Optimum Inclination Angle Research Articles

Conceptual study of photovoltaic power plant connected to the urban electrical network in northern Algeria

ABSTRACT This present research paper aims at showing the active role of the building equipped with photovoltaic (PV) plant in terms of energy, economy, and ecology and its impact on the development of society. Since the installation of PV plants on buildings is a rarely used technology in Algeria, we intend to conceive 30 kWp medium power plants on pilot administrative buildings, which will be generalized to two other buildings of the same type, connected to urban electricity network so as to reduce the consumption of electricity which costs much money to the local authorities, the pilot site is located in the town of EL-ATTAF, in the northwestern of Algeria. It is Mediterranean climate with average radiation of 5.14 kWh/m2/day and average yearly temperature of 19.4°C. The study highlights the technical and financial feasibility of the system based on a simulation with Homer which estimates a load of 41610kWh/year, energy production of 47872 kWh/year, an optimal angle of inclination of 32°, saving of 454 m3/year of natural gas and avoiding huge quantities of pollutants (CO2: 549 kg/year; SO2: 9.6 g/year; NOx: 0.5 kg/year).

IoT-based Energy Monitoring and Controlling of an Optimum Inclination Angle of the Solar Panels

Copious and accessible sun radiation creates an attractive system for converting solar energy into electrical energy. The solar power plants are installed in remote locations and hence needs monitoring and controlling system from remotely. A computerized remote solar plant monitoring system with an enormous range of solar Photovoltaic (PV) exploitation needs well-developed systems with Web-based interfaces. This research work focuses an inter-disciplinary field of renewable solar power plants located in the southern region of India, integrating with recent digital technology of Internet of Things (IoT) which supports to monitor real-time data of solar irradiation (G), temperature (T), clearness index (K t), panel voltage (V pv), current (I pv), peak power (P mp), and tilt angle of solar panel (β°) and also to control the optimum inclination angle (β°opt) of the solar panel for maximizing of PV power using Genetic Algorithm (GA). An integrated solar power plant with IoT is developed with hardware setup and virtually tested for enhancing the tracking behavior of the proposed system. The IoT-based control of solar power plant significantly improves the performance of monitoring and maintenance of the power plant parameters with cost-effectiveness.

Shading on Photovoltaic Collectors on Rooftops

Rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems in urban environments play an important role in solar electric energy generation. Shading on PV collectors, by self-shading, walls and fences on rooftops, affect negatively the output energy of the PV systems. Increasing the distance between the collector rows, and between the walls and fences near to the collectors, may minimize the shading losses. Practically, this option is usually limited, especially on rooftops. Rooftops may be of different types: horizontal, inclined, and saw-tooth, and may have obscuring structures like walls and fences. The distance between the shading objects and the PV collector rows determine the loss of energy due to shading. The study provides the PV system designer with mathematical expressions for distances from obscuring objects for the deployment of PV systems on rooftops. The optimal inclination and azimuths angles of a PV system on a triangular sloped rooftop are also illustrated.

Shading, Dusting and Incorrect Positioning of Photovoltaic Modules as Important Factors in Performance Reduction

The amount of solar radiation reaching the front cover of a photovoltaic module is crucial for its performance. A number of factors must be taken into account at the design stage of the solar installation, which will ensure maximum utilization of the potential arising from the location. During the operation of a photovoltaic installation, it is necessary to limit the shading of the modules caused by both dust and shadowing by trees or other objects. The article presents an analysis of the impact of the radiation reaching the surface of the radiation module on the efficiency obtained. Each of the analyzed aspects is important for obtaining the greatest amount of energy in specific geographical conditions. Modules contaminated by settling dust will be less efficient than those without deposits. The results of experimental studies of this effect are presented, depending on the amount of impurities, including their origins and morphologies. In practice, it is impossible to completely eliminate shadowing caused by trees, uneven terrain, other buildings, chimneys, or satellite dishes, and so on, which limits the energy of solar radiation reaching the modules. An analysis of partial shading for the generated power was also carried out. An important way for maximizing the incoming radiation is the correct positioning of the modules relative to the sun. It is considered optimal to position the modules relative to the light source, that is, the sun, so that the rays fall perpendicular to the surfaces of the modules. Any deviation in the direction of the rays results in a loss in the form of a decrease in the available power of the module. The most beneficial option would be to use sun-tracking systems, but they represent an additional investment cost, and their installations require additional space and maintenance. Therefore, the principle was adopted that stationary systems should be oriented to the south, using the optimal angle of inclination of the module surface appropriate for the location. This article presents the dependence of the decrease in obtained power on the angle of deviation from the optimal one.

