Abstract
The successful design and effective utilization of solar energy systems and devices for application in various facets of human endeavors, such as power and water supply for industrial, agricultural and domestic uses, largely depend on the availability of information on solar radiation characteristic of the location in which the system and devices should be situated. This study proposed a multivariate model of monthly mean daily diffuse solar radiation on horizontal surfaces for some cities between 5°N and 10°N of Cameroon (Ngaoundere, Garoua-Boulai, Bafoussam, Nkambe). The estimation was based on a correlation between clearance index and diffusion to global solar radiation ratio and was computed using monthly mean daily data set for global solar radiation on horizontal surfaces. The predictive efficiency of the proposed model was compared with the observed values and those believed to be universally applicable. The results suggested that the existing methods could be replaced by the developed model for a diffuse solar radiation data generation scheme.
Highlights
Global solar radiation data on the earth’s surface are required by engineers, farmers, and hydrologists
The estimation was based on a correlation between clearance index and diffusion to global solar radiation ratio and was computed using monthly mean daily data set for global solar radiation on horizontal surfaces
The results of the simulation of (1) are illustrated in (2)(5). These results informed the proposal of an empirical model for estimating the monthly mean daily diffuse solar radiation on a horizontal surface using clearance index for the locations investigated in this study as follows
Summary
Global solar radiation data on the earth’s surface are required by engineers, farmers, and hydrologists. Their effective harnessing and utilization are of significant importance globally, especially at the time of rising fossil fuel costs and the environmental effects of fossil fuel, such as the climate change problems. Long-term mean values of hourly or daily beam and diffuse solar radiations on a horizontal surface are often required in many solar energy applications. The computation of insolation on inclined surface requires the corresponding hourly or daily beam and diffuse solar radiation. Global and diffuse solar radiation data are not measured by meteorological stations in Cameroon [1]. In the absence of these data (measured global and diffuse solar radiation data), one has to rely on the available methods and has to develop new ones
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