InternationalJournalofEnergyScience(IJES)Volume3Issue3,June2013

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DiurnalEvolutionoftheHourlyDiffuseSolar
RadiationIncidentonTiltedSurfacesin
SoutheastofBrazil
AdilsonP.Souza*1,JooF.Escobedo2
InstituteofAgriculturalandEnvironmentalSciences,FederalUniversityofMatoGrosso,Sinop,MatoGrossoState,
78557267,Brazil
1

DepartmentofNaturalSciences,SchoolofAgronomicSciences,StateUniversityofSaoPaulo,Botucatu,SoPaulo
State,18610307,Brazil
2

*1

adilsonpacheco@ufmt.br;2escobedo@fca.unesp.br

Abstract

micrometeorologicalaspects,amongothers).Allthese
advancements lead to an increasing demand for
knowledgeofseasonalvariationsofthelevelsofsolar
radiation,concerningthespectralcomponentsandthe
atmospheric attenuation (Martins & Pereira, 2008;
Martinsetal.,2011;Pereiraetal.,2012).

Evaluation has been made on the monthly and annual

averagediurnalevolutionofthehourlydiffuseradiationas
wellasitsradiometricfractionsonsurfacesinclinedat12.85,
22.85 and 32.85 to face North, in climate conditions of
Botucatu, So Paulo, Brazil (22.85 S and 48.43 W).
Measurements were made between 04/1998 to 08/2001 for
22.85; 09/2001 to 02/2003 for 12.85 and 01/2004 to 12/2007
for32.85,withconcomitantmeasuresinthehorizontal.For
allsurfacesthediffuseradiationwasobtainedfromdifferent
method. Assessment has been performed as well on the
radiometric fractions obtained from the ratio of diffuse
radiation and global radiation (KDH and KD) and between
radiationanddiffuseradiationatthetopoftheatmosphere
(KDH and KD) for the horizontal and tilted surfaces in
hourly partition. The diffuse radiation levels were
dependent on variations in precipitation and cloudiness.
Therewasanincreaseinthedifferencesbetweenthediffuse
radiationandtheradiometricfractionswiththeincrementof
the angle, and in horizontally, which affected higher levels
ofdiffuseradiationinspringandsummer.ThevaluesofKDH
and KD present in an inverse behavior were compared to
diffuseradiationandtheydecreasedinthesouthernpassage
due to the increase of the direct component in the total of
incidentradiation.

The temporal variation of the amount of solar

radiationincidentatanylocationontheearthssurface
basically depends on astronomical, geographical and
climatic factors (concentrations of water vapour,
aerosolsandcloudsinatmosphere).AccordingtoLiou
(2002), the seasonal variations in the levels of each
component of solar radiation relies on the interaction
with the atmosphere. Some atmospheric constituents
are relatively constant in concentration (permanent
gases), while others are highly variable in time and
space (such as CO2, methane, water vapour and
aerosols), thus allowing that the current composition
and concentration vary with geographical location,
altitudeandseasonofyear.
Amonglocalcharacteristics,thevariationsofaltitude,
inclination (slope), orientation (azimuth) and shading
may affect the solar energy levels (mainly the
geometry of incidence of direct solar fluxes). The
incident global radiation in horizontal planes
comprises the direct and diffuse component, whereas
in tilted surfaces, there is also the contribution of
reflectedenergyfluxes(Iqbal,1983;Burlonetal.,1991).
In general, the direct and reflected components are
obtainedfromspecificgeometricapproachesbasedon
projections and measurements in horizontal surface
(Nottonetal.,2006;Gueymardetal.,2009;ElSebaiiet
al.,2010).

