T03 \ CCN2252

CCN2252 Environmental and Energy Engineering

T03 Renewable Energy Systems
Questions
1.
(a) Describe TWO common types of solar collectors for solar hot water
production.
(b) In Table 1.1 it shows the solar radiation on an inclined solar collector surface
on a typical day in May in Hong Kong. Also in the table it shows the number
of litres of hot water of 50 C that is consumed in each hour of a building.
The efficiency of the flat plate solar collector of the solar hot water heating
system is 35%. Estimate the minimum solar collected area needed to ensure
that the domestic hot water is entirely supplied from solar energy on that day
and the minimum storage volume required. State any assumption made.
Table 1.1 Solar radiation data (assume that the incoming tap water to the building
is at 15oC)
Hour
beginning
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100

Solar radiation
(W/m2)

16
70
245
450
675
800

Litres of hot
water used

Hour
beginning
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300

Solar
radiation
(W/m2)
800
675
450
245
70
16

Litres of hot
water used

100

2.
A 2 m x 3 m single-glazed flat-plate collector is available for solar-heating application.
The transmittance of the cover plate is 0.87, and the aluminium absorber plate has an
absorptivity of 0.85. The U-value of the collector is 6.5 W/m2C. Given that the total
solar radiation at the cover plate is 900 W/m2, the ambient temperature is 8 C and
the temperature of water entering the collector is 40 C.
(a) Calculate the efficiency of the collector, assuming the empirical correction
factor is 1.
(b) Determine the temperature of water leaving the collector if the water flows at
0.045 kg/s.
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(c) Comment on any change in the efficiency if (i) the water flow rate drops; (ii)
the ambient temperature increases; (iii) the solar radiation increases, while
other variables in each of the 3 cases remain unchanged.
(d) Given that the solar altitude is 75; the direct radiation from sun is 1353 W/m2;
and the diffuse radiation and shortwave radiation from other surfaces account
for 15% of the direct radiation, evaluate the tilted angle of the collector above
horizontal in order to achieve the maximum total radiation on the collector.
Hence determine the heat output (in W) of the collector in this case, assuming
all physical parameters of the collector, the ambient temperature and the
temperature of water entering the collector remain unchanged.
3.
A building owner intends to build a horizontal roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) system
in his building. The roof area allowed for PV module installation is summarized in
Table 3.1, assuming that 80% of area could be covered by PV modules with
characteristics shown in Table 3.2.
(a) Estimate the number of PV modules that can be installed and the total power
capacity.
(b) Evaluate the total power output in one local sunshine day based on weather
data given in Table 3.3 and the PV module model shown below. Hence
determine the average energy conversion efficiency of the PV module on that
day.
(c) Advise to the building owner an alternative installation method that can
improve the performance of the PV modules.
PV module model:

ln I sc
G G0 T0
+ 10
Pm = Pr
G0 ln(I sc ) Tc

(W)

where
Pr = the rated power, W
G = the received solar radiation by the PV module, W/m2
G0 = the standard solar irradiance, 1000 W/m2
T0 = the standard test cell temperature, 298 K
Tc = the cell temperature during operation, K, as defined by
Tc = Ta + 0.03375G where,
Ta = the ambient temperature, K
Table 3.1 PV system proposed by the building owner
System
Roof-mounted PV system

Area (m2)
127

Inclined angle (o)

0

Orientation (o)
0 (South)
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Table 3.2 Characteristics of the PV module

Type
72 solar PC cells
(125 mm x 125 mm)

Rated
power
175 W

Module area
1.6 x 0.79 m2

Short circuit
current (Isc)
5.5 A

Open circuit
voltage (Voc)
44.5 V

Table 3.3 Weather data in a sunshine summer in Hong Kong

Time
Horizontal
solar
irradiance
(W/m2)
Ambient
temperature
(oC)

7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00
8.3 63.9 122.2 177.8 400.0 550.0 419.4 544.4 947.2 486.1 380.6 125.0

27.4 27.7 28.4

28.8

29.4

29.6

29.7

30.2

30.9

30.3

30.3

29.3

4.
In Table 4.1 it shows the frequency distribution of local wind speed at a site located at
Lamma Island. A wind turbine rated at 800 kW with a blade diameter of 30 m is
installed at the site. Estimate its annual power output in kWh.
Wind turbine parameters:
Cut-in wind speed = 4 m/s
Cut-off wind speed = 20 m/s
Nominal wind speed at rated power = 12 m/s
Table 4.1 Wind speed distribution at the site
Wind speed (m/s)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Occurrence hours
(hr)
0
335
600
820
980
1030
1000
920
800
660
500

Wind speed (m/s)

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
>20

Occurrence hours
(hr)
380
280
180
110
50
40
30
22
10
8
5

5.
A particular small wind turbine can generate 100 W of electricity when the wind is
blowing at 10 m/s. How much power would the turbine generate when the wind
blows at 15 m/s?

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6.
In 2006 alone, Hong Kong produced 6.2 million tonnes of municipal solid waste
(MSW), 45% of which was recycled and the rest went to landfills. The landfills
produce 6 m3 of landfill gas (LFG) a year per tonne of refuse, with an average
methane (CH4) content of 55%.
(a) Estimate the thermal energy contents of the produced LFG. The energy
content of CH4 at normal pressure is 38 MJ/m3.
(b) The annual electricity output in kWh from the LFG. The overall energy
conversion efficiency of the power plant is expected to be 30%.

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