Modernization of Water Treatment System at Agricultural Enterprises Due to Introduction of Solar Energy

Energy saving today is an integral part of the development strategy of agricultural organizations. Considerable attention is paid to the modernization and automation of technological processes in agricultural enterprises, which can improve the quality of work and reduce the cost of production. The direction of modernization is to reduce the consumption of electric energy by improving the water treatment system in livestock complexes. (Research purpose) The research purpose is to determine the potential of solar energy used in the Nizhny Novgorod region and to determine the possibility of its use for water heating in livestock complexes and to consider the cost-effectiveness of using a device to heat water through solar energy. (Materials and methods) Authors used an improved algorithm of Pixer and Laszlo, applied in the NASA project «Surface meteorology and Energy», which allows to calculate the optimal angle of inclination of the device for heating water. (Results and discussion) Designed a mock-up of a livestock complex with a solar water heater installed on the roof, protected by patent for invention No. 2672656. A mathematical model was designed experimentally to predict the results of the plant operation in non-described modes. (Conclusions) The article reveales the optimal capacity of the circulation pump. Authors have created a mathematical model of the device that allows to predict the water heating in a certain period of time. The article presents the calculations on the energy and economic efficiency of using a solar water heater. An electric energy saving of about 30 percent, in the economic equivalent of 35 percent.

A CFD based approach for determining the optimum inclination angle of a roof-top solar chimney for building ventilation

A CFD based procedure is described to identify the optimum inclination angle of a small-scale roof-top solar chimney for maximum ventilation performance. The absorber wall of the chimney under consideration is 500-mm long and the air gap width is 40 mm. Firstly, CFD simulations are performed on a two-dimensional solar chimney model with inclination angles varying from 30° to 90° relative to the horizontal plane under different heat fluxes. Subsequently, a mathematical procedure using the CFD data to estimate the ventilation performance of the solar chimney at different inclination angles under real climate conditions is described. The procedure accounts for the effect of the inclination angle on receivable solar irradiance and is applied to three Australian cities, corresponding to three different latitudes. It is found that the optimum inclination angle varies from 45° to 60°, depending on the latitude and season of operation.

RETRACTED: Estimation of the optimum tilt angle of solar collectors in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz

Abstract The design and development of solar energy systems requires knowledge of the variation and maximum utilization of incident solar radiation on a surface. The amount of solar radiation incident on a surface is affected by its orientation and its tilt angle. Generally, fixed surfaces are oriented towards the equator. Therefore, for a fixed solar energy system, the tilt angle is one of the important parameters to capture the maximum solar radiation incident on a surface, which is essential to maximize the energy production of the system throughout the year. In addition, the optimum tilt angle must be determined specifically for each location and may have daily, fortnightly, monthly, seasonal, bi-annual and annual variations. In this research study, a review of the different ways of calculating the optimum tilt angle is made, paying special emphasis in the tropical region. The daily optimum tilt angle for solar energy systems is determined from the first derivative of the cosine of the tilt angle with respect to the angle of inclination, a simple formula is obtained to know the optimum angle of daily inclination. Then, the values of the annual solar radiation on the surface are calculated from the results and scenarios are proposed with the objective of obtaining a maximum incidence of energy throughout the year with the minimum adjustments. The results indicate that using the daily inclination has the highest incidence of energy. However, it is recommended to make monthly adjustments since the loss of energy gain for one year is 0.15% comparing against the scenario of daily adjustments.

Theoretical analysis of filmwise condensation in inclined tubes with nondivergent and irrotational flow components

The present theoretical study investigates laminar film condensation of a saturated vapor in inclined circular tubes. Nusselt thin film assumptions are implemented to derive the governing differential equations for mass, momentum, and energy. The impact of both rotation and divergence of the nonconservative Nusselt velocity vector field on film growth and mass conservation are investigated and a new film thickness equation was introduced. A transformation for effective peripheral angle during stratification is derived based on the assumed linear liquid-vapor interface of Chato at the lower region of the tube. The optimal inclination angle for heat transfer is 28.2° from the horizontal for a tube of infinite length. For a finite tube the inclination angle decreases with length from 90° to 28.2° but for tubes of length L* > 2, optimal inclination angle is in the range of 28.2° and 46.6°. An expression for entrance length, Le* was introduced as a function of inclination angle. The results for heat transfer ratio have been compared with experimental data and an empirical correlation from literature and a good agreement is obtained and shown between them.

