Wk5-6

ENME462: Renewable Energy

Chapter 3: Solar angle and radiation
• Sun-earth size, temperature and rotation
• Solar time
• Solar angle
Perihelion and Aphelion
Summer and Winter Solstice
Insolation and seasonal changes
Solar altitude (α) and the solar azimuth (z)
Incidence angle measurement
• Solar radiation
Extraterrestrial solar radiation
Total radiation on tilted surface

Dr. M. A. Fazal
Mechanical and Materials Engineering Dept. UJ
Sun-Earth size and temperature

• The sun has a diameter of approximately 1,390,000 km

• It is huge and hot; its average surface temperature is ~ 5,500° C

• The earth has a diameter of approximately 12,700 km

• The average surface temperature of earth is 14° C

• Distance between sun and earth: 1.496x108 km.

• The sun is the primary source of energy for the earth’s climate system.
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• The sun’s diameter is 109 times larger than
earth’s diameter
• It is nearly 400 times hotter than the earth.

• The sun has extremely high temperature and

it emits enormous amount of radiation
• Its luminosity (the total amount of energy
emitted per unit time) is 3.846 x 1028 W.
Source of sun’s energy: Nuclear
fusion reaction that converts
hydrogen to helium and release
huge amount of energy

• Thermal radiation speed: 300,000 km/s

• After leaving the sun, solar energy reaches our planet in 8 min and 20 s.

• Sun's mass consists of ~92.1% hydrogen, 7.8% helium with much smaller
quantities (0.1%) of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon
and iron . 3
Rotation and Revolution

•Rotation – An object circling 360 degrees around its own axis

•Revolution – An object circling 360 degrees around another object

Day – One earth’s rotation

Month – One moon’s revolution

around Earth

Year – One earth’s revolution

around sun

Sketching of the rotation and

revolution for sun, earth and moon. 4
Rotation of earth
• Earth rotation is from West to East
(counter-clockwise)
• Rotation speed is variable

Time depended orbital positions of earth

around the sun

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Earth Geometry
• Earth rotates in 24 h about its own axis. The axis defines the upper point
as north (N) and down point as south (S) pole.

• The axis of the poles is normal to the earth’s equatorial plane but
inclined with vertical line at an angle of 23.5˚.
• C is the centre of the Earth

• The point P on the Earth’s

surface is determined by its
latitude  and longitude  .

• E & P – have same longitude

• G & Greenwich – have same longitude
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 Longitude
Latitude

• Latitude lines are in horizontal • Longitude lines are vertical in

direction and parallel to each direction and not parallel to
other each other

• Latitude is defined positive at the • By international agreement

north of the equator and negative longitude is measured positive
at south of the equator. eastwards from Greenwich,
England. 7
Earth Geometry

• Equator - An imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the

North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth into a Northern
Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere

• Prime Meridian: A meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic

coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be zero.
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 Saudi Arabia
23.8859° N, 45.0792° E

Angle of Latitude East

= Angle between two latitudes (+)
Angle of Longitude
= Angle between two longitudes 9
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• Standard time / GMT/ UTC of KSA: Local time + 03:00
• Saudi Arabia does not utilize daylight saving time 11
Solar Time
• Solar time is a calculation of the passage of time
based on the position of the Sun in the sky.

• Greenwich meridian (Zero longitude) is taken as

reference for time reckoned from mid night is known
as universal time coordinate (UTC) or Greenwich civil
time (GCT) or Greenwich mean time (GMT).

• The fundamental unit of solar time is the day.

• There are two types of solar time: apparent solar time (sundial time)
and mean solar time (clock time – 24 hours).

• All the values of time in solar energy computational are represented by

Apparent Solar Time (AST).

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Apparent Solar Time (AST):
• AST is used for calculating solar energy
• It is based on the apparent (true) angular motion of the sun
across the sky.

Local Solar Time (LST):

• The time when the sun crosses the meridian of the observer
• Twelve noon LST: The sun is highest in the sky.

Equation of Time (ET):

• Due to the factors associated with the earth’s orbit around
the sun, the earth’s orbital velocity varies throughout the year.

• So, the apparent solar time varies slightly from the mean
time kept by a clock running at a uniform rate. This variation
is represented by Equation of Time.
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• The equation of time arises because of the length of a day, that is,
the time required by the earth to complete one rotation about its own
axis with respect to the sun, is not uniform throughout the year.

