Solar Irradiation

Prof. Suhil Kiwan

Mechanical Engineering Department
Jordan University of Science and Technology
Irbid-Jordan
 The Sun
• The Sun diameter of about 1,392,000 km (109 times larger
than the Earth’s, 12,700 km)
• The Sun Mass 2x10^80 kg (about 330,000 times the mass of
the Earth)
• Blackbody at 5760 K, Total energy 63 MW/m2 at sun surface,
earth receives
only 1.7x1014 kW
84 minutes of solar
radiation on earth
equals world
energy demand
 Sun-Earth
• The Earth orbits approximately once around the Sun every 365
days.
• The Earth’s orbit’s eccentricity is very small, about e= 0.0167,
which causes the elliptical path to be nearly circular. R = a(1- e)
• The elliptical path of the Earth varies from 14.7 × 10^7 km in early
January—the closest distance to the Sun, called perihelion—to
15.2 × 10^7 km in early July—the farthest distance, called
aphelion. a=14.95985 x 107 km (average distance)
• The solar irradiation reaches the earth 8min and 20s after leaving
• The average Earth–Sun distance of 14.9 × 107 ^km is defined as the
astronomical unit (AU), which is used for calculating distances
within the solar system.
• The Earth is about 4% closer to the Sun at the perihelion than the
aphelion.
• The Sun subtends an angle of 32′ on the Earth at a 1 AU distance
Sun-Earth
Sun-Earth Data
Daily Sun Path
Earth Coordinate System
Longitude and Latitude

Latitude, is the angle between

The point on the surface of the
earth and the equator plan.
Values north of the equator are
positive and those south are
negative.

Meridian
 Solar Time
• In solar energy calculations, apparent solar time
(AST) must be used to express the time of day.
• Apparent solar time is based on the apparent angular
motion of the sun across the sky.
• The local solar noon is the time when the sun crosses
the meridian (Longitude) of the observer.
• It usually does not coincide with the 12:00 o’clock
time of a locality.
• To convert the local standard time (LST) to apparent
solar time, two corrections are applied; the equation
of time (ET) and longitude correction.
 Equation of Time
• The earth’s orbital velocity varies throughout
the year, so the apparent solar time varies
slightly from the mean time kept by a clock
running at a uniform rate.
• This variation is called the equation of time (ET)
ET = 9.87 sin(2B)- 7.53 cos(B)-1.5 sin(B) [min]
B =(N -81)*360/364
N is the number of the
day in the year
 Longitudinal Correction
• The standard clock time is adjusted to a selected
meridian (Longitude) near the center of a time zone
(standards; 15 E/W, 30 E/W, 45 E/W, …1 hour) or
from the standard meridian, the Greenwich, 0 lat.
• 60 (min/hr)*24 (hr/day)360 (degree/day)=
4 min/1 degree
• The sun takes 4 minutes to transverse 1° of longitude
• a longitude correction term is
4 * (Standard longitude - Local longitude)
• This should be either added or subtracted to the
standard clock time of the locality. (- East,+ West of
Meridian)
 Apparent Solar Time (AST)
• The general equation for calculating the AST is
AST =LST +ET  4(SL - LL)- DS
• LST is local standard time.
• ET = equation of time.
• SL = standard longitude.
• LL = local longitude.
• DS = daylight saving (it is either 0 or 60 min).
• If a location is east of Greenwich, the sign is
minus (-), and if it is west, the sign is plus (+)
 Example
Find the Equation AST for the city of Irbid,
Jordan. No Day Light Saving Time is used (DS=0).
• Solution:
For the locality of Jordan, the standard longitude
(SL) is 30°E. The city of Irbid is at a local longitude
(LL) of 35.84° east of Greenwich.
• The longitude correction is
–4 * (30 - 35.84) = 23.36 min.
AST = LST + ET -23.36 (min)
 Declination angle, 
It is the angle between the sun-earth center line and the
projection of this line on the equatorial plane.
• The declination ranges from 0° at the spring equinox to
+23.45° at the summer solstice, 0° at the fall equinox, and -
23.45° at the winter solstice.