Numerical evaluation of inclined heat pipes on suppressing spontaneous coal combustion

Suppressing spontaneous coal combustion with heat pipe (HP) is an effect fire fighting method in practice. To improve the heat transfer capacity of HPs in coal piles as much as possible, this work explores the optimal inclination angle of HPs to remove heat in the coal stockpiles. Based on the theory of fluid mechanics and heat transfer, a physical-mathematical model of coal-HP-air was established, and the spontaneous combustion process of coal piles and the effect of HPs at four inclination angles (θ) of 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° on the spontaneous combustion of coal piles were studied. The results show that the presence of HPs can change the heat conduction path in a coal pile and help the coal pile to dissipate heat in time, and this process makes the temperature contours on both the windward side and the leeward side deform and exhibits a ‘saddle’-like cooling mode at the periphery of the HPs. As θ of the HPs increases, the area (ΔS) by which the spontaneous combustion danger zone (SCDZ) is decreased first increases and then decreases, and the maximum temperature (Tmax) drop values (ΔT) first increases and then decreases. Moreover, the thermal performance of the HPs at inclination angle of 60° is found to be higher than other tested inclination angles. When θ = 60°, the heat is largely removed, and the integrity of the SCDZ is destroyed, so that ΔS is 11.106 m2, ΔT is 13.1 °C, and the natural ignition period is extended by approximately 25 days. Consequently, this study provides a reference for the design and optimization of coal fire fighting engineering with HP application in the future.

Determining the Optimal Inclination and Orientation Angles of Solar Panels Installed on Ship

Retrofitting photovoltaic (PV) systems to ships can help reduce their emissions and cost of operation. One of the most determining aspects in PV systems efficiency is the combination of the inclination and orientation angles of the panels, because it will affect the global solar radiation received by the panels. This study aims to determine the monthly optimal combination of those angles. The ship location and direction during the cruise, time, and local weather conditions were the factors considered for the analysis. Six shipping lines in the territory of Japan were considered as case studies and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analyses were employed to calculate the general solar radiation received by the panels based on the input factors. Comparisons between the outputs of the panels arranged to the optimal angles and those at flat position are presented in one-year calculation. The results show that for the long route ships, low or constantly zero inclination angles are favorable, while monthly adjusted angles can draw higher solar energy for short route ships.

The effect of the surface geometry of a photovoltaic battery on its efficiency

Discusses the influence of the shape of the geometric surface of a photovoltaic battery (PVB) on its effectiveness. The features of photovoltaic systems based on silicon modules with different geometric shapes are considered. Expressions are given for determining the seasonal electric power generation of the PVB considering its surface geometry located in the parking lot, as well as calculations, are made to determine the optimal angle of inclination of the PVB to the horizontal surface under the conditions of the city of Tashkent.

Current Distribution and Input Impedance of a VLF Tubular Antenna in a Cold Plasma

As the U.S. and Europe launched the very low frequency (VLF: 3-30 kHz) space-borne transmitting and propagation experiments during the past thirty years, space-borne antennas have been playing a more and more important role in contemporary VLF communication systems, which are very likely to become an indispensable approach for overwater/underwater communication and navigation in the future. In this paper, we propose a semianalytical method for evaluating the current distribution and input impedance of a VLF space-borne tubular antenna. By considering the effects of both the ordinary wave (O-wave) and the extraordinary wave (E-wave) in an anisotropic ionosphere, the analytical expression for the current distribution has a more complicated form and is derived via the method of moments (MoM) and the Gauss-Legendre quadrature (GLQ) algorithm. Computations show that the current distribution and input impedance under anisotropic conditions are very sensitive to parameter changes, but the overall trend for the input impedance will increase with the radius or electrical length of the antenna. Comparisons with linear models and numerical results obtained in FEKO verify the accuracy of this method. From simulations about the effect of the geomagnetic inclination angle to the input impedance, we advise that the parallel case can be preferred as an alternative for the best angle. Once all antenna parameters are determined, there is a possibility to find multiple optimal inclination angles. In addition, qualitative analyses of the impact of environmental changes to the antenna characteristics are also discussed.

