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Simulation of hourly solar radiation on tilted surface at Dalian in China

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 12th International Conference on Clean Energy, Xi’an, China, 26-30 October 2012
Paper No. SE-14

Simulation of hourly solar radiation on tilted surface at Dalian in China

Lanhua DAI1, Sufen LI2

1: Dalian University of Technology, China, dailanhua@mail.dlut.edu.cn
2: Dalian University of Technology, China, lisuf@dlut.edu.cn

Abstract In this paper, a combination of measured data and models is used to establish a mathematic model
of hourly solar radiation on tilted surface at Dalian in China (latitude: 39°02' N; longitude: 121°46' E). The
new coefficients of the classical Angstrom regression formula in Dalian are obtained during the different
periods of the year (heating period: January, February, November, December; cooling period: June, July,
August; the transition period: March, April, May, September, October). Compared with the measured values,
the maximum error between the simulation result calculating by improved Angstrom formula and measured
values can be reduced from 16.7% (before modification) to 4% (after improved). A new computing model of
hourly solar radiation on the horizontal surface is established derivation from the daily solar radiation on
horizontal surface, which can be a basis for regions lack of monitoring data providing a computing model to
simulation the hourly solar radiation on horizontal surface. Using the established computational model in this
paper available the solar radiation on tilted surface per hours of the year in Dalian provide the basis data of
the instantaneous solar radiation for the dynamic simulation of the solar heating system.

Keywords: Hourly Solar Radiation, Tilted Surface, Dynamic Simulation

1. Introduction estimate monthly mean daily diffuse solar

With the serious environmental pollution
caused by the depletion of traditional energy
resources and fossil fuels, the research interests
in renewable energy are continuously
increasing. The solar energy, as one of the most
abundant reserves renewable energy and clean
energy, has been a focus in the development
and utilization of renewable energy. In order to
in-depth study of the performance of a solar
heating system, the solar radiation that reaches
the surface of the collectors should been
estimated availably.
To solar radiation model, a lot of research
work has been done. A countrywide general
correlation model in China for calculating the
daily diffuse radiation was derived on the basis
of Liu and Jordan method (Zhou et al.
2004).Two new friendly and reliable methods
to estimate hourly global solar radiation on a
horizontal surface was proposed by Kaplanis
(2006). The first Simulink program for
estimating the radiation at any time intervals as
well as to find the position of the sun was
developed by Shen et al. (2008). The quadratic
fit empirical relation (Jiang 2009) applied to
radiation for five typical meteorological
stations in China, the results shown that the
quadratic model in good agreement with the
test data. Two models (Li et al. 2011; Li et al.
2012) for estimating the monthly average daily
diffuse solar radiation were proposed based on
multiple predictors including the clearness
index, relative sunshine duration, ambient
temperature and relative humidity. Through the
analysis based on statistical error tests, results
shown that the two models can estimate the
monthly average daily diffuse solar radiation
with good accuracy. An Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) was used by Notton (2012) to
Calculating global solar irradiation from global
horizontal irradiation, which was optimized and
tested on the basis of five years of solar data.
The accuracy of the optimal configuration
performed better than the empirical correlations.
The daily diffuse radiation or monthly
mean daily diffuse solar radiation has been
concerned shown in the previous literatures.
There is rarely research about the hourly solar
radiation on tilted surface. Notton et al. (2012)
proposed the ANN to estimate the hourly
global solar irradiation on tilted planes from
horizontal one, but a large number of measured

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 12th International Conference on Clean Energy, Xi’an, China, 26-30 October 2012
Paper No. SE-14