• OR
Declination angle
 Hour Angle, h
Hour Angle

• The hour angle (h) is the angular distance between

the Sun’s position at a particular time and its highest
position for that day when crossing the local meridian
at the solar noon.
• Because the Earth rotates approximately once every
24 hours, the hour angle changes by 15° per hour and
moves through 360° over the course of the day.
 Hour angle, h
• The angle through which the earth would turn
to bring the meridian of a point on the earth
directly under the sun.
• The hour angle is defined to be zero at solar
noon, a negative value before crossing the
meridian (morning) , and a positive after
crossing (after noon)
• The hour angle is calculated as:
h =  0.25*(Number of minutes from local solar noon)
 Hour Angle
• The hour angle can also be obtained from the
apparent solar time (AST);
• i.e., the corrected local solar time is
h = (AST -12)*15
• At local solar noon, AST = 12 and h = 0°.
Therefore, the local standard time (the time
shown by our clocks at local solar noon) is
LST = 12 - ET  4(SL - LL)
 Example
• Find the equation for LST at local solar noon
for Irbid, Jordan
• Solution
LST = 12 - ET -23.36 [min]
Example
• Calculate the apparent solar time on March 10
at 2:30 pm for the city of Athens, Greece
(23°40’ E longitude).
 Position of the Sun with Respect
to a Horizontal Surface
Depends on: solar altitude or (zenith), solar
azimuth, and hour (ω) angles

• Solar altitude angle, 

• Solar azimuth angle, z
• Incidence angle, 
• The solar altitude angle is the angle between
the sun’s rays and a horizontal plane
• The solar zenith angle is the angle between
the sun’s rays and the vertical.
• The solar azimuth angle, z, is the angle of the
sun’s rays measured in the horizontal plane
from due south (true south) for the Northern
Hemisphere or due north for the Southern
Hemisphere; westward is designated as
positive
 Relationships among angles

At solar noon, h=0, then

For azimuth angle

EXAMPLES
• What are the maximum and minimum noon
altitude angles for a location at 4  0 latitude?
• The maximum angle is at summer solstice, where  is
maximum, that is, 23.5
90-40 +23.5= 73.5 
• The minimum noon altitude angle is at winter
solstice, where d is minimum, that is, 23.5 .
90 -40 - 23.5=26.5 
• Calculate these values for Irbid?
 Sunrise and sunset times and day length
• At sunrise (hsr) and sunset (hss), the altitude angle
is zero, thus, the LHS of the equation is zero, and
let h=hss

• Solve, get
• Example 1
• Find the equation for sunset standard time for
Irbid, Jordan.
• Solution
• The LST at sunset for the location of Irbid,
Jordan, from Example 2.1 is:
• Sunset standard time = Hss –ET-23:36 min
• Example 2
• Find the solar altitude and azimuth angles at 2
h after local noon on June 16 for a city located
at 40N latitude. Also find the sunrise and
sunset hours and the day length.
Position of the Sun with Respect
to a fixed tilted surface
 Incidence angle, 
• The solar incidence angle is the angle between
the sun’s rays and the normal on a surface.
• For a horizontal plane, the incidence angle
and the zenith angle are equal.
• For a surface tilted at angle , the value of  is

Zs is the surface (wall) azimuth angle, the angle between the

normal to the surface from true south, westward is designated
as positive.
 Special cases for 
• For vertical surfaces,  =90,

• For a south-facing tilted surface in the

Northern Hemisphere, Zs =0

• or
Example
 The incidence angle for moving surfaces
• For the case of solar-concentrating collectors, some
form of tracking mechanism is usually employed to
enable the collector to follow the sun.
• Tracking systems can be classified by the mode of
their motion {single axis or two axes (full tracking)}
• For single-axis mode, the motion can be
– parallel to the earth’s axis
– north–south horizontal
– east–west horizontal
(a) Full tracking
(b) parallel to the earth’s axis
(c) north–south or
(d) east–west
 Full tracking
• For a two-axis tracking mechanism, keeping
the surface in question continuously oriented
to face the sun at all times  = 0, or
cos ()=1
• Also, the slope of this surface () is equal to
the solar zenith angle (), and the surface
azimuth angle (Zs) is equal to the solar
azimuth angle (z)
 Tilted N–S axis with tilt adjusted daily
• Surface normal coincides with the solar beam
at noon each day,  is equal to

• It is generally accepted to have 4 declination

(difference) at noon (why?)
• The problem encountered with this and all
tilted collectors, when more than one
collector is used, is that the front collectors
cast shadows on adjacent ones.
 Polar N–S axis with E–W tracking
• For a plane rotated about a north–south axis
parallel to the earth’s axis, with continuous
adjustment,  is equal to:

