Master of Science in Renewable and Clean Energy Engineering (MSRCE), Wright State University, 2016, Renewable and Clean Energy

Solar Energy is a renewable energy source which is used widely in recent times. Photovoltaic panels collect the sun's energy and convert it to electricity. Photovoltaic panels are being widely used in both domestic applications, commercial applications, and small-scale power generation applications. Photovoltaic panels are easy to install, they generate most of their power when electrical demands peak, prices of photovoltaic panels are dropping rapidly, photovoltaic panels require low maintenance, their operating costs are minimal, and they are highly suitable for remote applications. The amount of electricity produced by photovoltaic panels depends on the amount of sunlight the panel captures. The orientation of the panel relative to the sun's rays is an important consideration in optimizing this energy collection. This thesis deals with developing analytic equations that determine the optimum orientation of solar panels including the effects of a clear-atmosphere. This is done for three types of tracking: two-axis tracking, single, horizontal east-west axis tracking, and single, horizontal north-south axis tracking. While doing a literature search on the development of analytic equations that determine the optimum orientation of solar panels, it was found that Braun and Mitchell were the first to develop the equations that determine the optimum orientation of solar panels using the three types of tracking mentioned above. They developed these equations assuming there is no atmosphere on earth and that there is no reflection of the sun's rays off the earth's surface. Thus, the only component of solar radiation that they considered was that coming in a straight path from the sun to the earth, this is called beam radiation. The no-atmosphere optimum solar panel orientation equations have been around for decades and they are in many textbooks on solar energy. At this time, it appears that analytical relationships that account for the effects of the atmosphere on t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Menart Ph.D. (Advisor); Daniel Young Ph.D. (Committee Member); Hong Huang Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Alternative Energy; Energy; Engineering; Mechanical Engineering

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Wright State University, 2017, Mechanical Engineering

A rule-of-thumb for orientating fixed solar panels for optimum yearly collection of solar radiation that is not influenced by atmospheric effects is to face the panel due south in the Northern Hemisphere or due north in the Southern Hemisphere and to tilt the panel from the horizontal plane at an angle equal to the latitude of the location of the solar panel. The work presented in this thesis shows that this rule-of-thumb is an approximation for no-atmosphere, panel orientation; but not a precise value. This project presents a detailed method for determining the precise optimum tilt angle of a fixed solar panel that captures the most solar energy from the sun for the cases of no-atmosphere and clear atmosphere, over the course of a year, for any azimuthal orientation, including due south and due north azimuthal orientations. The mathematical development of the integral equations used to obtain these optimum tilt angles is presented in detail and some discussion of the numerical technique used to solve them is given. Results from the analysis are given for many azimuthal angle orientations for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This work shows that the optimum tilt angle for maximum, no-atmosphere, solar radiation capture for due south and due north facing solar panels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, respectively, is close to the latitude angle for low latitude locations, but noticeably different at higher latitudes. The deviations between the rule-of-thumb results and results when the effects of a clear atmosphere are included in the analysis increase. The results calculated as part of this work indicate that the optimum tilt angle deviations from the rule-of-thumb and the optimum tilt angles published by many investigators who have included cloudy atmospheric effects in their analysis are not solely due to clouds or a clear atmosphere, as many of these investigators have concluded. A portion of these differences is due to the sun-earth geometry (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Menart Ph.D. (Advisor); Daniel Young Ph.D. (Committee Member); Rory Roberts Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Mechanical Engineering