data required to the model of optimization and s  cos1 ( tan  tan  ) （4）
tested. It is difficult for the areas where lack of
test conditions. 2.1.3. Monthly average daily solar radiation on
In this paper, a combination of measured the horizontal surface
data and models is used to establish a model of The Angstrom regression equation related
hourly solar radiation on the tilted surface at monthly average daily radiation modified by
Dalian. The Angstrom regression model is Page (1964) based on extraterrestrial radiation
revised and the ratio of beam radiation on the is given by Eq.(5).
tilted surface to that on a horizontal surface is
improved. Using the established computational
n （5）
model in this paper available the solar radiation on H  H 0 (a  b )
N
tilted surface per hours of the year provide the basis
data of the instantaneous solar radiation for the where H is the monthly average daily
dynamic simulation of the solar heating system. radiation on the horizontal surface, H 0 is the
monthly average daily extraterrestrial solar
radiation, it can be calculated by Eq.(2) with
2. Simulation methods the value of n given in Table 1 (Zhao 2011),
a, b are empirical coefficients developed by Lof
2.1. Hourly global solar radiation on the (1966a), they are equal to 0.36 and 0.23 in
horizontal surface
Dalian, respectively, n is the monthly mean
2.1.1. Extraterrestrial solar radiation daily sunshine duration, N is the monthly
A simple equation of the extraterrestrial mean maximum possible sunshine duration,
radiation with accuracy adequate for most which can be calculated using Eq.(6):
engineering calculations is given by Eq. (1).
2
N s （6）
Gon  Gsc 1  0.033 cos(360n / 365) （1） 15
where Gon is the extraterrestrial radiation on the Table 1
plane normal to the radiation on the nth day of Recommended average days for months and the values of n and
the year, Gsc is the solar constant 1367W/m2 , n n by months
is day of year. Thus 0≤n≤365.
n for ith For Everyday of Month
month
2.1.2. Extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal Day of Month Date n
n
surface
Jan. i 17 17 6.4
The extraterrestrial solar radiation on a
horizontal surface is calculated from the Eq.(2). Feb. 31+i 16 47 7.2

Mar. 59+i 16 75 7.7

24  3600Gon s
H0  (cos  cos  sin s  sin  sin  ) Apr. 90+i 15 105 8.5
 180
（2） May 120+i 15 135 9.0
where  is the local geographic latitude, δ is June 151+i 11 162 8.5
the solar declination which range is ± 23.45 °, July 181+i 17 198 7.0
as shown in Eq.(3), s is the sunset hour
Aug. 212+i 16 228 7.5
angle, calculated by the Eq.(4), generally
Sept. 243+i 15 258 8.2
considered the sunrise and sunset times is
symmetrical. Oct. 273+i 15 288 7.5

Nov. 304+i 14 318 6.1

  23.45sin(360(284  n) / 365) （3）
Dec. 334+i 10 344 5.9

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 12th International Conference on Clean Energy, Xi’an, China, 26-30 October 2012
The measured data of monthly average
daily radiation can be obtained on the basis of
measured data of monthly global solar radiation
on horizontal surface for 34 years in Dalian
given by the literature (Song 2009). Fig. 1
shows the simulation data and measured data
and their error of the monthly average daily
radiation on horizontal surface for a year. As
shown in Fig. 1 that the relative error between
the simulation data and the measured data is
less than 10% except the three months of
January, November and December. Maximum
error appears in the November of 16.75%, the
minimum error appears in May of 0.82%. In
order to limit the error from -5% to 5%, the
empirical coefficients a and b should be refitted
in these two periods of in January, February,
November and December and in June, July and
August.
Fig.1. The simulation data and measured data and their error of
the monthly average daily radiation on horizontal surface for a
year
In this paper, the principle of permutations
and combinations of minimum error is used to
refit the empirical coefficients of Angstrom
regression model. The new values of a and b
for these two periods of in January, February,
November and December and in June, July and
August are 0.14/0.47 and 0.24/0.4, respectively.
The modified simulation data and measured
data and their error of the monthly average
daily radiation on horizontal surface for a year
are shown in Fig.2. It can be seen from Fig.2
that the relative errors of the four months of
January, February, November and December
are 0.5%, 3.95%, 0.45% and 0.65% after
modify the empirical coefficients, which are
13.71%, 7.69%, 16.75% and 14.93% before
improved, respectively. The relative errors of
the three months of June, July and August are
0.5%, 0.4% and 2.8% after modify the
empirical coefficients, which are4.1%, 8.2%
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Paper No. SE-14
and 8.4% before improved, respectively. The
maximum error is reduced from 16.7% to 4%.
Fig.2. The modified simulation data and measured data and
their error of the monthly average daily radiation on horizontal
surface for a year
2.1.4. Daily global solar radiation on the
horizontal surface
The daily global solar radiation on the
horizontal surface is extended by the monthly
average daily radiation in this paper. The daily
global solar radiation on the horizontal surface
is divided into three periods ( heating period:
January, February, November, and December,
cooling period: June, July, and August, the
transition period: March, April, May, September
and October) according to the new empirical
coefficients of Angstrom regression model in
section 2.1.3. After refitting the empirical
coefficients of Angstrom regression model, Eq.
(5) may be rewritten in the form of Eq. (7). The
clearness index of a day KT is given by Eq. (8).
 n
 H 0 (0.14  0.47 )≤n≤ ≤n≤
 N
（7）

