Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

(ME 439)

Instructor Dr. Muhammad Asif

Lecture 15

Chapter 7 Solar Radiation

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences

and Technology
1
 Heat Transmission in Building Structures
Chapter 5

Chapter 6 (Solar Radiation)

Foundation for
- Space Heating Load (Chapter 7)
- Cooling Load (Chapter 8)
Solar Radiation
- Instantaneous solar radiation

- Extraterrestrial

- Terrestrial

- Variation with location and time

Sun–Earth Geometric Relationship
Sun–Earth Geometric Relationship
 Time
Earth is divided into 360 deg of circular arc by longitudinal lines passing through the
poles. Thus, 15 deg of longitude corresponds to of a day or 1/24 hour of time.

a) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or Greenwich civil time (GCT)

b) Eastern standard time, EST 75 deg
c) Central standard time, CST 90 deg
d) Mountain standard time, MST 105 deg
e) Pacific standard time, PST 120 deg

 clocks are advanced one hour during the late spring, summer, and early fall season,
leading to daylight savings time (DST). Local standard time = Local DST - 1 hr.

 Whereas civil time (local civil time LCT) is based on days that are precisely 24
hours in length, solar time has slightly variable days because of the non-symmetry of
the earth’s orbit, irregularities of the earth’s rotational speed, and other factors. Time
measured by the position of the sun is called solar time (local solar time LST).
EXAMPLE 7.1
Determine the LST corresponding to 11:00 A.M. Central Daylight Savings Time (CDST)
on May 21 in Lincoln, NE (96.7 deg W longitude).

EOT = 3 mins LL = 96.7 deg ; LS = 90 deg

 Solar Angles
The direction of the sun’s rays can be described if three
fundamental quantities are known:
1. Location on the earth’s surface (Longitude L, Latitude l)
2. Time of day (LST, CST)
3. Day of the year (n)

It is convenient in HVAC computations to

define the sun’s position in the sky in
terms of the solar altitude β and the solar
Declination δ azimuth Φ, which depend on the
Hour angle h fundamental quantities l, h, and δ.
Solar altitude angle β
Solar azimuth angle Φ
Zenith angle Ψ
Angle of incidence ϴ
Declination Angle δ
The angle that the Sun’s rays make with the equatorial plane is known
as the declination angle. This angle is the solar declination. On any
day, is taken as a constant which changes on the next day.

January 1 being n = 1
 Solar Hour Angle

Hour angle is the measure of the angular

displacement of the Sun through which the
Earth has to rotate to bring the meridian of
the place directly under the Sun
The solar hour angle hs is based on the
nominal time of 24 h required for the
sun to move 360° around the earth or
15° per hour. Therefore, hs is defined as
for a vertical surface

for a horizontal surface

EXAMPLE 7.2
Find the solar altitude and azimuth at 10:00 A.M. central daylight savings time on July 21 at
40 deg N latitude and 85 deg W longitude, reference with CST.

Solar altitude angle β (l, h, δ) Hour Angle h (LST, local solar time)

Solar azimuth angle Φ (l, h, δ, β)

EOT = -6.2 min

The declination δ on July 21 from Table 7-2 is 20.6 deg.

 Summary of Lecture
• Location and day
• Solar Time,
• Solar Angles
Solar Radiation
- Instantaneous solar radiation

- Extraterrestrial

- Terrestrial

- Variation with location and time

 Solar Radiation
The rate of irradiation on the surface normal to the sun’s rays beyond the earth’s
atmosphere and at the mean earth–sun distance.

Solar Constant

Extraterrestrial

Terrestrial
 ASHRAE Clear Sky Model
The value of the solar constant is for a surface outside the earth’s atmosphere
and does not consider the absorption and scattering of the earth’s atmosphere,
which can be significant even for clear days.

