3.

1Solar Angles
The earth makes one rotation about its axis every 24 hour and completes a revolutionabout the sun in a period of approximately 365.25 days. This revolutionis not circular but follows an ellipse with the sun at one of the foci, as shownin Figure 3.a. The eccentricity, e, of the earths orbit is very small, equal to0.01673. Therefore, the orbit of the earth round the sun is almost circular. Thesun-earth distance, Rd, at perihelion (shortest distance, at January 3) and aphelion(longest distance, at July 4) is given[14]: Rd = a(1e) wherea =mean sun-earth distance =149.5985 106 km. The plus sign in Eq. (3.1) is for the sun-earth distance when the earth is atthe aphelion position and the minus sign for the perihelion position. The solutionof Eq. (3.1) gives values for the longest distance equal to 152.1 106 kmand for the shortest distance equal to 147.1 106 km, as shown in Figure 3.a. The difference between the two distances is only 3.3%. The mean sun-earthdistance, a, is defined as half the sum of the perihelion and aphelion distances.The suns position in the sky changes from day to day and from hour tohour. It is common knowledge that the sun is higher in the sky in the summerthan in winter. The relative motions of the sun and earth are not simple, butthey are systematic and thus predictable. Once a year, the earth moves aroundthe sun in an orbit that is elliptical in shape. As the earth makes its yearly revolutionaround the sun, it rotates every 24 h about its axis, which is tilted at anangle of 23 27.14 min (23.45) to the plane of the elliptic, which contains theearths orbital plane and the suns equator, as shown in Figure 3.a. (3.1)

Fig. 3.a: Annual motion of earth about sun[14]. The most obvious apparent motion of the sun is that it moves daily in anarc across the sky, reaching its highest point at midday. As winter becomesspring and then summer, the sunrise and sunset points move gradually northwardalong the horizon. In the Northern Hemisphere, the days get longer as thesun rises earlier and sets later each day and the suns path gets higher in thesky. On June 21 the sun is at its most northerly position with respect to theearth. This is called the summer solstice and during this day the daytime is at amaximum. Six months later, on December 21, the winter solstice, the reverse istrue and the sun is at its most southerly position[14].

Fig. 3.b: Definition of Latitude, Hour Angle and Solar Declination [14]. 3.1.1 Hour angle(h) The hour angle, h, of a point on the earths surface is defined as the anglethrough which the earth would turn to bring the meridian of the point directlyunder the sun as shown in figure 3.b.[14]

h = (AST - 12) 15 here AST = apparent solar time 3.1.2 Declination() The angular displacement of sun from the plane of earths equator is termed as the declination of sun, . This angle varies between + 23.5o and 23.5o as earth performs its yearly circumnavigation around the sun.(figure 3.c)[14] = 23.45 sin (0.9863 (284+n)) wheren is the day of the year.

(3.2)

Fig. 3.c: Declination throughout the year[14]. 3.1.3 Solar altitude angle() The solar altitude angle [14] is the angle between the suns rays and a horizontalplane, as shown in Figure 3.d. It is related to the solar zenith angle, , which isthe angle between the suns rays and the vertical. Therefore, + = 90o (3.3)

The mathematical expression is: (3.4) Where L= latitude h = hour angle

3.1.4 Solar Azimuth angle(z) The solar azimuth angle[14], z, is the angle of the suns rays measured in the horizontalplane from due south (true south) for the Northern Hemisphere or duenorth for the Southern Hemisphere; westward is designated as positive. Themathematical expression for the solar azimuth angle is: Sin(z) = (cos()sin(h))/cos() (3.5) Azimuth angle for morning is + z and + z for evening.

Fig. 3.d: Daily path of sun in sky from sunrise to sunset.[14]

Fig. 3.e: Solar Angles [14]. 3.1.5 Incidence Angle () The solar incidence angle [15] is the angle between the suns rays and the normalon a surface. For a horizontal plane, the incidence angle , and the zenith angle, are the same.

(3.6) Where = surface tilt angle from horizontal Zs = surface azimuth angle

3.1.6 Tilt factor (rb) Tilt factor [14] (rb) for beam radiation is the ratio of beam radiation falling on a tilt surface to that of on a horizontal surface. Now for a solar dish concentrator,zenith angle becomes equal to tilt angle.

3.2 Solar Radiation

Solar irradiance, I (W/m2), is the rate at which radiant energy is incident on a unitsurface. The incident energy per unit surface is found by integration of irradianceover a specified time, usually an hour or a day. Insolation is a term specifically forsolar energy irradiation on surfaces of any orientation[16].

3.2.1 Direct or beam radiation: The radiation received from sun without having scattered by the atmosphere. It is also known as Beam radiation [16].

3.2.2 Diffuse radiation: The solar radiation received from sun after its direction has been changed by scattering in the atmosphere.

3.2.3 Total Solar radiation: The sum of direct and diffused radiation is called total solar radiation. It is also known as global radiation.

For Indian standards the direct radiation at any instant in direction of ray can be calculated by: Ib= 1246/ (1+0.3135m)W/m2 Where, m = air mass m = path length traversed/ vertical depth of atmosphere = [{(R/H)cos}2 + 2(R/H) +1]1/2 (R/H)cos (3.8) (3.7)

Where, R = radius of Earth H = height of atmosphere = Zenith angle