H   H 0 (0.24  0.4 n )≤n≤243
 N
 n
 H 0 (0.36  0.23 )≤n≤151,≤n≤304 
 N
 n
 0.14  0.47 ≤n≤ ≤n≤
 N
（8）

KT   0.24  0.4 n ≤n≤243
 N
 n
0.36  0.23 ≤n≤151,≤n≤304 
 N
2.1.5. Hourly global solar radiation on the
horizontal surface
When hourly performance calculations for a
system are to be done, it may be necessary to
start with daily data and estimate hourly values
from daily numbers (Duffie and Beckman
2005). The hourly total solar radiation on the
horizontal surface can be calculated by Eq. (9).
 12th International Conference on Clean Energy, Xi’an, China, 26-30 October 2012
Paper No. SE-14

H geometric factor Rb , the ratio of beam radiation

I= (0.409  0.5016sin(s  60 )
24
（ 9 ） on the tilted surface to that on a horizontal
 (0.6609  0.4767 sin(s  60 )) cos  ) surface at any time, can be calculated exactly
cos   cos s by appropriate use of Eq.(13).

2s
sin s  ( ) cos s
360 cos 
where ω is the hour angle in degrees for time Rb  
cos  z (13)
(i.e., the midpoint of the hour for which the
calculation is made), which can be computed cos(   ) cos  cos   sin(   )sin 
by Eq. (10). cos  cos  cos   sin  sin 

  15  ((h  9.87sin(2  360(n  81) / 364)  7.53 According to the literature (Duffie and
cos(360(n  81) / 364)  1.5sin(360( n  81) （10） Beckman 2005), for year-round use of the solar
/ 364)  4(120-LLOG )) / 60  12) heating system, the inclination angle of
where h is the Beijing time, LLOG is the collectors β should be equal to the local
geographic latitude φ. Thus Eq. (13) can be
local geographical longitude.
simplified as:
2.1.6. Hourly diffuse solar radiation on the
cos  cos  cos 
horizontal surface Rb   (14)
cos  z cos  cos  cos   sin  sin 
The hourly diffuse solar radiation on the
where  is the angle of incidence of the sun,
horizontal surface is given by Eq. (11) (Liu and
Jordan 1960).  z is the zenith angle of the sun, that is, the
angle between the vertical and the line to the
 Hd cos   cos s （11） sun. It is noticeable that the zenith angle of the
Id =
24 sin   ( 2s ) cos  sun is approximate to 90 ° in hours that
360
s s
includes sunrise and sunset, which means the
where H d is the daily diffuse solar radiation cosine value of  z is close to zero as well as
on the horizontal surface, which can be the value of Rb tends to infinity. Then
obtained by Eq. (12). multiplying it by the hourly solar radiation on
the horizontal surface will probably produce a
 0.99( KT ≤0.17)
 value that exceeds the solar constant. Clearly
1.188  2.272 KT  9.473KT 
2

Hd  (12) this is a situation to be avoided. The best

 21.865KT3  14.648KT4 (0.17＜KT ＜0.75)
H 
 0.54 KT +(0.75＜KT ＜0.80)

 0.2( KT ≥0.80)
2.2. Hourly global solar radiation on the tilted
surface
approach is to extend Eq. (14) to Eq.(15) from
an instantaneous equation to one integrated
over a time period 1 to 2 (Duffie and
Beckman 2005).
2

