Solar

radia7on Lecture-2

Lakshmi Munukutla

ALT 410

Outline
Radia&on proper&es Spectral irradiance Blackbody radia&on Anatomy of Sun Eect of sun on Earth Quan&fying solar power Solar radia&on Terrestrial radia&on Suns energy path to Earth Atmospheric eects on suns radia&on Solar radia&on spectrum Air Mass concept Solar radia&on - Angular dependence - Earth rota&on - Suns path - Azimuth angle and eleva&on - Power on &lted surface Lakshmi Munukutla

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Radia7on Proper7es
The concepts of wave and energy and their corresponding equa&ons:

Energy units: electron-volt (eV) Power density can be calculated in terms of photon ux. Power density: H(W/m2) Photon ux: (photons/sec.m2) The product of photon ux &mes photon energy gives the power density, H.

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Spectral Irradiance
The spectral irradiance as a func&on of photon wavelength (or energy), denoted by F, is the most common way of characterising a light source. It gives the power density at a par&cular wavelength. The units of spectral irradiance are in Wm-2m-1. The Wm-2 term is the power density at the wavelength (m). Therefore, the m2 refers to the surface area of the light emiYer and the m-1 refers to the wavelength of interest.

The spectral irradiance of xenon (green), halogen (blue) and mercury (red) light bulbs (leZ axis) are compared to the spectral irradiance from the sun (purple, which corresponds to the right axis).

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Black Body Radia7on

The black body radia&on provides with a set of precise working equa&ons that relate the temperature of an object to the light it emits. Plancks law predicts the energy distribu&on across the spectrum for a given temperature. Stefan-Boltzmann law can be used to calculate the total emiYed power. The wavelength of the peak emission dominated by a given color dominated at this temperature is obtained using Wiens displacement law. Plancks black body radia&on curves for increasing

For increasing temperatures, the sequence of led him to a breakthrough in understanding the quantum nature of maYer. These curves also show the radiated colors is: black, red, orange, yellow- trend of shiZing peak wavelengths for increasing white, bluish-white. temperature, as predicted by Wien. Blackbody power density is given by Wavelength corresponding to peak spectral irradiance is given by

temperatures. Plancks work on deriving this equa&on

p (m) =

Spectralint ensity Temperature

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Black Body Radia7on

A black body is a theore&cal object that absorbs 100% of the radia&on that hits it. Therefore, it reects no radia&on and appears perfectly black. So far no material came close to be considered as a true blackbody except carbon in its graphite form that absorbs approximately 97% of the incident radia&on.

Theore&cal black body curve for 5000K

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Anatomy of Sun
" The primary source of energy from the sun comes from thermonuclear reac&ons (conver&ng hydrogen to helium) in the core. " Typical suns core temperature range is from 15 to 25 million degrees. " The energy from the core radiates through suns middle layer, then bubbles and boils to the surface through convec&on process. " The charged par&cles, called the solar wind stream out at a million miles per hour. Source: WWW.Space.com Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

Anatomy of Sun

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Suns Eect on Earth

hYp://space.com/media/h_in_sun_energy_03.gif

The Earth

Sun as an energy source hYp://space.com/media/h_in_sun_magnetosphere_03b.gif Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

Sun Spots, Solar Flares and Eects on Earth

" Sun Spots: Sun spots are cooler areas which appear as dark patches within the sun. Sun spots are caused by slow down radia&on in certain areas due to magne&c elds within the sun. " Solar Flares: The Sun frequently spews plumes of energy, essen&ally bursts of solar wind. These solar ares contain Gamma rays and X-rays, plus energized par&cles (protons and electrons). Energy is equal to a billion megatons of TNT (Trinitrotoluene), is released in a maYer of minutes. Flare ac&vity picks up as sunspots increase. " Eect on Earth: The Sun's charged, high-speed par&cles push and shape Earth's magne&c eld into a teardrop shape. The magne&c eld protects Earth from most of the harmful solar radia&on, but extreme ares can disable satellites and disrupt communica&on signals. The charged par&cles also excite oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to create the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Note: A gram of TNT by deni&on for arms control purposes is 1000 thermochemical calories, which equals 4.184 kilojoules (KJ). A megaton of TNT is 4.184 1015 joules = 4.184 petajoules (PJ). Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Quan7fying Solar Power

