Determination of Optimum Tilt Angle of Solar
Collectors for Solar Cities in Maharashtra, India
A.B.Lanjewar1, N.S.Wakchaure1, P.R.Tete1, S.S.Joshi2
1. Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, RCOEM, Nagpur, India
2. Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, RCOEM, Nagpur, India
Abstract— To cope with the increasing electricity demand of
the country, ‘Development of Solar Cities’ programme is
designed by the government of India. This programme aims at
reduction in projected demand of conventional energy through
enhancing supply from renewable energy sources like solar
energy. It is proposed to enhance the installation of the solar
collectors in the selected ‘Solar Cities’ in the country. It is well
known that, the efficiency of the solar collector will increase
when it is always facing the sun. To eliminate the expenses
towards sun tracking systems, it is always desirable to install the
collectors at an optimum tilt angle. The optimal tilt angle is the
angle where the solar radiation will arrive perpendicularly upon
the surface such that the annual insolation would be maximized
for the solar collector. This angle is determined considering
several factors like location, application, energy demand pattern,
etc. In the current work, a mathematical model is used to
determine the optimum tilt angle of the solar collectors for the six
Solar Cities of Maharashtra state. In addition, month wise and
season wise optimum tilt angles are also computed for specific
applications in different seasons. The calculations and the
computed angles are reported in this paper.
Keywords— Optimum tilt angles, Solar Cities in Maharashtra
I. INTRODUCTION
The energy requirement in the world is increasing,
particularly since the last few centuries. The main driver for
further increase in the energy demand is techno-economic
growth of the developing countries. The main sources of
energy which fulfill the energy demand are generally fossil
fuels. But the fossil fuel based energy sources are exhaustible
and also causes an environmental pollution. Therefore there is
a need for alternative energy sources which can provide
energy in a sustainable manner and pollution free. One of the
options is to make more regular use of renewable sources of
energy derived from the sun. Solar energy is abundant and
inexhaustible. The power from the sun intercepted by the earth
is approximately 1.8 x 1011 MW, which is many thousands of
times greater than present consumption rate on the earth which
could meet all the energy requirement of the world, if utilized
properly. Hence it is one of the most promising
unconventional energy sources. It is environmentally clean
source of energy and hence no potential damage to
environment.
The solar energy utilization includes thermal and
photovoltaic conversion. The varieties of thermal applications
are water or air heating, drying, cooking and power
generation. In photovoltaic, solar energy can be used to
convert into electrical energy through photovoltaic effect.
To cope with the increasing electricity demand of the
country, ‘Development of Solar Cities’ programme is
designed by the Government of India. This programme aims at
reduction in projected demand of conventional energy through
enhancing supply from renewable energy sources like solar
energy. It is proposed to enhance the installation of the solar
collectors in the selected ‘Solar Cities’ in the country.
The amount of solar energy received by earth varies
inversely with the square of the distance between sun and the
earth. As sun- earth distance is not constant because earth
keeps revolving around the sun as well as on its own axis, the
amount of radiation received by the earth also varies
throughout day and year. The variation is not much and
accounts for only 5.9% [1]. So in order to collect the
maximum solar radiation, it is important to determine the
correct orientation and slope of the solar collectors. Solar
tracking is one of the systems being used to maximize the
amount of solar radiation falling on solar collectors. But
tracking system is expensive and not easily applicable. To
improve solar collector performance, optimum tilt angle is one
of the alternatives, if solar tracking is not appropriate.
Optimum tilt angle is the angle at which maximum solar
radiation intercepted by the collector. There is reduction of an
incident radiation by around 5% if tilt angle of solar collector