Innovative Deflector Soil-Cultivating Paw

When planting, most planters coulters enter the ground from the top. They meet hard clods of soil, jump, changing the depth of planting seeds. Some seeds are thrown to the surface. As a result, the sowing germination, as well as yield, decreases. ( Research purpose ) To develop an innovative soil-cultivating pointed paw, eliminating the rejection of soil and the formation of unevenness of the surface, as well as increasing the productivity of the cultivator. ( Materials and methods ) The authors determined the setting parameters of the developed deflector pointed paw with the involvement of mathematical device and taking into account the requirements for the working bodies of soil-cultivating units. ( Results and discussion ) The authors developed an innovative deflector pointed paw. A triangular deflector was placed over the ploughshare. They determined the optimal angle of deflector inclination in the horizontal plane-15-25 degrees, and the height of the installation of the pointed paw over the blade- in 1.5 times above the depth of soil cultivation. It was found that the rear part of the deflector, which has a serrated shape and curved down, allows to grind the soil, forming a small-lumpy structure. It was shown that the soil, moving along the deflector, in collision with the curved part returns to the surface, closing and leveling the formed furrow. The triangular shape of the rack between the ploughshare and the deflector significantly reduces the clogging of coulters with plant residues. ( Conclusions ) The authors proved that the leveled soil surface with a finely lumpy structure of the top layer can be obtained using a deflector pointed paw, which eliminates the use of rollers. This reduces the material consumption of the cultivator, fuel consumption, and productivity increases by 50 percent as a result of increasing the speed of soil cultivation to 18 kilometers per hour.

Optimization of Wave Inclination Angle in Parallel Wavy-Channel Heat Exchangers

Effects of the wave inclination angle on the performance of a parallel wavy-channel heat exchanger are investigated three-dimensionally. Computations have been carried out in various Reynolds numbers in the laminar range from 100 to 600 by means of the finite volume approach. On the other hand, several wave inclination angles such as α = 0°, 20°, 40°, 60°, and 80° with respect to the spanwise direction have been examined to find the optimum value. The applied numerical method has been validated against the available data of the conventional parallel flat-channel heat exchanger. Several quantitative and qualitative results are presented in this investigation. It is demonstrated that deflection of waves of plates from zero to nonzero values onsets the three-dimensional flow in the heat exchanger. In addition, maximum heat transfer enhancement of 108% is achieved for Re = 600 at the wave inclination angle of 20°. Moreover, except at Re = 100, the wave inclination angle of 40° can be introduced as an optimum inclination angle for a wavy-channel heat exchanger from the perspective of thermal–hydraulic performance. At the end of this study, values of pressure drop penalty and thermal–hydraulic performance of all cases under consideration have been determined accordingly.

Parametric study on the tool inclination angle for side milling thin-walled workpiece edges based on finite element simulation

Side milling thin-walled workpiece edges is an indispensible procedure in the continuous process chains for the high-efficiency machining of thin-walled functional parts, for example, the small- and medium-sized compressor blades. In these operation cases, the workpiece vibration is easy to occur due to the poor stiffness of the thin-walled structures, causing defects to the machined surface finish and even the dimensional accuracy of the thin-walled workpiece edges. To this problem, this study proposes the tool inclination method based on the adaption of the cutting force component in the lowest stiffness direction of the thin-walled workpiece, and it aims, first, to guarantee the machined surface finish which is mostly dominated by the workpiece vibrations mainly induced by the relatively high cutting forces and, second, to guarantee the high machining efficiency. The parametric study on the tool inclination angle for side milling the thin-walled workpiece edges was conducted by using the finite element simulations. First, the finite element models were elaborated and validated by the experimental results in terms of the cutting forces. Then, based on a series of finite element simulations, the effects of the tool inclination angle on the cutting forces adaption and its corresponding mechanism, that is, the chip formation variation, were investigated. Simulation results under the given conditions showed that the optimal tool inclination angle for the minimum absolute value of Fn was 26°. At last, the prediction feasibility for the best machined surface finish when side milling the low-stiffness thin-walled workpiece edges at the optimal tool inclination angle was well validated by the experimental results. The proposed tool inclination method with the solid end mill based on the finite element model to improve the machined surface finish is meaningful and feasible for the high-efficiency manufacturing processes of thin-walled workpieces.