Keywords
Solar Radiation; Solar Energy; Atmospheric Transmissivity;
RadiometricFractions

Introduction
Robusttechnologicaldevelopmenthasbeenwitnessed
in Brazil in the areas of renewable energy
(photovoltaic and photothermal conversion, wind,
biomass and biodiesel), agriculture (with increase of
efficiency based on physical and physiological
properties of crops and/or animals) and civil
construction
(constructive
materials,

For the diffuse component, there are no geometric

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diffuse radiation and from coefficients of diffuse

atmospheric transmissivity (radiometric fractions),
incident in horizontal and tilted surfaces at 12.85,
22.85 and 32.85 (corresponding to latitude10,
latitudeandlatitude+10,respectively).

relationshipsthatenablesimplifiedapplicationsbased
onlyonmeasureinhorizontal.Thisisjustifiedbecause
this radiation presents particular characteristics
resulting from atmospheric isotropy and anisotropy
(scattering) and must be assessed by considering the
subcomponents circunsolar, brightness and isotropic
diffuseradiation(Chwieduk,2009;Posadillo&Luque,
2009).

Materials and Methods

SiteandMeasurements

The instruments for measurements of solar radiation

are basically of two types: i) the pyranometers
measuretheglobalradiation,diffuse(whenpositioned
undersystemsofinterceptionofdirectradiation)and
reflected radiation (when positioned to the reflective
surface); ii) pyrheliometers, that measure only direct
radiation incidence. Due to the costs involved in the
acquisition and instruments maintenance of
measurements for spectral and/or atmospheric
interactions in brazilian conditions, the routine
monitoring of solar radiation is linked to universities
andresearchinstitutes(Codatoetal.,2008;Martins&
Pereira,2008;Escobedoetal.,2009;Borgesetal.,2010;
Martinsetal.,2011;Piacentinietal.,2011;Vianaetal.,
2011;Furlanetal.,2012;Pereiraetal.,2012).

Thedataofglobal,directanddiffuseradiationusedin
thisworkhasbeenmeasuredattheradiometricstation,
at2253Soflatitudeand4826Woflongitude,located
intheruralareaofBotucatucity,inthecountrysideof
State of So Paulo, Brazil (Fig. 1a). Botucatu, a city
with 119.3 thousand habitants, is located in the
countryside of Brazil, at 786m above the mean sea
level, and approximately 221km far away from the
Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 1b). For the Kppen climatic
classification, the climate is Cwa type, characterized
with humid temperate, mild cold and dry winter
(JuneAugust) and warm and wet summer
(DecemberFebruary). The averaged air temperature
varies from a minimum of 16.5C in the winter to a
maximum of 23.9C in the summer. The minimum
precipitation occurs in August and the maximum in
January(DalPai&Escobedo,2006;Codatoetal.,2008;
Escobedoetal.,2009).

Most meteorological stations in Brazil operate

measurements only on the global radiation in
horizontal surface. Due to the demand for data from
direct and diffuse components the search for
technologies
proved
that
allow
obtaining
measurements with low cost is justified. The major
limitations for applications in tilted surfaces are the
suppliesdatabasesofdiffusecomponentwithvarious
time series (diurnal, monthly and yearly) and spatial
scales, when available, the routine measures require
the application of corrections resulting from the
diffuse radiation blocking shading system (rings and
discs). The methodologies of correction apply
geometric parameters (constructive measures of
equipment), astronomical and climatic conditions to
enable the evaluation of atmospheric attenuation by
isotropy and anisotropy (Oliveira et al., 2002; Dal Pai
&Escobedo,2006;Pandey&Katiyar,2009;Padovan&
DelCol,2012).

FIG.1GEOGRAPHICPOSITIONOFTHE(A)STATEOFSOPAULO;(B)
BOTUCATUAND(C)VIEWOFTHENWQUADRANTOFTHERADIOMETRIC
STATIONINBOTUCATU,STATEOFSOPAULO,BRAZIL[13].