is varied by 150 from the optimum tilt angle [2]. So, to receive
the maximum solar radiation on collector, optimum tilt is
necessary. In northern hemisphere, collector orientation is
south facing (γ = 00). In summer months, optimum tilt is less
(usually latitude – 150) and in winter months, it is greater
(usually latitude + 150) [3]. But annually, optimum tilt is given
by β = 0.9Φ [4]. For Indian cities, in practice the collector
plate is usually oriented south facing and at a fixed tilt to
receive maximum solar radiation.
II. SOLAR RADIATION TERMINOLOGY
A. Extra-terrestrial Radiation
Extra-terrestrial radiation is the radiation just outside the
earth surface (Isc). Its value is taken as 1367 W/m2 [5]. Extra-
terrestrial flux varies throughout the year due to changes in sun
and earth distance and it is given by,
Isc’ = Isc (1 + 0.0333cos
360n
) (1)
365
Where n is the day of the year.
B. Declination Angle (δ) Ht Hd Hd
= (1 − ) Rb + Rd + Rr (12)
Hg Hg Hg
The angle made by lines joining center of earth to the
center of sun with its projection on equatorial plane of the For south facing surface (γ = 00),
earth is called as declination angle (δ). It varies between - ω′ sinδ sin(Φ−β)+cosδ sinω′cos(Φ−β)
23.450 to +23.450 due to inclination of the earth’s polar axis Rb = (13)
ω sinδ sin Φ+cosδ sinω cos Φ
and its revolution around the sun. The declination angle is
determined as 1+cosβ
360
Rd = (14)
δ = 23.45sin ( (284 + n)) (2) 2
365 ρ(1−cosβ)
Rr = (15)
Monthly average extra-terrestrial solar radiation (Ho) on 2
the horizontal surface is given by [6] Where, ω’ and ω are the sunrise or sunset hour angle for
24 360n tilted surface and horizontal surface respectively. ρ is the
Ho = Isc (1 + 0.0333cos ) (ωsinΦsinδ + cosΦcosδsinω) ground reflectivity.
π 365
(3) III. METHODOLOGY
Where, ω is sunshine hour angle and is given by, Using equations 1 to 15, the maximum solar radiation
ω = cos −1 (−tanΦtanδ) (4) incident on collector and optimum tilt angle are calculated for
different solar cities in Maharashtra, India. With the help of
C. Global, Beam and Diffused Radiation MS-Excel, graphs were plotted between various entities. The
The solar radiation which directly reaches at the earth data of latitude, longitude and elevation above mean sea level
surface without change of direction is called as beam or direct for solar cities in Maharashtra is tabulated in table 1.
radiation. The radiation received at the earth surface from all
parts of the sky’s hemisphere called as diffused radiation. TABLE 1. LATITUDE, LONGITUDE AND ELEVATION OF SOLAR CITIES
Global radiation is the sum of beam and diffused radiation.
Latitude Longitude Elevation
Solar Cities
Gopinathan [7] have been suggested a correlation to (in degrees) (in degrees) (in meters)
determine the monthly average daily global radiation on a Nagpur 21.14 79.08 310
horizontal surface (Hg) at a location which is given by, Thane 19.22 72.98 11
Hg S Kalyan-Dombivli 19.24 73.13 10
= a + b( ) (5)
Ho Smax
Aurangabad 19.88 75.34 595
The constants a, b are related to three parameters i.e. Nanded 19.14 77.32 356
latitude of the location, elevation and sunshine hours as
Shirdi 19.77 74.48 516
follows.
S
a = −0.309 + 0.539cosΦ − 0.0693EL + 0.290 ( ) (6)
Smax
S IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
b = 1.527 − 1.027cosΦ + 0.0926EL − 0.359 ( ) (7)
Smax
The monthly average daily extra-terrestrial, beam, global
Where, EL is the elevation of the given location above radiations are calculated using equations (1) to (10). It is found
mean sea level in kilometer. that the radiation decreases in the month of July to August i.e.
Smax is the monthly average of the maximum possible sun in rainy season due to scattering radiations. The variation of
hours per day at a location i.e. day length in hours. extra-terrestrial, beam and global radiation on horizontal
Smax = ω
2
(8) surface for Nagpur is shown in Fig. 1.
15
S is the monthly average of the sunshine hours per day at a
location in hours.
Garg and Garg [8] proposed the equation for predicting
daily diffused radiation (Hd) for the locations in India.
Hd S
= 0.8677 − 0.7365 ( ) (9)
Hg Smax
Now, monthly average daily beam radiation (Hb) for the
locations is given by,
Hb = Hg –Hd (10)
For radiation flux to be maximum, optimum tilt angle of
the collector is given by [9],
βopt = tan−1 [{∑i=12 i=12
i=1 Hbi tan(Φ − δi)}/{ ∑i=1 Hbi}] (11)