Rb ,ave

  1
cos  d

ab (15)
2
cd
2.2.1. Ratio of beam radiation on tilted surface  1
cos  z d
to that on horizontal surface where
Order to maximize the solar energy, it is 
necessary to ensure that the normal of the a  sin  sin(   ) (2  1 ) (16)
180
collector is in a straight line with the sun on the
conditions of the brightest sunshine. So b  cos(   ) cos  (sin 2  sin 1 ) (17)
collectors should be placed toward the south in c  cos  cos  (sin 2  sin 1 ) (18)
the northern hemisphere, which means the 
azimuth of collector is equal to zero. The d  sin  sin  (2  1 ) (19)
180

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 12th International Conference on Clean Energy, Xi’an, China, 26-30 October 2012
Paper No. SE-14

When collector inclination β is equal to the 1 h. The outputs of the simulation include the
local geographical latitude φ, the Eq. (15) can global and diffuse radiation on a horizontal
be converted to Eq. (20). surface and tilted surface, ratio of beam
radiation on tilted surface to that on horizontal
cos  (sin 2  sin 1 ) surface.
Rb,ave  (20)
e f
3.1. Results
where
e  cos  cos  (sin 2  sin 1 ) (21)

f  sin  sin  (2  1 ) (22)
180

2.2.2. Ratio of diffuse radiation on tilted

surface to that on horizontal surface
The diffuse solar radiation on tilted surface
consists of two parts: the diffuse radiation from
the sky and the ground-reflected radiation. A
view factor to the sky Rd and a view factor to
Fig.3. Hourly global solar radiation on the horizontal surface
the ground derived by Liu and Jordan (1963)
are computed by Eqs. (23)-(24). for a year

1  cos 
Rd  (23)
2
1  cos 
R  (24)
2

2.3.3. Hourly global solar radiation on the

tilted surface
The radiation on the tilted surface was
considered to include three components: beam,
isotropic diffuse and solar radiation diffusely
Fig.4. Hourly diffuse solar radiation on the horizontal surface
reflected from the ground (Liu and Jordan
1963). It can be computed by Eq. (25). for a year

IT  I (  g R  Rb，ave )  I d ( Rd  Rb，ave ) (25)

where  g is the ground albedo with 0.2 for
ground and 0.7 for snow generally.

3. Results and model validation

To test the capacity and validity of the solar

radiation computing model in this paper, the
simulation of the solar radiation on horizontal
and tilted surface for a year has been carried
out with programming language MATLAB.
The duration of the simulation was set to be
8760 h and the time step of the simulation was
Fig.5. Average ratio of beam radiation on tilted surface to that
on horizontal surface for a year
Figs. 3-6 show these results of the hourly
global solar radiation on the horizontal surface

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 12th International Conference on Clean Energy, Xi’an, China, 26-30 October 2012
I , the hourly diffuse solar radiation on the
horizontal surface I d , the average ratio of beam
radiation on tilted surface to that on horizontal
surface Rb,ave and the hourly global solar
radiation on the tilted surface IT in Dalian,
respectively.
Fig.6. Hourly global solar radiation on the tilted surface for a
year
3.2. Model Validation
The comparison of the calculated values
from the solar radiation computing model in
this paper and the measured values given by
Song (2009) about the monthly average solar
radiation on the horizontal surface and the
annual average hourly solar radiation are
shown in Figs.7-8. It can be found the predicted
values have good agreement with the measured
values and the error is less than 10%.
Fig.7. The measured and predicted (by Eq.(9)) values of
monthly mean daily solar radiation.
Fig.8. The measured and predicted (by Eq.(9)) values of annual
average hourly solar radiation.
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Paper No. SE-14
4. Conclusion
In this paper, a combination of measured
data and models is used to establish a
mathematic model of hourly solar radiation on
tilted surface at Dalian in China. Using the
established computational model in this paper
available the solar radiation on tilted surface
per hours of the year provide the basis data of
the instantaneous solar radiation for the
dynamic simulation of the solar heating system.
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