Evaluations conducted on three inclinations, with

slopes of 12.85 (latitude 10), 22.85 (latitude) and
32.85 (latitude + 10) occurred in different periods:
between 09/2001 and 02/2003 to 12.85; 04/1998 and
08/2001 to 22.85; 03/2004 and 12/2007 to 32.85.
Independent period measurements were concomitant
withmeasurementonhorizontalsurface.Analysiswas
performed on consistency of databases and outliers
(derived from reading errors or malfunction of the

The radiometric station of Botucatu (at 2253S of

latitude and 4826W of longitude) belonging to the
SchoolofAgronomicSciences,StateUniversityofSo
Paulo, has been continuously and simultaneously
monitoringtheglobalradiation,directnormalincident
and diffuse radiation by the ring of shading method
sinceApril1998.Thisstudyisutilizedtoevaluatethe
monthlyaverageandannualaveragefromthehourly

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InternationalJournalofEnergyScience(IJES)Volume3Issue3,June2013

sensors and system data acquisition) were removed

fromthedatabases.

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inclined(Z)andhorizontal(ZH)(eq.04).
RB= H 0h / H 0hH orRB=CosZ/CosZH

Measurements were considered instant values when

obtainedfromaverageinfiveminutes(300readings).
The acquisition system Microlloger CR23Xwas
employed to operate a frequency of 1 Hz and a
memory module SM192 interface with SC532
microcomputer run by software PC 208 W, both of
Campbell Scientific, Inc. and the instant global
horizontal irradiation (IGH) was measured by an
Eppley pyranometerPSP with calibration factor of
7.45VW1m2andlinearityof0.5%(02800Wm
2). For instant global tilted radiation (IG) used CM3
pyranometer from Kipp & Zonenholding response
sensitivity of 1035 V W1 m2, a response time of
18s, the temperature response of 1.0% for the range
of40Cto80Canddeviationsforthecosineeffectof
2%(0<z<80).

(04)

where: H 0hH and H 0h are extraterrestrial radiation to

horizontal and the inclined surfaces respectively,
obtainedfromeqs.05and06describedbyIqbal(1983).
H 0h H =HSCE0[(sinsin)+(coscossins)]

(05)

H 0h =HSCE0[sinsin()+coscos()sins](06)
where: H SC isthesolarconstant(4921KJm2h1); is
locationlatitude; ishourlysolardeclinationsolar(eq.
07) dependent on season (DJ Julian day); E 0 is the
factorcorrectionoftheeccentricityofEarthsorbit(eq.
06a); s and ' s are the hourly angle by horizontal
andtiltedsurfaces,respectively(eqs.07and08).
=23.45sin[(360/365)*(DJ+284)](05)

The direct radiation instantaneous incidence (IBN)

wasobtainedfromapireliometerEppleyNIPcoupled
toasolartrackerST3Eppleywithcalibrationfactorof
7.59VW1m2andlinearityof0.5%(01400Wm
2).

E0 = 1.00011 + 0.034221cos + 0.00128sin +

0.000719cos2+0.000077sin2(06a)
=2[(DJ1)/365](06b)
s=cos1(tantan)

(07)

DataProcessing

s=min{cos1(tantan);cos1[tantan()](08)

Hh
Thehourlydiffuseradiationsonhorizontal
[ D ]
Hh
and tilted surfaces [ D ] were obtained from
differencemethod(eqs.01and02).Assessmentswere
made on the seasonality by the acquisition of the
averageannualandmonthlyschedulesofenergy.

The hourly reflected component [ H Rh ] incident on

h
H hDH H GH
H hBH

(01)

H hD H Gh H hB H Rh

(02)

tilted surfaces may have isotropic and anisotropic

behavior, however, the anisotropy should be applied
only for days with clear skies and clean. Due to the
variability of sky cover conditions in Botucatu, only
the isotropic behavior was ken into consideration,
which was given by eq. 09 (Iqbal, 1983; Kamali et al.,
2006; Gueymard, 2009; Teramoto & Escobedo, 2012),
which in turn was dependent on surface albedo ( )
regardedas0.23forreferencecrop.

Therefore, the hourly global radiation was obtained

from integration of the instantaneous values; so did
the projection of hourly direct radiation on the
horizontal surface [ H hB ] resulting from the product

HRh 0 ,5HGh H (1 cos)

The hourly diffuse fractions and the coefficients of

atmospherictransmissivityofdiffuseradiation(eqs.10
at 13) were evaluated for the horizontal and three
inclinedsurfaces.

between the measure and the incidence zenital angle

forhorizontalsurface(eq.03).