D. Total Radiation on a Tilted Surface

Liu and Jordan [10] have proposed the relation for total
radiation falling on a tilted surface (Ht) which is given by an
equation as Fig. 1. Monthly average daily extra-terrestrial (Ho), beam (Hb) and global
radiation (Hg) on horizontal surface
 The angle of the collector at which maximum solar optimum tilt angle is fixed value for any solar collector
radiation intercepted is calculated using equation (11), which is throughout the year. The value of total solar radiation with
optimum tilt angle of the collector. The tilt angle is varied from different collector tilt angle is calculated for Nagpur which is
0 to 900 for twelve months of the year with variation of solar given in Table 3.
radiation. Also, the average optimum tilt angles are calculated
for four seasons of the year. Annual optimum tilt angle is TABLE 3. MONTHLY AVERAGE DAILY GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION FOR
VARIOUS COLLECTOR TILT ANGLES FOR NAGPUR (IN KWH/M2-DAY)
calculated by averaging the monthly optimum tilt angles over
the year. The monthly, seasonal average and annual optimum Ht Ht
Hg (β=0) Ht (β=βopt)
tilt angles for six solar cities in Maharashtra are given in Table Month (Seasonal βopt) (Annual βopt)
2. Jan 5.093 7.769 7.771 6.771
Feb 6.321 8.057 7.733 7.650
TABLE 2. MONTHLY, SEASONAL AND ANNUAL OPTIMUM TILT ANGLES (IN Mar 7.291 7.957 7.955 7.940
DEGREES) FOR SIX SOLAR CITIES IN MAHARASHTRA Apr 6.955 6.965 6.749 6.802
May 5.301 5.301 5.301 4.770
City June 3.938 3.938 3.938 3.409
Kalyan- Aurang
Nagpur Thane Nanded Shirdi July 4.127 4.127 4.127 3.635
Dombivli abad
Month Aug 5.800 5.752 5.532 5.475
Jan 42.0 40.1 40.1 40.8 40.0 40.7 Sept 7.179 7.500 7.500 7.493
Feb 34.1 32.2 32.2 32.8 32.1 32.7 Oct 7.070 8.513 8.192 8.269
Mar 23.5 21.6 21.6 22.3 21.5 22.2 Nov 5.860 8.503 8.558 7.601
Dec 4.942 7.998 7.922 6.758
Apr 11.7 9.8 9.8 10.4 9.7 10.3
May 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
June 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
The value of Table 3 is graphically shown in Fig. 3 for easy
interpretation on variation in values of solar radiation.
July 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Aug 7.7 5.8 5.8 6.4 5.7 6.3
Sept 19.0 17.0 17.1 17.7 17.0 17.6
Oct 30.8 28.8 28.9 29.5 28.8 29.4
Nov 40.1 38.2 38.2 38.8 38.8 38.7
Dec 44.2 42.9 42.3 42.9 42.2 42.8
Winter 42.1 40.2 40.2 40.8 40.1 40.7
Spring 23.1 21.2 21.2 21.8 21.1 21.7
Summer 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Autumn 19.1 17.2 17.2 17.9 17.1 17.8
Annual 21.1 19.2 19.2 19.9 19.1 19.8

The variation of optimum collector tilt angle for monthly,

seasonally and annually basis for Nagpur city is shown
graphically in Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Monthly average daily global solar radiation on various collector tilt
angles for Nagpur

Similarly, the values of monthly average daily global solar

radiation with various collector tilt angles for other solar cities
have been calculated.

TABLE 4. ANNUAL AVERAGE SOLAR RADIATION (IN KWH/M2-DAY) FOR

VARIOUS COLLECTOR TILT ANGLES FOR SOLAR CITIES IN MAHARASHTRA

Hg for Ht for Ht for

Ht for
horizontal seasonal annual
monthly
surface, optimum optimum
City optimum tilt
(β=0) tilt tilt
Nagpur 5.822 6.866 6.773 6.381

Thane 5.847 6.778 6.688 6.304

Kalyan-
5.847 6.778 6.688 6.304
Dombivli
Fig. 2. Variation of monthly, seasonal and annual optimum tilt angles for
Nagpur Aurangabad 5.934 6.918 6.825 6.430

Nanded 5.918 6.858 6.764 6.375

For implementation of seasonal optimum tilt angle, the
collector tilt has to be changed four times in a year. The annual Shirdi 5.923 6.899 6.805 6.414
 The annual average solar radiation that falls on a meter
square area of solar collector for different collector tilt angles
for six solar cities is given in Table 4. The maximum solar
radiations can be received by monthly adjustment of the
collector tilt angle and the minimum is for horizontal surface.
For Nagpur city, the annual average solar radiation fall on a
horizontal surface is measured to be 5.822 kWh/m2-day. The
annual average solar radiation is found to be 6.866 kWh/m2-
day for collector at monthly optimum tilt, 6.773 kWh/m2-day
for seasonal optimum tilt and 6.381 kWh/m2-day for annual
optimum tilt which is same as collector tilt equal to latitude.
It can be seen from Table 4, for Nagpur city, 9.6% increase
in annual average solar radiation can be obtained by placing the
collector at a tilt angle equal to the latitude when compared it
with the collector placed horizontally. Further 6.1% more
radiation can be received by seasonally adjusting the tilt angle
of the collector. 1.4% more radiation can be collected by
implementing monthly tilt angle. Similar results have been
obtained for other solar cities in Maharashtra.
V. CONCLUSION
In the current work, a mathematical model is used to
determine the optimum tilt angle of the solar collectors for the
six different locations. The annual average insolation for the
optimum tilt is also reported. In addition, month wise and
season wise optimum tilt angles are also computed for specific
applications in different seasons. In this analysis it is observed
that the significant gain in the annual average solar radiation
can be obtained by placing the collector at optimum tilt angles.
The reported values are useful for the purpose of installations
of different solar utilities for year round or for seasonal
applications at the locations considered in this analysis.
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