle is 90 degrees. A number of
experimental results have shown that the erosion rate of the material changes with the
incident angle.

6Q- What are the advantages and disadvantages of concentrating

collectors over flat plate collectors? 

Ans- ADVANTAGES  1.Reflecting surfaces require less material in concentrating

collectors than in flat plate collectors.  2.Absorber area is smaller in concentrating
collectors. So insulation intensity is greater in concentrating collectors than flat plate
collectors.  3.Small area of absorber/unit is there in concentrating collectors than in
flat plate collectors.  4.Little or no antifreeze is required in concentrating collectors
to protect absorber in a concentrator system.  5.Because temperature attainable
with concentrator collector is high, amount of heat stored is larger in concentrator
collector.  6.Concentrating collector is used for power generation while flat plate
collector is not used for power generation.  7.In solar heating & cooling, application
high temperature of working fluid is attainable.

DISADVANTAGES  1.Non uniform flux on absorber is there in concentrating

collectors than in flat plate collectors. While in flat plate collectors uniform flux is
there.  2.Additional optical losses occur in concentrating collectors than in flat plate
collectors.  3.High initial cost is there for concentrating collectors. Flat plate
collectors are cheaper.  4.Additional requirement for maintenance is required in
concentrating collectors than in flat plate collectors. While in flat plate collectors, not
much maintenance is required.  5.Only beam component is collected in
concentrating. While in flat plate collectors , both diffused & beam radiations are
collected in concentrating collectors.  6.It is necessary to have an absorber to track
sun image in concentrating collectors