H hBH H hBN cos Z H

(09)

(03)

According to Iqbal (1983) the projection of radiation

Hh
directtohourlyinclinedplanes[ B ]isgivenbythe
geometrical relationship between the extraterrestrial
radiation to an inclined surface and a horizontal
surface or the ratio of the cosine of the zenith angles

K hDH = H hDH / H GH

(10)

K hD = H hD / H Gh

(11)

K ' hDH = H hDH / H 0h H

(12)

K ' hD = H hD / H 0h

(13)

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Results And Discussion

values (solar noon) are 4.390.66, 4.650.39, 4.720.18

and 4.640.20 MJ m2 h1 to horizontal, 12.85, 22.85
and32.85.

Due to the existence of few graphical information of

the behavior of solar radiation on inclined surfaces
under Brazilian conditions, Fig. 2 shows a series of
diurnal extraterrestrial radiation throughout the year.
It was observed that the hourly levels of H 0h are

The diurnal annual average evolution of diffuse

radiation (Fig. 3, considering the concomitant
measurement in the same period between the
horizontal and each inclination) shows that in the
hoursnearthesunriseandsunsets,the H hD and H hDH

superiorto H 0hH betweenMarchandNovember,with

the increase of the differences of the tilt angle. In the
equinoctialmonths(MarchandSeptember),regardless
oftheangleofinclinationofthesurface,thevaluesof
thehourlyextraterrestrialradiationareclosebutwith
lower values for the horizontal due to higher zenith
angle.

values are low and similarwith quantitative

differencesoccurringinculminationofthelocalplane
ofmeridian.
According to Teramoto and Escobedo (2012) in the
hours near the sunrise and sunset, the atmospheric
optics mass, zenith angles and distance are increased
the transversing along the atmosphere for radiative
fluxes, which make the occurrence of greater
attenuation of direct radiation possible through
interaction with atmospheric constituents by the
processesofscattering,absorptionandreflection,and
consequentlyoftheanisotropy(Liou,2002).

At local noon (the culmination of the plan of local

meridian), the minimum values of extraterrestrial
radiation are 3.37 (June), 3.99 (June), 4.38 (June) and
4.36 MJ m2 h1 (January ) to horizontal, 12.85 and
22.85and32.85surfaces,respectively.Themaximum
values (the same hour) are 5.08 (January), 5.03
(February),4.96(March)and4.64MJm2h1(June)for
the same surfaces. Therefore, the annual average

FIG.2MONTHLYAVERAGEOFTHEDIURNALEVOLUTIONOFEXTRATERRESTRIALRADIATIONFORHORIZONTALSURFACE[ H 0 H ]ANDSURFACESWITH
DIFFERENTANGLESOFINCLINATIONTOTHENORTH[

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H 0h ].

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Botucatu,itvaries10.6at13.4hoursforthewinterand
summer solstices) and the limitations of the
photoperiod for inclined surfaces (Iqbal, 1983).
According to Burlon et al. (1991) the application of
anglesindifferentfacesofexposureallowsthelackof
symmetry in the diurnal evolution of solar radiation
whencomparedtohorizontal.

The increase in the angle of inclination decreases the

mean hourly diffuse energy at local noon around
1.040.76,0.960.65and0.800.69for12.85,22.85and
32.85 and also 1.120.76, 1.030.63 and 1.000.10 MJ
m2 h1 to horizontal surface for the same periods of
inclinedplanesrespectively(Fig.3).

