Solar Panel Tilt Angle
Jack Hayes
alternate energy sites has produced a LOT of conflicting information. Even
the installation manual that came with my Shell SQ75's seems to be
confusing. My location is 47 deg. N and I would like to produce maximum
energy in the summer months, in winter all I want to do is keep my batteries
at full charge to avoid freezing them. Right now I am considering a 45 deg.
tilt angle, I hope someone here will provide a clear description of how to
calculate the optimum angle.
Thanks in advance Jack
Solar Guppy
put in your zip code , select png for output graphic and it will make a very
nice sun chart for your location
Using the sun chart I you just created , pick the sun angle that has the
smallest the difference between your mounting and the sun angle for the time
of interest. This will get you the most power for that period.
If you really want maximum power in the Summer , according to the chart I
just looked at for 47 degrees , it would be at about 30 degrees , and in the
winter the panels would be about 35 degrees off from perpendicular ... you
will still get plenty of juice for battery for float charging ....
"Jack Hayes" <at...@cyberbeach.net> wrote in message
news:10badpg...@corp.supernews.com...
Klaus Ossmer
"Jack Hayes" <at...@cyberbeach.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:10badpg...@corp.supernews.com...
For maximum energy over 12 month you need a angle of 29 deg. But what is winter? Please look at my page www.tectosol.staticip.de
(realtime data). There you will find the daily/monthly yield of my solar power system. For a maximum from april to oktober a angle
of 27 deg. will be a good choice. But there are other facts to consider. If you have a flat angle the snow will lay a long time on
your panels and the self-cleaning effect (by rain) is not the best.
My location is 48 deg. N.
Best regards
Klaus
--
____________________________________________________
Sun to the roof (Latin: tecto sol)
http://www.tectosol.staticip.de/ Solarstromerträge im Internet
____________________________________________________
DJ
> http://solardat.uoregon.edu/SunChartProgram.html
>
> put in your zip code , select png for output graphic and it will make a very
> nice sun chart for your location
Or put in your Lat and Long if you aren't living in the United States ;-).
> Using the sun chart I you just created , pick the sun angle that has the
> smallest the difference between your mounting and the sun angle for the time
> of interest. This will get you the most power for that period.
That is so cool.
DJ
Klaus Ossmer
"DJ" <dj_mac...@hotmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
>
> > Using the sun chart I you just created , pick the sun angle that has the
> > smallest the difference between your mounting and the sun angle for the time
> > of interest. This will get you the most power for that period.
>
> That is so cool.
Yes, online is cool. But you can get better results with "sundi" by volker quasschning because the sun is swinging around the
theoretical point.
Download http://www.volker-quaschning.de/software/index_e.html . If one has solar radiation data from near his destination he can
simulate every kind of system mounting. It's inclusive direct and diffuse radiation.
Falcon Eddy
> Or put in your Lat and Long if you aren't living in the United States ;-).
>
Right, Osama.
George Ghio
"Jack Hayes" <at...@cyberbeach.net> wrote:
Middle of summer place a small block of wood on panel frame adjust angle
until there is no shadow above or below block. Mark for refference. Do
the same mid winter and mark. Adjust to marks as needed.
Fred B. McGalliard
"George Ghio" <gh...@netconnect.com.au> wrote in message
news:ghio-8F2C87.0...@news.chariot.net.au...
...
>
> Middle of summer place a small block of wood on panel frame adjust angle
> until there is no shadow above or below block. Mark for refference. Do
> the same mid winter and mark. Adjust to marks as needed.
Consider storage. If you have a large heat storage system, something like
the thermal cistern, the issue changes from the maximum solar power in
winter, when you really need it, to the maximum a month or two before mid
winter. Big difference.
Ecnerwal
George Ghio <gh...@netconnect.com.au> wrote:
> In article <10badpg...@corp.supernews.com>,
> "Jack Hayes" <at...@cyberbeach.net> wrote:
>
> > I know this question has been beat to death, but searching Google and
> > alternate energy sites has produced a LOT of conflicting information. Even
> > the installation manual that came with my Shell SQ75's seems to be
> > confusing. My location is 47 deg. N and I would like to produce maximum
> > energy in the summer months, in winter all I want to do is keep my batteries
> > at full charge to avoid freezing them. Right now I am considering a 45 deg.
> Middle of summer place a small block of wood on panel frame adjust angle
> until there is no shadow above or below block. Mark for refference. Do
> the same mid winter and mark. Adjust to marks as needed.
Mid summer and midwinter provide the extremes of angle. They are irrelevant
for best average production. I'm guessing that Jack does not want to adjust
his panels much, or perhaps any. Depending where they are installed, this
might make a lot of sense (ie, rooftop mount).
The simplest way to figure this out, if you fall into the right area, is to
use PVWatts from NREL. here's the closest I can get to 47 Nlat (pretty close,
but the database is US-centric)
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/codes_algs/PVWATTS/version1/Maine/Caribou.html
Put in different tilt angles and see how that affects the monthly production.
Of course, you'll also get Caribou's model weather effects.
--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by
Fred B. McGalliard
"Ecnerwal" <Lawren...@SOuthernVERmont.NyET> wrote in message
news:LawrenceSMITH-.
...
> Mid summer and midwinter provide the extremes of angle. They are
irrelevant
> for best average production. I'm guessing that Jack does not want to
adjust
> his panels much, or perhaps any.