Source: hYp://ocw.mit.edu/terms Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Quan7fying Solar Power

Source: hYp://ocw.mit.edu/terms Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Solar Radia7on
What is solar radia&on? * Electromagne&c radia&on emiYed from sun, which passes through the atmosphere and is reected in varying degrees by Earth's surface and atmosphere. * detectable only during daylight. Sun is very close to be considered as a blackbody at approximately 6000K and with a power density close to 73 MW/m2. Using tsun=equa&on H he The total power emiYed by the sun can be obtained. Where the suns radius is 6.96 x 105 km. The power density can be calculated at any given distance, D using

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Terrestrial Radia7on
What is Terrestrial radia&on? * Energy emiYed from the Earth and atmosphere * detectable both day and night The impact of earths atmosphere on solar radia&on includes: ScaYering is one of the radia&on impact mechanism. - Due to scaYering the sun light reaches the earths surface at dierent angles from the sky. The light that reaches the earth directly from sun without scaYering scaYering is called direct light. When scaYering is present only diused light reaches the earth. Absorp&on is second impact mechanism that alters the power density and terrestrial solar radia&on spectral distribu&on. At high photon energies ozone absorp&on occurs. In infra-red region absorp&on of water vapor and CO2 takes place.

Clouds and other atmospheric varia&ons may induce temporary varia&ons in terrestrial solar radia&on. Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Suns Energy Path to Earth

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Atmospheric Eects on Suns Radia7on

Atmospheric eects include are: scaYering, absorp&on and reec&on.

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As the solar radia&on passes the atmosphere, a part of the incident energy is removed by absorp&on or scaYering by molecules, clouds and aerosols. Wavelengths less than 300 nm is ltered out by molecules like ozone, nitrogen and oxygen. Dips in the infrared area are caused by water and CO2. Source: WWW.Google.com/Images Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Air Mass
" The Air Mass is the path length which light takes through the atmosphere normalized to the shortest possible path length (that is, when the sun is directly overhead). The Air Mass quantifies the reduction in the power of light as it passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by air and dust. The Air Mass is defined as: Due to varia&ons in terrestrial solar radia&on a standard terrestrial solar spectrum is dened, called AM1.5G. (G stands for global, or the direct + diuse radia&on). Solar radia&on outside the Earths atmosphere is called AM0. The air mass represents the propor.on of atmosphere that the light must pass through Enter the angle from ver&cal, = 30 before striking the Earth rela.ve to its Air mass, AM = 1.1547 units overhead path length, and is equal to Y/X. Source: hYp://pvcdrom.pveduca&on.org/ Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Air Mass
Alterna&ve method to determine the air mass is from the shadow of a ver&cal pole. Air mass is the length of the hypotenuse divided by the object height h.

Enter the object height, h = 1 units Enter the shadow length, s = 1 units Air Mass, AM = 1.4142 units

The above calcula&on for air mass assumes that the atmosphere is a at horizontal layer, but because of the curvature of the atmosphere, the air mass is not quite equal to the atmospheric path length when the sun is close to the horizon. At sunrise, the angle of the sun from the ver&cal posi&on is 90 and the air mass is innite, whereas the path length clearly is not. An equa&on which incorporates the curvature of the earth is:

Source: hYp://pvcdrom.pveduca&on.org/ Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Orbit Ellip7city
The Earths orbit around the sun is slightly ellip&cal

Resul&ng in a slight periodic Change in the radiant solar power density as a func&on of season.

Source: hYp://ocw.mit.edu/terms Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Angular Dependence of Solar Radia7on

The angle between the sun and the Earths surface is changing con&nually due to the Earths rota&on around sun and its rota&on along its axis. The suns posi&on is characterized by three angles: - Declina&on angle - Eleva&on angle - Azimuth angle Calcula&on of the solar angles can be expressed more conveniently the day of the year (d) as the number of degrees, which the earth has rotated around the sun is represented by . The day of the year is referenced from the Spring Equinox (d=81).