Energetically this behavior corroborates with the

literature regarding the evolution of the diurnal
evolution of the components of shortwave radiation.
Pai and Escobedo (2006) found that at the morning
andnightfall,thevaluesofdiffuseradiationwerevery
small and nearly equal with quantitative
differentiation only during the hours around solar
culmination. Between 9 and 15 hours, the diffuse
radiationshowedthehighestvalueswithdependence
of isotropy and anisotropy radiation. The monthly
averagediurnalevolutionshowedmaximumvaluesof
diffuseradiationrangingfrom0.69to1.38,0.59to1.49,
0.80 to 1.20 and 0.58 to 1.03 MJ m2 h1 for horizontal,
12.85,22.85and32.85,respectively.Itwasobserved
that the tiltangles influence maximum hourlyenergy
of [ H hDH ] and [ H hD ] especially in the December to
March(horizontal),AugusttoNovember(12.85),May
toJune(22.85)andApril(32.85).
The highest hourly diffuse energy was observed in
the summer due to the increase in the ratio of
cloudiness (Fig. 4). In January, the highest hourly
diffuse radiation levels for horizontal surface has
occurred, whereas for tilted surfaces, the maximum
energy values occurred during the zenithal solar
passageandtheywere1.33,1.15and1.03MJm2h1to
12.85, 22.85 and 32.85 respectively. When compared
totheaveragevaluesof[ H hDH ]obtainedbetween1998

FIG. 3 DIURNAL ANNUAL AVERAGE OF EVOLUTION OF DIFFUSE

RADIATIONINCIDENTINTHEHORIZONTALSURFACEANDINTHETILTED
SURFACESTO12.85(A),22.85(B)E32.85(C)TOTHENORTH.

In annual database groupings, there is symmetry

energywithrespecttoculminationoftheplaneofthe
meridian, while in monthly database groupings, the
energy levels and/or deviations are dependent on
climatic variations of cloudiness, concentrations of
water vapour (displacement of air masses) and
aerosols (Souza et al., 2012). In the afternoon,
especiallyinsummermonths,averagehourlyenergies
are smaller owing to increase of cloudiness and the
accumulation of water vapour during the day
(Escobedoetal.,2009;Furlanetal.,2012;Teramoto&
Escobedo,2012).

and2007, there werelosses of4.36,15.77and11.26%,

while, compared to average values obtained from
concurrent measurements in horizontal surface, the
gainswereevengreater(8.9;18.0and34.8%,to12.85,
22.85and32.85).InDecember(SummerSolstice),the
differences of diffuse radiation (noon) between
horizontalandtiltedsurfaces([ HhDH ]and[ H hD ])were
equalto1.36,1.31,1.07and0.99MJm2h1(12.85,22.85
and 32.85). In winter, the highest hourly diffuse
energy occurred in [ H hD ] slope is equal to the local

Fig. 4 presents the average hourly diffuse radiation

incident on three angles of inclination evaluated and
on horizontal surfaces. In this case, the monthly
average levels of [ H hD ] were based on mean values

latitude (22.85), with averages above 0.21, 0.35 and

0.28 MJ m2 h1 when compared to the horizontal
values,12.85and32.85(Fig.4).

obtainedbetweenApril1998andDecember2007.The
diurnal evolution is dependent of photoperiod (to

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FIG.4MONTHLYAVERAGEOFDIURNALEVOLUTIONOFDIFFUSERADIATIONINCIDENTINTHEHORIZONTALSURFACE[
SURFACES[

H hD

]TO12.85,22.85AND32.85TOTHENORTH.

During the year, changes in the incidence of solar

radiation for a given region depend basically on
variations in the apparent position of the sun in
relation to local latitude and climatic conditions. The
solarradiationincidentontiltedplaneisgivenbythe
combination of the direct, diffuse and reflected
components, thus any process that mitigates the
passage of radiation through the air mass influences
the seasonality of atmospheric transmissivity. The
clouds reduce the direct component by diffusion,
reflection and absorption, mainly in the infrared
wavelengths [13]. Therefore, the increase of cloudiness
involvesthereductionofdirectradiationandtherise
ofdiffuseradiation,withdecreasefothetotalincident
energy(DalPai&Escobedo,2006;Padovan&DelCol,
2009;Pandey&Katiyar,2009;Souzaetal.,2012).