How about this as an optimum. Install the panels to get the best from mid
summer. Then install a cheap aluminum reflector to catch the winter sun and
give you gain for a winter day.
George Ghio
As the question was about Photovoltaics there is nothing strange about
the answer at all.
As for solar thermal the same angle finding works. Just pick the month
you want.
George
George Ghio
Ecnerwal <Lawren...@SOuthernVERmont.NyET> wrote:
> In article <ghio-8F2C87.0...@news.chariot.net.au>,
> George Ghio <gh...@netconnect.com.au> wrote:
>
> > In article <10badpg...@corp.supernews.com>,
> > "Jack Hayes" <at...@cyberbeach.net> wrote:
> >
> > > I know this question has been beat to death, but searching Google and
> > > alternate energy sites has produced a LOT of conflicting information.
> > > Even
> > > the installation manual that came with my Shell SQ75's seems to be
> > > confusing. My location is 47 deg. N and I would like to produce maximum
> > > energy in the summer months, in winter all I want to do is keep my
> > > batteries
> > > at full charge to avoid freezing them. Right now I am considering a 45
> > > deg.
>
> > Middle of summer place a small block of wood on panel frame adjust angle
> > until there is no shadow above or below block. Mark for refference. Do
> > the same mid winter and mark. Adjust to marks as needed.
>
> Mid summer and midwinter provide the extremes of angle. They are irrelevant
> for best average production. I'm guessing that Jack does not want to adjust
> his panels much, or perhaps any. Depending where they are installed, this
> might make a lot of sense (ie, rooftop mount).
>
> The simplest way to figure this out, if you fall into the right area, is to
> use PVWatts from NREL. here's the closest I can get to 47 Nlat (pretty close,
> but the database is US-centric)
Closest or spot on? which would you prefer?
Fred B. McGalliard
...
> As the question was about Photovoltaics there is nothing strange about
> the answer at all.
Yes. But the storage issue has the same impact. If you had a method of
storing energy that was cheap enough that you could store for a month, you
would rotate your fixed collector angle toward the summer high to collect a
higher proportion of the energy that you would then use at a later time. I
just couldn't imaging any battery bank big enough to do this. There is, at
least conceptually, a way to do this with a heat pump/engine and a hot and
cold water tank, or one could store the energy in some chemical process
rather than a battery, (perhaps some kind of redox fuel cell) so I just
wanted to consider the possibility and it's impact.
Bill Kaszeta / Photovoltaic Resources
>
>"George Ghio" <gh...@netconnect.com.au> wrote in message
>news:ghio-BD4417.0...@news.chariot.net.au...
>...
>> As the question was about Photovoltaics there is nothing strange about
>> the answer at all.
>
>Yes. But the storage issue has the same impact. If you had a method of
>storing energy that was cheap enough that you could store for a month,
Not likely to happen, no one is making any major investment to
develop such technology. About 28 years ago there was an
ERDA (now US Dept. of Energy) project on this, but Reagan put
a stop to it. No news in recent years.
>you
>would rotate your fixed collector angle toward the summer high to collect a
>higher proportion of the energy that you would then use at a later time. I
>just couldn't imaging any battery bank big enough to do this. There is, at
>least conceptually, a way to do this with a heat pump/engine and a hot and
>cold water tank, or one could store the energy in some chemical process
>rather than a battery, (perhaps some kind of redox fuel cell) so I just
>wanted to consider the possibility and it's impact.
>
>
Bill Kaszeta
Photovoltaic Resources Int'l
Tempe Arizona USA
bi...@kaszeta-removethis.org
George Ghio
"Fred B. McGalliard" <frederick.b...@boeing.com> wrote:
Ah yes. The key words; 'If you had a method of storing energy that was
cheap enough'
This is the point right enough. What is cheap enough? I remember a house
that was proposed to run a large storage cell of utectic salts as a heat
battery. Also large boxes of crushed rock for the same idea. Have you
seen them being built en mass yet. Guess they are not yet cheap enough
at this time.
Still, if we do not think about them, will someone else. Nick Pine seems
to spend alot of time on such subjects. But only in theory so far. It
may be that he will crack the problem. But he will need to build it to
prove it. As yet he is all paper. Still, who knows.
It really is a simple problem on the face of it. Just collect the heat,
store it and then use it as needed.
Don't hold your breath. OTOH don't give up either.
George
Fred B. McGalliard
...
> This is the point right enough. What is cheap enough? I remember a house
> that was proposed to run a large storage cell of utectic salts as a heat
> battery. Also large boxes of crushed rock for the same idea.
I thought the thermal cistern (aka solar cistern as I recall) and of course
the ground storage has been used often enough to make it a reasonably well
known issue. I believe the killer is that these systems require some real
engineering cunning to make them maintenance free and worth their cost. If
we had a really inexpensive low temperature difference high efficiency heat
engine and heat pump combination, I think this stuff could really take off.
George Ghio
"Fred B. McGalliard" <frederick.b...@boeing.com> wrote:
Yep. The issue is well known. So is the cost. And we don't have a really
inexpensive low temperature difference high efficiency heat
engine and heat pump combination.
Fred B. McGalliard
...
> Yep. The issue is well known. So is the cost. And we don't have a really
> inexpensive low temperature difference high efficiency heat
> engine and heat pump combination.
The ones I have studied all seem to be very large turbines.