Theory and experiments based on tracked moving flexible DOE loops for speckle suppression in compact laser projection

This paper describes a speckle suppression method using flexible diffractive optical elements (DOEs) based on binary random sequences with tracked motion. The DOE loops consist of 1D random-sequence diffractive structures with similar but different inclination angles. A mathematical approach for determining the optimal inclination angles and DOE speed for speckle suppression is developed, and a model for calculating the speckle suppression efficiency is constructed. Theoretical and experimental results show that the proposed method decreases the speckle contrast to below the sensitivity of the human eye, making it suitable for compact laser projections. The experimental results also indicate that current DOE production technology should be improved to avoid limiting the image quality.

CFD studies on the separation performance of a new combined gas–solid separator used in TMSR-SF

In order to comply with discharge standards, a gas–solid separator is used to remove solid particles from the thorium molten salt reactor-solid fuel (TMSR-SF) system. As a key component, it directly determines system energy efficiency. However, current gas–solid separators, based on activated carbon adsorption technology, result in high pressure drops and increased maintenance costs. In the present study, a new combined gas–solid separator was developed for the TMSR-SF. Based on a simplified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, the gas–solid two-phase flow and the motion trajectory of solid particles were simulated for this new separator using commercial ANSYS 16.0 software. The flow and separation mechanism for this structure were also been discussed in terms of their velocity effects and pressure field distributions, and then the structure was optimized based on the influence of key structural parameters on pressure and separation efficiency. The results showed that the standard k–e model could be achieved and accurately simulated the new combined separator. In this new combined gas–solid separator, coarse particles are separated in the first stage using rotating centrifugal motion, and then fine particles are filtered in the second stage, giving a separation efficiency of up to 96.11%. The optimum blade inclination angle and numbers were calculated to be 45° and four, respectively. It implicated that the combined separator could be of great significance in a wide variety of applications.

Effects of an Inclined Blade on the Performance of a Sirocco Fan

The impeller is the primary working component of centrifugal fans, whose internal flow directly determines the performance of the whole system. This work presents a numerical investigation by using ANSYS-Fluent on the internal flow of a Sirocco fan to investigate the effects of the inclination angle of the blades on the fan performance. The orientation of the blade for the baseline model is strictly along the axial direction, while three inclination angles, i.e., 3.5°, 7.0°, and 10.5°, are chosen for the inclined blades of the modified impeller to improve the aerodynamic performance of the fan. The effects of the inclined blade are demonstrated by the variations in static pressure, efficiency, and pressure and velocity distributions at various inclination angles. The computed results reveal that there is an optimum inclination angle, which produces the best aerodynamic performance.

Selection of optimum inclination angle of a nozzle at circulatory heating of fuel oil in the RVS-3000 tank

The paper presents the mathematical model and the numerical studies results of heat transfer and hydrodynamics at circulatory heating of the M100 fuel oil in the RVS-3000 tank. Calculations for various inclination angles of the nozzle in the range of 40° to -40° in increments of 10° were made. The winter storage period of fuel oil in the fuel tank is considered. Comparison of the tank heating time up to the hot storage temperature (60°C) and up to the fuel temperature before feeding to the nozzles for combustion (90°C) is performed.

Influence of inclined wall self-shading strategy on office building heat gain and energy performance in hot humid climate of Malaysia

External shading geometry on buildings has been found to contribute substantially to reducing energy consumption for cooling. This study examines the effect of inclined wall self-shading strategy on heat gain in an office building. Field measurement of environmental variables such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, dew point, and wet bulb temperature was carried out in a case study inclined wall self-shading office building located in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The results of the validation of ApacheSim simulation software tool against the measured environmental variables indicated significant reliability having Pearson correlations ranging from 0.56 to 0.90. In establishing the relationship between different inclined wall strategies to the amount of heat gain, modification of the inclined wall self-shading projection (SSP) was modelled and experimented using ApacheSim simulation. Findings from the analysis revealed a relationship between heat gains into a building space and self-shading projection (SSP), as heat gains tend to reduce with increased SSP. From the findings, the optimum inclination angle of self-shading for effective heat gain reduction is based on a 45% self-shading projection. The application of inclined wall self-shading strategy in buildings would, therefore, bring about a reduction in heat gain, which invariably reduces energy consumption for cooling.