Clean Energy Technology

Made By:
Umair N. Mughal
Asstt. Professor
Mechanical Engineering Deptt.
NED University of Engineering and Technology
Karachi, Pakistan
Earth Vs Solar Radiation
Atmospheric Windows
Radiation and Objects
 Rayleigh Scattering
Selective scattering (or Rayleigh scattering) occurs when certain particles
are more effective at scattering a particular wavelength of light. Air
molecules, like oxygen and nitrogen for example, are small in size and thus
more effective at scattering shorter wavelengths of light (blue and violet).
The selective scattering by air molecules is responsible for producing our
blue skies on a clear sunny day.
Thermal Radiation
Actinometers
 They are instruments used to measure the
heating power of radiation. Actinometer is a
chemical system or physical device which
determines the number of photons in a
beam integrally or per unit time. e.g.
 Solutions of iron(III) oxalate (e.g. potassium
ferrioxalate) as a chemical actinometer
 Bolometers, thermopiles, & photodiodes are
physical devices giving a reading that can be
correlated to the number of photons detected.
Pyranometers
 A pyranometer is a type of actinometer used to measure broadband
solar irradiance on a planar surface and is a sensor that is designed to
measure the solar radiation flux density (in watts per metre square) from a
field of view of 180 degrees. The name pyranometer stems from Greek,
"pyr" meaning "fire" and "ano" meaning "sky". A typical pyranometer does
not require any power to operate
 The solar radiation spectrum extends approximately from 300 to 2,800
nm. Pyranometers usually cover that spectrum For a flux density or
irradiance measurement it is required by definition that the response to
“beam” radiation varies with the cosine of the angle of incidence; i.e. full
response at when the solar radiation hits the sensor perpendicularly
(normal to the surface, sun at zenith, 0 degrees angle of incidence), zero
response when the sun is at the horizon (90 degrees angle of incidence,
90 degrees zenith angle), and 0.5 at 60 degrees angle of incidence. It
follows from the definition that a pyranometer should have a so-called
“directional response” or “cosine response” that is close to the ideal cosine
characteristic.
Design of Pyranometers
 In order to attain the proper directional and
spectral characteristics, a pyranometer’s
main components are:
 A thermopile sensor with a black coating.
This sensor absorbs all solar radiation, has a
flat spectrum covering the 300 to 50,000 nm
range, & has a near-perfect cosine response.
 A glass dome. This dome limits the spectral
response from 300 to 2,800 nanometers
(cutting off the part above 2,800 nm), while
preserving the 180 degrees field of view.
Another function of the dome is that it shields . Main components: thermopile
sensor(1), domes(2), glass
the thermopile sensor from convection.
dome(2,3), radiation screen(4), signal
 The black coating on the thermopile sensor cable(5), gland(6), leveling feet(7),
absorbs the solar radiation. This radiation is printed circuit board(8),desiccant (9),
converted to heat. The heat flows through level(11).
the sensor to the pyranometer housing. The
thermopile sensor generates a voltage output
signal that is proportional to the solar
radiation
Cosine Response of
Pyranometer:
A “cosine corrected” sensor is designed to
maintain its accuracy when radiation comes
from different angles. For pyranometers, the
test of cosine response is to measure extreme
zenith angles. Cosine response is
synonymous to the term Lambertian
response. Lambert’s Cosine law states that
radiation intensity on a flat surface decreases
as the angle of the surface decreases from
perpendicular (normal or 0˚ zenith angle). This
is expressed as:
Eθ = E * cos(θ)
 All radiation sensors have some azimuth
error, which shows up as the difference
between the am and pm response. This error
is typically smaller than the cosine error.
About 90% of the sunlight energy is between
300 to 1100 nm so silicon-cell photodiode
pyranometers can be calibrated to estimate all
of the shortwave energy from sunlight.