• For this arrangement, the sun is normal to the

collector at equinoxes (= 0) and the cosine
effect is maximum at the solstices.
• Cast shadows on adjacent ones (previous)
 Horizontal E–W axis with N–S tracking
• For a plane rotated about a horizontal east–west axis with continuous
adjustment to minimize the angle of incidence,  is

• or from this equation

• The shadowing effects of this arrangement are minimal. The principal

shadowing is caused when the collector is tipped to a maximum
degree south (=23.5 ) at winter solstice.
• In this case, the sun casts a shadow toward the collector at the north.
• This assembly has an advantage in that it approximates the full
tracking collector in summer, but the cosine effect in winter greatly
reduces its effectiveness.
• The slope of this surface is given by:

• The surface orientation for this mode of tracking changes

between 0 and 180, if the solar azimuth angle passes through
90. Also:
Full Tracking
 Horizontal N–S axis with E–W tracking
•  can be obtained from

• Or

• The greatest advantage of this arrangement is that very

small shadowing effects are encountered when more than
one collector is used.
• The slope of this surface is given by
 Comparison
• The mode of tracking affects the amount of incident radiation
falling on the collector surface in proportion to the cosine of
the incidence angle.
• The polar and the N–S horizontal modes are the most suitable
for one-axis (very close to the full tracking) in summer
• They have low winter performance
 Sun path diagrams
To locate the position of the Sun in the sky at any time, for any day,
and for any location, a plot of the solar altitude αs versus azimuth
at different times throughout the year is commonly used.
During Equinox for different Lat.
During a Day (June solstice) different
Latitudes
 HW
• Develop a Computer Program (e.g., Excel, EES)
that calculates the Azimuth angle and Altitude
angle for Irbid-JUST
• Draw the sun path for JUST
 Shading
It is often required to estimate
the possibility of the shading
of solar collectors PV or the
windows of a building by
surrounding structures.
To determine the shading, it is
necessary to know the shadow
cast as a function of time during
every day of the year. However,
simple calculations can tell if
shading occurs or not.

x  b tan Z 
y  b tan P 

tan  
tan  P  
cos Z 
 SHADOW DETERMINATION
Shadow determination is facilitated by the determination of a surface-oriented solar
angle (solar profile angle (p)). It is the angle between the normal to a surface (on
horizontal) and the projection of the sun’s rays on a plane normal to the surface.

When the window is not due south (wall azimuth angle is not zero, then

when the surface faces due

south, that is, Zs =0,
 Example
• A building is located at 35N latitude and its side of interest is
located 15 east of south.We want to investigate the time of
the year that point x on the building will be shaded, as shown.
Find the equation to
estimate the shading caused
by a fin on a window.
 Example
• Calculate the solar incidence and zenith angles on a
solar collector located at El Paso, Texas (31.8° north;
106.4° west), at 11:30 a.m. (Solar Time) on March 3, if
the surface is
• (a) 30° tilted from the horizontal and pointed 10° west
south,
• (b)  = 40° and Z = 10°,
• (c) = 30° and Z = 0°,
• (d)  = 40° and Z = 0°,
• (e) = φ – |δ| and Z = 0°, and
• (f) = φ – |δ| and Z = 0° at solar noon.
 Solution
• On March 3, n = 62 and, from Equation 2.6, δ
= –7.5°.
• At 11:30 a.m., (-30 min., ω=-0.5*15 = –7.5°)
• Known: φ = 31.8°, γ = 10°, and β = 30°

• But

• Then θ=15.7°
 Solution
• (b) γ = 10° and β = 40° gives θ = 13.8° and θz = 39.9°.
• (c) γ = 0° and β = 30° gives θ = 11.9° and θz = 39.9°.
• (d) γ = 0° and β = 40° gives θ = 7.46° and θz = 39.9°.
• (e) γ = 0° and the optimal β = φ – |δ| = 31.8 – 7.5 =
24.3° gives θ = 16.8° and θz = 39.9°.
• (f) γ = 0°, β = φ – |δ| = 24.3°, and ω = 0° gives θ = 15.1°
and θz = 39.3°.
• Smallest θz is when γ = 0° (i.,e. Facing South)
• Θz is min. means that Solar Radiation is max.
End of This part