• Over the year, the average length of a day is 24 h

• However, the length of a day varies due to the eccentricity of the
earth’s orbit and the tilt of the earth’s axis from the normal plane of its
orbit.

Length of the day varies due to:

• Eccentricity of the earth’s orbit
• Tilt of the earth’s axis

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 • The values of the equation of time as a function of the day of the
year (N) can be obtained approximately from the following equations.

1 degree = 60 min

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Conversion of standard time to Apparent solar time
• Apparent solar time is used in all of the sun-angle relationships; it
doesn’t coincide with the local cock time (standard time).

• The standard time is converted to apparent solar time by considering

the following two corrections:

i) First, there is constant correction for the difference in

longitude between
• the observer’s meridian (local longitude, Lloc) &
• the meridian on which the local standard time is based
(standard longitude, Lst )

Lst:: Longitude of the standard meridian for the local time zone
Lloc:: Longitude of the observer’s meridian
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 • To find the local standard meridian in degree, multiply the time
difference in hour between local standard clock time and
Greenwhich Mean Time – GMT, by 15.

• In fact, the sun takes 4 min (24*60/360) to transverse 1 degree of

longitude.

ii) The second correction is from the equation of time, which takes
into account the perturbations in the earth’s rate of rotation which
affect the time when the sun crosses the observer’s meridian.

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Apparent Solar Time (AST):
• Apparent solar time is based on the apparent angular motion of the sun
across the sky.
• AST = LST + Correction with Equation of Time + Correction with
difference in longitude – Daylight saving (if any)

Equation

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Example 1: Find the equation of AST for the city of Nicosia, Cyprus which
has standard longitude (SL) 30˚E and local longitude (LL) of 33.33˚ east
of Greenwhich.

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Example 2: Find the AST for 8:00 am on July 21 (202nd day of the year) in
Phoenix, which is located at 112˚ W longitude and northern latitude of 33.43˚.

B=D; SL=LSTM
LL = Long; DS = 0
Example 3: Calculate the apparent solar time on March 10 at 2.30 pm for
the city of Athens, Greece (23˚40‘ E longitude).

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1 degree = 60 min
1min = 60 sec
1 degree = 3600 sec

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1. Which is not true?
a) The sun has a diameter of approximately 1,400,000 km
b) The average surface temperature of sun is ~ 5,500° C
c) The earth has a diameter of approximately 12,700 km
d) The average surface temperature of earth is 24° C
2. Which is not correct?
a) Latitude lines are in horizontal direction and parallel to each other
b) Thermal radiation speed is 300,000 km/s
c) After leaving the sun, solar energy reaches our planet in 8 min and 20s.
d) Longitude lines are in vertical direction and parallel to each other.
3. Which is not true?
a) Distance between sun and earth: 1.496x1011 m.
b) The sun is the primary source of energy for the earth’s climate system.
c) Sun's mass consists of ~73% hydrogen, ~25% helium, ~2% carbon.
d) The sun takes 4 min to transverse 1 degree of longitude.
4. Which is not true?
a) The sun is nearly 400 times hotter than the earth.
b) The earth’s axis is 23.5˚ inclined with vertical line.
c) For Prime Meridian, the latitude is defined to be zero.
d) Day light saving time is either 0 or 60 min.
 Active learning question
1. Sketch and explain the rotation and revolution system for sun, earth and
moon. Define day, month and year in terms of rotation and revolution.
2. Sketch of the time depended orbital positions of the earth around the sun.
3. Sketch and explain the geometry of earth in terms of poles, axis, latitude,
longitude, equator and prime meridian.
4. Find the equation of AST for the city of Nicosia, Cyprus which has standard
longitude (SL) 30˚E and local longitude (LL) of 33.33˚ east of Greenwhich.
5. Find the AST for 8:00 am MST on July 21 (202nd day of the year) in Phoenix, AZ,
which is located at 112˚ W longitude and northern latitude of 33.43˚.
6. Calculate the apparent solar time on March 10 at 2.30 pm for the city of Athens,
Greece (23˚40‘ E longitude).
7. Find the Apparent Solar Time (AST) for 9 a.m. on March 25 in Mekkah, Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia which is located at 40˚ E longitude and northern latitude of
21.39˚.
8. Find the Apparent Solar Time (AST) for 10 a.m. on May 25 in Hafr-Al Batin,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is located at 40.52˚ E longitude and northern
latitude of 27.91˚. 26