ME458 - RENEWABLE ENERGY

Unit -1 Solar Energy Solar Radiation Heat Transfer Equations

1st LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS:

Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but only transformed.

Solar Energy
Example: You have electricity available at your house. If you plug a lamp into an receptacle, the energy is converted from electricity to light and heat. We convert energy from a variety of forms into forms we can more easily use.

So.What Is Solar Energy?

SOLAR ENERGY is energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy.

Introduction To Solar Energy

Cont..
Solar energy is energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy Enormous amount of heat and light is produced by nuclear fusion reactions Energy in the form of radiation is used for heating and producing electrical energy

Cont..

Energy that is converted from sun light. In most cases Sunlight is absorbed by one thing and it produces. Photovoltaic cell: collects sunlight and converts it into electricity. Can be used directly or stored in a battery. Used in chips, panels, roofing tiles

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The heat and light received from the sun support the environment on the earth through the following natural effects,

Temperature balance on earth

Photosynthesis by biological plants, production of oxygen and organic materials

Wind due to unequal heating of water, land surfaces

Water cycle: evaporation clouds rains water evaporation rains Heating of ocean water: ocean thermal energy (OTEC)

Waves in ocean: ocean wave energy

Tides in ocean: ocean tidal energy

Significance of Solar Energy

Solar energy is the most readily available source of energy. It is free. It is also the most important of the non-conventional sources

of energy because it is non-polluting.

Fact About Solar Energy

Solar energy is received on earth in cyclic, intermittent and dilute form with very low power density from 0 to 1 kW/m^2 Direction of solar energy changes during the day and with

season
It is affected by atmospheric clarity, degree of latitude, etc.

Solar spectrum has waves ranging from infra-red frequencies

to ultraviolet frequencies

Applications of Solar Energy

Passive heating applications Solar thermal energy application of medium temperature and high temperature for, Producing process heat, steam

Producing electrical energy through solar, thermal, electrical

energy conversion in central receiver power plants Solar to electrical energy direct conversion by photovoltaic cells for low and medium power rating Large solar central receiver thermal power plants in MW range

Active And Passive Methods

Cont..

Solar thermal energy applications of medium and high temperature

Subsystems In Solar Energy Plant

Solar collector or concentrator Energy transport medium Energy storage

Energy conversion plant

Power conditioning, control and protection system Alternative / standby power supply

Solar collector or concentrator

It receives solar rays and collect energy, following collectors Flat plate type Parabolic through with line focusing

Paraboloid dish with central focusing

Fresnel lens with central focusing Heliostates with central receiver focusing

Transparent Cover

Solar radiation (Direct and Diffuse)

Cushion Supports & Seats for glass

Absorber

Insulation Heat transport fluid (in tubes)

Energy Transport Medium

Such as water/steam, liquid metal, gas which transports thermal energy from collector to heat exchanger / thermal storage In solar PV system energy transport is by electrical energy

Energy Storage
As solar energy not available continuously, we need

substantial energy storage for supplying power to the load

during nights and cloudy periods, etc. 3 types of storage commonly used Thermal energy storage Energy storage in electrical form by means of batteries

energy storage by pumped storage hydro electric plants

Energy Conversion Plant

Thermal energy collected from solar collector is used for producing process-steam, hot water etc

Solar energy used to heat swimming pool

Power Conditioning, Control And Protection System

Load requirement of heat, process steam etc vary with time.

Energy supply has certain specification and quality requirement

such as, Temperature and pressure of steam

Voltage, current, frequency power of electrical energy, etc

The power conditioning unit perform several functions such as control, regulation, conditioning, protection, automation, etc

Alternative/Standby Power Supply

Solar energy alone cant satisfy the load requirements during night hours, cloudy hours, etc (low power density 0 to 0.2 kW/m^2 Alternative may be Power from electrical network Power from standby diesel generator

Merits and Limitations of Solar Energy

Merits
Renewable energy available free of cost

Limitations
Low energy density 0.1 to 1 kW/m^2

Available naturally in most parts of the Large area covered by solar collector world in every consumers premises Clean, pollution free Direction of rays changes continuously Solar PV systems are economical and Direction of rays changes continuously . feasible for remote and stand alone power Varies during the day, season and with plant weather conditions. Solar thermal power plants are feasible in Energy not available at night and during deserts, dry sunny areas where other clouds sources of energy is not available Earth receives vast solar energy. Cost High cost of conversion. Required hybrid effective technologies are being evolved. plant with storage facility for supplying These will help in solving energy crises in energy during non/sun period the world

Energy balance equation and collector efficiency

The performance of solar collector is described by an energy balance that indicates the distribution of incident solar radiation into the useful energy gain and various losses. The thermal losses can be separated into three components: 1. Conductive losses: an overall heat transfer coefficient value of less than 0.69 W/m2K is suggested to minimize back losses

2.

Convective losses: sizing the air gap between the collector covers at 1.25 to 2.5 cm reduces internal convective losses to the min possible level. Convection loss between glass plates can also be inhibited if a honeycomb type cellular structure is placed between the absorber and outer window plate. Evacuation of the space between the absorber and outer cover has been proposed to reduce internal convection and conduction but the cost of added support and maintenance of a vacuum are excessive.

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3. Radiative losses: radiative losses from the absorber can be reduced by the use of spectrally selective absorber coating. Such coatings have a high

absorptance of about 0.9 in the color spectrum and a low emittance,

usually of the order of 0.1 in the infra-red spectrum in which the absorber radiates to the environment. Selective absorber coating therefore

decreases heat losses and increases collector efficiency.

