SOLAR ENERGY

MAIN DATA

Lecturer:  Dionyz Gasparovsky                                       Practices:  Ladislav Antol

Course: 1 Eng. Study             Semester:  Summer         

Lect/Pract:    3/2 hours per week                 

Credits:  6                                Annual Nr. of students:  20 - 25

ABSTRACT

1368 Solar energy

Solar radiation, energy of solar radiation, determination of its availability. Photothermal conversion. Flat-plate and concentrating solar collectors. Solar systems and applications. Solar energy utilisation. Solar energy accumulators and heat exchangers. Solar power plants. Space solar applications. Passive solar systems.

CONTENTS

LECTURES:

1.    Alternative energy sources. Overview, features, ways to use, their

       relation to solar energy.

2.   Solar radiation. Thermonuclear reactions. Core of the Sun. Spectrum of solar radiation.

3.   Determination of solar energy availability.  Models and methods of calculation the solar energy availability. Solar constant. Penetration of solar radiation through the athmosphere.

4.   Solar energy conversion. Photothermal and photovoltaic conversions. Other kinds of conversion.

5.   Solar flat-plate collector. Parts of collector, materials used for construction, technology of production. Measurements of collectors.

6.   Solar energy concentrators. Limity to concentration. How to concentrate. Types of concentrators. Solar concentrating collectors.

7.   Solar energy accumulation. Construction of solar accumulators and heat exchangers.

8.   Solar systems and applications. Schemes of solar systems. Solar DHW and heating. Solar energy utilisation in agriculture. Solar desalinator, drier and refrigerator. 

9.    Solar power plants. Principles and schemes of solar power plants.  Solar towers and farms. Overview of solar power stations worldwide. 

10.  Space solar applications. Power supply for space stations. Space orbital power plant.  

11.   Passive solar systems. Sun and architecture.

12.   Utilisation of daylight. Sun and daylighting.

PRACTICES:

1.    Documentary movies oriented to alternative energy sources. Technical, economic and environmental necesity of expansion of alternatives.

2.   Calculation of solar energy availability: Sun's position on the sky. Penetration of solar rays through athmosphere. Descriptive diagrams. Work with the SUN computeral program.

3.   Calculation of solar energy availability: Intensity of irradiated collector surface. Amount of energy. Work with the SUN computeral program.

4.    Photovoltaic solar energy conversion. Measurements of photovoltaic solar cells.

5.    Photothermal solar energy conversion.  Calculation of solar collectors.

6.    Solar energy concentrators: Calculation of forming curves of concentrators. Work with the FOKON computeral program.

7.    Solar energy concentrators: Design of concentrating collector. Work with the FOKON computeral program.

8.    Solárne systémy: Design of solar system for DHW and for basseins.

9.    Solar systems: Design of solar system for heating.

10.  Solar systems: Practical measurements on solar systems.

11.  Documentary movies oriented to solar energy systems.

GOALS OF SUBJECT

The subject requires knowledges from basic period of study. Aim of the subject is to give students knowledges from solar energy engineering, first of all it is oriented to photothermal conversion of solar energy by solar flat-plate and concentrating collectors and use of photovoltaic solar cells for direct production of electricity. 

LINKS

 American Solar Energy Society 
     http://www.ases.org/solar 

Argonne National Laboratory 
     http://www.anl.gov/ 

European Wind/Solar Energy Information Resources 
     http://keynes.fb12.tu-berlin.de/luftraum/konst/adressen.html 

Frequently Asked Questions on Solar Energy/ Photovoltaics 
     http://www.winternet.com/~mschwarz/solar-faq.html 

ISES Home page 
     http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~solarwww/solarwww.html 

International Association for Solar Energy Education (IASEE) 
     http://www.hrz.uni-oldenburg.de/~kblum/iasee.html 

International Solar Center Berlin 
     http://emsolar.ee.tu-berlin.de/iscb/home.html 

International Solar Energy Society 
     http://www.ises.org/ 

Laboratoire d'Energie Solaire et de Physique du Batiment 
     http://lesowww.epfl.ch/index.html 

North Carolina Solar Center 
      http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu 

Renewable Energy: Solar Thermal 
     http://info.nrel.gov/documents/energy/re-solar.html 

Sandia National Laboratories Photovoltaic Technology 
     http://www.sandia.gov/Renewable_Energy/photovoltaic/pv.html 

Sandia National Laboratories Solar Thermal Technology 
     http://www.sandia.gov/Renewable_Energy/solarthermal/nsttf.html 

Siemens Solar 
     http://www.rain.org/solarpv/index.html 

Solar Energy Network 
     http://www.solarenergy.com/ 

Solar Students Information Network 
     http://www.demon.co.uk/tfc/ssin.html 

Sun At Work in Europe 
     http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/thorntme/sawie.html 

SunWorld Magazine 
     http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/thorntme/sunworld.html 

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems 
     http://www.ise.fhg.de/ 

The University of Wiscosin´s Solar Energy Laboratory 
     http://www.engr.wisc.edu/centers/sel/sel.html