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Thesis Report Submitted11.pdf (1.85 MB)

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A Look at the Optimum Slope of a Fixed Solar Panel for Maximum Energy Collection for a One Year Time Frame

Alhaidari, Salah
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1515545054060599

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Wright State University, 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 ignored by the rule-of-thumb, but included in this work.
James Menart, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Daniel Young, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Rory Roberts, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
81 p.
Mechanical Engineering
solar panel; optimum tilt angle; solar energy; rule of thumb;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Alhaidari, S. (2017). A Look at the Optimum Slope of a Fixed Solar Panel for Maximum Energy Collection for a One Year Time Frame [Master's thesis, Wright State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1515545054060599

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Alhaidari, Salah. A Look at the Optimum Slope of a Fixed Solar Panel for Maximum Energy Collection for a One Year Time Frame. 2017. Wright State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1515545054060599.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Alhaidari, Salah. "A Look at the Optimum Slope of a Fixed Solar Panel for Maximum Energy Collection for a One Year Time Frame." Master's thesis, Wright State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1515545054060599

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

wright1515545054060599
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© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License A Look at the Optimum Slope of a Fixed Solar Panel for Maximum Energy Collection for a One Year Time Frame by Salah Alhaidari is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.