The value of the solar irradiation* at the surface of the earth on a

clear day is given by the ASHRAE Clear Sky Model
 Diffuse irradiation on a horizontal
surface is given by

To estimate the rate at which diffuse

radiation strikes a nonvertical
surface on a clear day

On a surface of arbitrary Fws is the configuration factor or angle factor

orientation, the direct radiation, between the wall and the sky
corrected for clearness
Reciprocity relationship
The rate at which diffuse radiation from the sky strikes a given surface of area Aw
is, per unit area of surface

ratio of diffuse sky radiation on a vertical surface to

that incident on a horizontal surface on a clear day

for vertical surfaces, the diffuse sky radiation

is given by:
 Reflected radiation incident on the surface is

For a surface or wall at a tilt angle α to the horizontal

To summarize, the total solar radiation incident on a nonvertical surface would be

found by adding the individual components: direct, sky diffuse, and reflected

Likewise, the total solar radiation incident on a vertical surface

 EXAMPLE
Calculate the clear day direct, diffuse, and total solar radiation
rate on a horizontal surface at 40 deg N latitude and 97 deg W
longitude on June 21 at 12:00 P.M. CST. The clearness number
may be taken to be 1.
 HEAT GAIN THROUGH FENESTRATIONS
• fenestration refers to any glazed aperture in a building envelope.

The components of fenestrations include:

Glazing material, either glass or plastic ; • Framing, mullions, muntins, and dividers
• External shading devices ; • Internal shading devices ;• Integral (between-glass) shading
systems
 Fenestrations are important for energy use in a building,
 Affect rates of heat transfer into and out of the building,
 source of air leakage,
 provide daylighting, which may reduce the need for artificial lighting.

 The solar gain is the sum of the

transmitted radiation and the portion of
the absorbed radiation that flows inward
 heat is also conducted through the glass
whenever there is an outdoor–indoor
temperature difference

Total heat admission through glass =

Radiation transmitted through glass
+ Inward flow of absorbed solar radiation
+ Conduction heat gain

unshaded window
A simplified method utilizes a spectrally-averaged solar
heat gain coefficient (SHGC), the fraction of the
incident irradiance (incident solar energy) that enters the
glazing and becomes heat gain:

SHGC includes the directly transmitted portion, the

inwardly flowing fraction of the absorbed portion, and,
in some forms, the inwardly flowing fraction of that
absorbed by the window frame.
It does not include the portion of the fenestration heat
gain due to a difference in temperature between the
inside and outside air.
 External Shading
 A fenestration may be shaded by roof overhangs, awnings, side
fins or other parts of the building, trees, or another building.
 External shading of fenestrations is effective in reducing solar
heat gain to a space and may produce reductions of up to 80
percent.
 The areas on which external shade falls can be calculated from the
geometry of the external objects creating the shade and from
knowledge of the sun angles for that time and location.
 It is generally assumed that shaded areas have no incident direct
radiation, but that the diffuse irradiation incident on the shaded
area is the same as that on the sunlit area.
 In order to determine the solar radiation incident on the
fenestration, it is necessary to determine the area of the
fenestration that is shaded and the area that is sunlit.

Shading may occur on the sides and top, depending

on the time of day and the direction the window
faces.

Figure 7-10 Shading of window set back

from the plane of a building surface
 EXAMPLE
A 4 ft high × 5 ft wide double-glazed window faces southwest. The window has a frame
with width of 1.5 in. around the outside edge. (The actual glazed area has dimensions of
3.75 ft high × 4.75 ft wide.) The top of the window has a 2 ft overhang that extends a great
distance on each side of the window. Compute the shaded area of glazing on July 21 at
3:00 P.M. solar time at 40 deg N latitude.

The wall azimuth Ψ for a window

facing southwest is 225 deg.

For the shaded area of the glazing sunlit portion of the glazing has an area of
Overall Solar heat gain due to frame, shading and glazing

Asurf is the actual surface area

where Aframe is the projected area of the frame element
Uf is the U-factor of the frame element (see Table 5-6)

hf is the overall exterior surface conductance (see Table 5-2)

solar heat gain coefficient of the glazing may be taken from Table 7-3 for a selection
of sample windows.
 Suggested Problem
• 7-2; 7-4; 7-7; 7-10; 7-13; 7-15; 7-27