sameonlyinFebruaryandinsummerandthehighest
levels of [ H hD ] slopes were obtained for the same
latitude. Padovan and Dal Col (2010) found that in
winter days, the global irradiance measured on tilted
surfaceat30toSouthhorizontalsurfaceduetointhe
contribution of the direct component, since that the
diffuseradiationpresentedlevelsbelow100Wm2.
Theenergeticdifferencesbetweenwinterandsummer
enablethecontributionofdifferentsubcomponentsof
diffuse radiation. During the rainy season (summer
andspring)higherconcentrationsofwatervapourand
clouds occur, consequently the diffuse radiation are
higher due to the increase of isotropy. In the winter,
the increase of atmospheric transmissivity allows
conditions of predominance of circunsolar and
anisotropicsubcomponents, however, in the August
andSeptemberanincreaseindiffuseradiationoccurs
by influence of suspended particles (aerosols). The
ratiobetweenthedirectsolarradiationandthediffuse
solar radiation varies throughout the day (incidence
angle of the solar rays), and also with cloudy

Consideringthehourlypartition,onlyinJanuaryand
December, it was noticed that the increase in the
inclinationangleofthesurfacedecreasesthelevelsof
diffuseincidentradiation.Souzaetal.(2012)observed
that the annual evaluation of daily averages was the

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HhDH ]ANDINTHETILTED

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lossofdiffuseradiationrelativetohorizontal,whereas,
the increment of the inclination angle causes the
growth of losses due to the elevation of the zenithal
angle (the inclined plane projection) for the same
period. Considering the 12,5 hours (noon) compared
to horizontal surface , reductions of 4.6, 6.5, 15.9%
(September); 7.7, 12.5, and 24.8% (October); 4.5, 17.4 ,
29.3% (November); 7.3, 17.6, and 31.9% (December);
8.2, 5.3, and 25.8% (January); 15.6, 11.9 and 25.8%
(February); and 34.9,9.1and 16.9% (March) to12.85,
22.85 and 32.85, have occurred, respectively.
Therefore,inJune,gainsofdiffuseradiationof10.9%
and 15.9% and losses of 8.6% for the same time and
surfaceshaveoccurred.

conditions. The cloudier the period is, the higher the

proportionofdiffuselightis;similarly,thesmallerthe
proportionofdirectradiationis,thelowerthevalueof
globalradiationis.

The annual average diurnal evolution of the

radiometric fractions [ K hDH ] and [ K hD ] showing
inverse behavior when compared to evolution of
annual average diffuse radiation, decrease in the
passage in meridian plane due to the increase of the
directcomponentoftheincidentradiation(Fig.5).
The minimum and maximum contributions of the
diffusecomponentinthetotalofglobalradiationwere
0.480.34 and 0.990.02, 0.410.34 and 0.920.03;
0.440.33and0.960.01to12.85,22.85and32.85.In
all periods of measurements and hourly, except for
moments near the sunrise and sunsets, the fractions
[ K hDH ] were above [ K hD ] and with increasing
differencesforhigherinclinationsangles.
The maximum annual average of coefficients of
atmospheric transmissivity for the tilted surfaces
[ K hD ] were 0.2240.15, 0.2050.14 and 0.1740.15 to
12.85, 22.85 and 32.85 (Fig. 5), while for horizontal
surface [ K hDH ] were 0.2380.17, 0.2370.15 and
0.2260.15, which were simultaneously obtained
duringperiodsofmeasurementsoneachinclination.
Forthesefractionsatmospheric,thelackofsymmetry
intheannualaveragediurnalevolutionwasduetothe
concentrationofwatervapourthroughoutthedayand
consequentlytheanisotropywasgeneratedinopenair
conditions and/or isotropy in cloud sky (Dal Pai &
Escobedo,2006;Teramoto&Escobedo,2012).At12.5
hours (nonn) of December (summer solstice) the
minimum percentage of contribution to total diffuse
component of incident radiation ([ K hDH ] was
FIG.5ANNUALAVERAGEOFDIURNALEVOLUTIONOFDIFFUSE

obtainedand[ K hD ])of49.37,52.35,41.87and48.79%

FRACTIONONTHEEXTRATERRESTRIALRADIATIONINTHEHORIZONTAL
h
h
D
DH ]ANDINTHETILTEDSURFACES[
SURFACE[
]TO12.85,

K'

forhorizontal,12.85,22.85and32.85,respectively(Fig.
6). Among the equinoxes, there was little variation of
fractions [ K hDH ] and [ K hD ]with averages between 8.5

K'

22.85AND32.85TOTHENORTH.