Under the steady condition the useful heat delivered by the solar collector is equal to the energy absorbed in the metal surface minus the heat losses from the surface directly and indirectly to the surroundings

F1 is the collector efficiency factor = Uo / UL

Line focusing Parabolic Trough collector Mirror strip collector Fresnel lens collector Point focusing Paraboloid dish collector

Advantages and Disadvantages of Concentrating Collector Over Flat Plate Collector

Advantages
Reflecting surfaces required less material and are structurally simple that flat plate collector. For a cantilever system the cost per unit area of solar collecting surface is therefore potentially less than that for flat-plate collectors. The absorber area of a concentrating system is smaller than that of a flat plate system for same solar energy collection and therefore the insolation intensity is greater.

Cont..
Because of the area from which heat is lost to the surroundings per unit of

the solar energy collecting area is less than that for flat plate collector
and because the insulation on the absorber is more concentrated, the working fluid can attain higher temperatures in a concentrating system

than in a flat plate collector of the same solar energy collecting surface.
Owing to the small area of absorber per unit of solar energy collecting area, selective surface treatment and/or improve collector efficiency are

economically feasible.

Cont..
Focusing or concentrating systems can be used for electric power

generation when not used for heating and cooling. The total useful
operating time per year can therefore be large for a concentrator system than for a flat plate collector and the initial installation cost of the system

can be regained by saving in energy in absorber period of time.

Because the temperature attainable with concentrating collector system is higher, the amount of heat which can be stored per unit volume is larger

and conceptually the heat storage costs are less for concentrator systems
than for flat plate collector.

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In solar heating and cooling applications, the higher temperature of

working fluid is attainable with a concentrating system makes it to

possible to attain higher efficiencies, in the cooling cycle and lower cost for air conditioning with concentrator system than with flat plate collector.

Little or no anti-freeze is required to protect the absorber in a

concentrator system whereas the entire solar energy collection surfaces requires anti-freeze protection in a flat plate collector.

Disadvantages
Out of the beam and diffuse solar radiation components only beam component is collected in case of focusing collectors because diffuse component can be reflected and is thus lost. In some stationary reflecting system it is necessary to have small absorber to track the sun image; in others the reflector may have to be adjustable more than one position if the year round operation is desired; in other words costly orienting systems have to be used to track the sun.

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Additional requirements of maintenance particular to retain the quality of reflecting surface against dirt, weather, oxidation, etc. Non-uniform flux on the absorber whereas flux in flat plate collector is uniform. Additional optical losses such as reflectance loss and the intercept loss, so the introduce additional factors in energy balances.

High initial cost.

Selective absorber coatings

An efficient way to reduce thermal losses from the absorber plate of a

solar heating panel is by using selective absorber coatings.

An ideal selective absorber coatings is one that is a perfect absorber of solar radiation while being a perfect reflector of thermal radiation

Hence a selective absorber coatings increase the temperature of an

absorbing surface. If back losses of an absorbing surfaces are absent, the steady state condition gives,

Solar flux absorbed = thermal flux emitted

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The absorptance and emittance of radiation at a given wavelength are equal.
However at different wavelengths they can vary from near zero to near unity. Since 98% of suns radiation is concentrated in wavelength ranges of less than 2.5 m And 99% of re-radiation from collector surface (operated at < 400K) is in wavelength of > 2.5 m

It is possible to have surface that will absorb all of the solar radiation while
emitting very little A selective surface is a surface that has a high absorptance for short wave radiation (less than 2.5 m ) and a emittance of long wave radiation (> 2.5 m ) Although a large number of experimental selective surface treatments and coatings have been tested only a few have survived the laboratory

Cont..
A large number of non-selective coatings are available and are in widespread use as flat plate collector coatings These are primarily organic coatings such as black flat paints Most of these coatings have absorptance exceeding 0.95 and emittance of 0.90 0.95

Although the emittance are high, use of these coatings may be justified
economically in some applications where high collector temperatures are not required, such as hot water system or swimming pool heaters

Cont..
Most surfaces are good absorber for solar radiation are also good radiator for heat. For example a non selective surfaces has an absorptance of 0.95 for radiation effectively while at the time radiating little heat. Most selective surfaces are composed of a thin black metallic oxide on a bright metal base. The black oxide coating is high as 0.96 but it essentially transparent to long wave thermal radiation emitted by an object at a temperature of several hundred degrees. Since bright metals have low emissivity for thermal radiation that are poor heat radiators and since the thin oxide coating is transparent to such radiation, the combination is a poor radiator of heat

Cont..
As a result, the radiation loss from a selective surface is considerably lower than
from a conventional, non-selective surface The overall heat loss coefficient UL is reduced when this type of surface is used It also posses following characteristics Its properties should not change with use. A significant degradation in the values of and p has been observed in the case of some selective coatings, largely due to the effect of exposure to atmospheric humidity It should be able to withstand the temperature levels associated with the absorber plate surface of a collector over extended periods of time. It should be able to withstand any short-term temperature rise which may occur when

no useful heat is being removed

It should be able to withstand atmospheric corrosion and oxidation It should be of reasonable cost

Properties of some selective coatings

Coating Black crome Type electroplated Absorptance Emittance p 0.96 0.1

Black nickel
black copper black anodize solar foil enersorb (non-selective) nextel (non-selective)

electroplated
copper oxide aluminium oxide black crome over copper urethane paint paint

0.9
0.87-0.92 0.94 0.96 0.97 0.98

0.1
0.07-0.35 0.07 0.1 0.9 0.89