Broadband solar radiometric measurements in the greater Durban area.
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Date
2011
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Abstract
This work comprises a radiometric study of Durban‟s solar resource, utilizing data from the Howard
College campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and the Solar Thermal Applications
Research Laboratory (STARlab) at Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), located 17 km
away.
The study has three aims: first to establish a solar radiometric monitoring network for the greater
Durban area, comprising the UKZN Howard College and Westville stations, and the STARlab
facility at MUT. The UKZN Westville station is under refurbishment and should be operational by
the end of 2011. Data from this station are not included in the study. The instrumentation and
acquisition software in use at Howard College and STARlab are described. The stations record
global horizontal irradiance (GHI), direct normal irradiance (DNI) and diffuse horizontal irradiance
(DHI), measured by an unshaded pyranometer, a normal incidence pyrheliometer and a pyranometer
shaded with a stationary band respectively.
Second, to test a number of existing radiometric models against measured data gathered at the
stations. Radiometric models assist in estimating missing components of radiation at stations that do
not measure all three components separately, for reasons of cost. The models investigated included
Erbs et al. (1982), Orgill and Hollands (1977), Reindl et al. (1990), Boland et al. (2001), and
Skartveit and Olseth (1987) and correction models by Drummond et al. (1956), Le Baron et al.
(1990), Batlles et al. (1995), and Muneer and Zhang (2000) to correct the shadow band effect.
Third, to compare data from the two operational stations and to investigate potential spatial
differences in sun strength arising from micro-climate effects in the greater Durban area. This takes
the form of a statistical analysis of the differences in radiometric data recorded simultaneously at the
UKZN and STARlab stations. The study found that the recorded difference in GHI over one year
was 0.72%, which lies within the instrument measurement accuracy. Therefore no measurable
radiometric differences due to microclimate could be detected and, for the period in which data were
collected, measurements from Howard College could be used to estimate irradiance patterns for
MUT, and vice versa.
Description
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.
Keywords
Solar radiation--KwaZulu-Natal--Durban., Solar radiation--Measurement--Data processing., Theses--Mechanical engineering.