Lakshmi Munukutla

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Earth Rota7on
The angular dependence of solar radia&on posses both daily and seasonal component. Both &lt of the Earths axis and rota&on around the sun cause varia&on in the angle at which the sun strikes the Earth. The &lt of the earths axis with respect to the sun is called declina&on angle.

The maximum &lt of the earths axis (23.45) is equal to the maximum value of the declina&on angle.

Lakshmi Munukutla

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Solar Radia7on

At any given &me the declina&on angle on earth at every place is same. However, the declina&on angle varies with seasons.

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Earth Rota7on
Declina&on angle represented by , is dependent of the seasons as described earlier. The declina&on angle change with respect to seasons is shown in the gure below with respect to equinox. The maximum declina&on angle occurs in summer and minimum occurs in winter.

where d is the specic number day of the year

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Suns Path

Throughout the day the net path of sun depends on the azimuth and al&tude angle.

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Azimuth and Eleva7on

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Eleva7on Angle
Eleva&on angle and/or al&tude are used to represent the suns angular height in sky from a horizontal level on the earth. Note: Do not get confused with above the sea level measurements of al&tude and eleva&on. The suns angle measured from the ver&cal level on the earth gives the Zenith angle. As suns posi&on changes during the day the eleva&on and zenith angles also varies accordingly. The maximum eleva&on angle occurs at noon at Summer Sols&ce plus maximum declina&on (23.45). The minimum eleva&on angle occurs at Winter Sols&ce minus maximum declina&on (23.45). For la&tudes higher than 23 one will not nd the sun directly in overhead posi&on. Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Eleva7on Angle
The eleva&on angles maximum and minimum values are impacted by both la&tude and seasons. Furthermore, the maximum value of the al&tude angle can be determined using declina&on and la&tude.

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Azimuth Angle
The azimuth angle displayed is the horizontal direc&on of the Sun at sunrise or sunset &mes. As on a compass, the azimuth is measured in degrees, with 360 in a full circle, counted in a clockwise direc&on from north. North has an azimuth value of 0 degrees, east is 90 degrees, south is 180 degrees, and west is 270 degrees.

In the case of a solar module or solar collector, the azimuth angle is the horizontal angle between exact south and the direc&on the surface of the device is facing. The other important angle involved in se{ng up a solar module or collector is the &lt angle the angle at which the device is &lted away from the horizontal. Lakshmi Munukutla ALT 410

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Solar Radia7on
Both azimuth and eleva&on angle values need to be monitored during the day &me to perform hourly calcula&ons.

Lakshmi Munukutla

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Power on Tilted Surface

The amount of radia&on received by a &lted solar module surface is equal to the incident solar radia&on component in the perpendicular direc&on to the module surface. However, in solar radia&on data the normal component to a horizontal surface, Shorizontal .

Lakshmi Munukutla

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Summary
The concepts wave and energy are explained using Electromagne&c Spectrum. Radia&on power density is calculated by mul&plying the photon ux with photon energy. Typically light source is characterized by the spectral irradiance at a given wavelength. The blackbody radia&on provides with a set of precise working equa&ons that relate the temperature of an object to the light it emits. Typically Stefan-Boltzmann law is used to predict spectral distribu&on at a given temperature. The blackbody is a theore&cal object that absorbs 100% of incident radia&on. However, there is no material that replicates the blackbody 100%. The primary source of energy from the sun comes from thermonuclear reac&ons in the suns core. The energy from the suns core radiates through suns middle layer bubbles and boils to the surface through convec&on process. The Electromagne&c radia&on emiYed from sun passes through the atmosphere and is reected in varying degrees by Earth's surface and atmosphere and is detectable only during Daylight. Lakshmi Munukutla 32 ALT 410

Summary
The terrestrial radia&on is the energy emiYed from the Earth and atmosphere and can be detected both day and night. The Air Mass quan&es the reduc&on in power of light as it passes through the Earths atmosphere. The solar radia&on has angular dependence due to the Earths rota&on around sun and along its own axis causes varia&on in suns radia&on reaching the Earth. The posi&on of the sun is characterized by three angles; declina&on, eleva&on and azimuth. The hourly calcula&ons of the day can be performed based on these angles.

Lakshmi Munukutla

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