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Solar 2019 PDF

The document summarizes key information about solar energy and radiation from the sun. It describes the sun's structure as a hot ball of plasma and its distance from Earth. It explains that the sun's pressure balances gravitational pull in hydrostatic equilibrium. Blackbody radiation describes how objects emit electromagnetic radiation based on temperature. The sun emits across wavelengths from X-rays to radio waves. Atmospheric gases differentially absorb solar radiation. Extraterrestrial radiation is solar energy before reaching Earth, while terrestrial radiation is what reaches the surface. Scattering affects direct, diffuse, and global radiation levels.

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Shashi Kumar
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56 views

Solar 2019 PDF

The document summarizes key information about solar energy and radiation from the sun. It describes the sun's structure as a hot ball of plasma and its distance from Earth. It explains that the sun's pressure balances gravitational pull in hydrostatic equilibrium. Blackbody radiation describes how objects emit electromagnetic radiation based on temperature. The sun emits across wavelengths from X-rays to radio waves. Atmospheric gases differentially absorb solar radiation. Extraterrestrial radiation is solar energy before reaching Earth, while terrestrial radiation is what reaches the surface. Scattering affects direct, diffuse, and global radiation levels.

Uploaded by

Shashi Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Solar Energy

Sun

❑ Sphere of intensely hot gaseous

matter (plasma)

❑ Diameter: 1.39 × 109 m

❑Average distance from earth :

1.495 × 1011 m

❑Surface temperature approximately:

5800°K

❑ Output of sun: 2.8 × 1023 kW/year


❑ A big thermonuclear reactor
❑ Radiates energy
❑ Electromagnetic waves
❑ Reaching to earth: 1.5 × 1018 kW/year
Pressure (from heat caused by
nuclear reactions) balances the
gravitational pull toward the
Pressure (fromCalled
Sun’s center. heat caused by
“Hydrostatic
nuclear Equilibrium.
reactions) balances the
gravitational pull toward the
Sun’s center. Called
“Hydrostatic Equilibrium”.

This balance leads to a spherical


ball of gas, called the Sun.
Black Body Radiation
• A black body or blackbody is an idealized physical body that absorbs all
incident electromagnetic radiation, regardless of frequency or angle of
incidence. (It does not only absorb radiation, but can also emit radiation.

• The energy radiated away from a black body at temperature T and


wavelength λ can be obtained from Planck’s Black Body Radiation. Using the
formula, the energy-density distribution of solar radiation at the surface of
the sun is corresponding to 5250°K.

• The energy-density distribution for the earth can be found out assuming the
average earth temperature to be 288°K (15°C)
Solar Radiation Spectrum
The Sun emits X-rays, ultraviolet, visible light ,infrared, and even radio waves.
Ultraviolet:
❑ Radiation at higher frequency (wavelength from 10 nm to 380 nm)
❑ Invisible to the human eye
❑ Filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and very little reaches the Earth's
surface

Visible:
❑ Range or light spans 380 to 700 nm
❑visible to the naked eye.
❑the strongest output range of the sun's total irradiance spectrum.

Infrared :
❑700 nm to 106 nm
❑A type of radiant energy that's invisible to human eyes but that we can feel as
heat.
❑Longer than those of visible light, but shorter than those of radio waves.
Radio wave
4 11
❑ frequency between about 10 and 10
Absorption of Solar Radiation

1. Nitrogen, molecular oxygen and other atmospheric gases: X-


ray, extreme ultraviolet radiations
2. Ozone: a significant amount of ultraviolet (< 380 nm)
3. Water vapour and carbon dioxide: infrared radiation in the
range (> 2300 nm)
4. Dust particles and air molecules : a part of solar radiant (any
wave length)
Solar irradiance:
✓The measure of power density of sunlight received at a location on the earth.
✓Unit: W/m2

Solar insolation (incident solar radiation):


✓The solar radiation received on a flat horizontal surface on the earth.

Solar constant (ISC) :


✓It is defined as the energy received from the sun per unit time, on a unit area
of surface perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the radiation at the
top of the atmosphere and at the earth’s mean distance from the sun.
✓ISC = 1367 W/m2
Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial Radiations
✓The intensity of solar radiations keeps on attenuating as it propagates away
from the surface of sun.

✓Solar radiation incident on the outer atmosphere of the earth is known as


extraterrestrial radiation.

✓The distance between the sun and the earth varies due to the elliptical
motion of the earth.

✓The extraterrestrial radiation variation is ±3% and is given by

n is the day of the year counted from the first day of January.

✓The solar radiation that reaches the earth surface after passing through the
earth’s atmosphere is known as terrestrial radiation.
Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial Radiations
Scattering of Solar Radiation

Components of Solar Radiation:

❑ Direct radiation: Unchanged in direction

❑ Diffuse radiation: Does not have a unique


direction due to scattering and reflection.

❑ Global radiation: The sum of direct and diffuse


radiations

❑ Reflect radiation: A part of the scattered


radiation is reflected back (lost) to space.

❑ Albedo: The earth reflects back nearly 30% of the


total radiant energy to the space by reflection
from clouds, by scattering and by reflection at
the earth’s surface.
Zenith Angle:
▪The zenith angle is the angle between the sun and the vertical.
▪ The zenith angle is similar to the elevation angle but it is
L0
measured from the vertical rather than from the horizontal,
▪thus making the zenith angle = 90° - elevation. L
z

Air Mass (AM) Factor:


Air Mass (AM) =

For a path length L through the atmosphere, for solar radiation incident at angle z relative
to the normal to the Earth's surface, the air mass coefficient is:
L 1
AM = 
L0 cos z
where L0 is the zenith path length (i.e. normal to the Earth's surface) at sea level and z is
the zenith angle in degrees.
The air mass number is thus dependent on the Sun's elevation path through the sky and
therefore varies with time of day and with the passing seasons of the year, and with the
latitude of the observer.

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