Between September and March, there are the largest

and16.5hours,especiallyforsmallerinclinations.

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FIG.6MONTHLYAVERAGEOFDIURNALEVOLUTIONOFDIFFUSEFRACTIONONTHEGLOBALRADIATIONINTHEHORIZONTALSURFACE[ K DH ]ANDIN
THETILTEDSURFACES[

K hD ]TO12.85,22.85AND32.85TOTHENORTH.
ofatmospherictransmissivityfordiffuseradiation(Fig.
7) in all inclinations and months, it was noticed that
nearthesunriseandsunsetssimilarvaluesfor[ K hDH ]

In June, between 6.5 and 17.5 hours, the following

values of [ K hDH ]were found for 12.85: 0.993, 0.473,
0.3270.275,0.211,0.223,0.167,0.185,0.210,0.237,0.360,
0.931.Therelativedeviationswhencomparedto22.85
were1.35,2.64,22.85,26.54,38.12,32.62,48.82;47,06,
41.68,43.46,38.48,and1.64%%forthesameorderof
times mentioned above. For 32.85 the relative
deviationsrangedfrom2.88(sunrise)to36.32%(12.5
h). The values of [ K hDH ] were higher than those of

and[ K hD ]occur,whileintheotherhourliesthereare
smallertransmissivitiesforinclinedplanes.
In winter, the inclination of 22.85 shows the highest
values of [ K hD ] which have observed 0.033, 0.142,
0.206,0.212,0.209,0.214,0.212,0.215,0.181,0.171,0.130,
0.014 and 0.00 between 06.5 and 17.5 hours. By
contrast, in summer, the inclination of 12.85 shows
the highest values of 0.00 0.033, 0.170, 0.232, 0.233,
0.248,0.248,0.267,0.250,0.232,0.196,0.172,0.150,0.122
and0.067for[ K hD ]between5.5and18.5hours.

[ K hD ]forthelowestvaluesofsolarelevationangle.
The atmospheric transmissivity percentages increases
with the inclination angle and provides higher levels
of contribution to the direct radiation during winter,
thus increasing the efficiency of energy conversion
systems. Even with the effects of climate variability
amongn years, the developments in fractions of
inclined surfaces exhibit a seasonal variation. When
the solar declination is positive, lower levels of the
diffuse radiation occurs, whose valuesdepend on the
slopeintensityofthesurfacewithNorthface(thecase
ofSouthernHemisphere).Inrelationtothecoefficient

144

In May and August smaller fractions of diffuse

radiation are observed at the top of the atmosphere,
showingthat,fortheconditionsofBotucatu,thesetwo
months have lower ratios of cloudiness, and most of
thedayspresentclearathmosphereconditions [23].The
highdeviationsobservedinthemonthofJunearedue
totheentryofcoldfrontsintheregiontoincreasethe
concentrationofwatervapour.

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FIG.7MONTHLYAVERAGEOFDIURNALEVOLUTIONOFDIFFUSEFRACTIONONTHEEXTRATERRESTRIALRADIATIONINTHEHORIZONTALSURFACE
h

[ K DH ]ANDINTHETILTEDSURFACES[ K D ]TO12.85,22.85AND32.85TOTHENORTH.

hours, the tilted planes present smaller diffuse

atmospheric transmissivities and with growing
differenceswiththeincrementoftheinclinationangle.

Conclusions
The lower diffuse energy levels occur in spring and
summer by horizontal and tilted surfaces slightly
facing North. The increase of the inclination angle
provides greater differences energy (deviations) in
tilted surfaces when compared to horizontalfor the
same period of measurements due to the increase of
thezenithalangle.

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