Feng-Jiao Liu1 and Tian-Pau Chang This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.2

1Department of Electrical and Information Technology, Nan Kai University of Technology, Nantou, Taiwan 542, R.O.C.
2Department of Multimedia Animation and Application, Nan Kai University of Technology, Nantou, Taiwan 542, R.O.C.


 

Received: November 22, 2013
Accepted: April 20, 2015
Publication Date: June 1, 2015

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.2015.18.2.09  


ABSTRACT


Sufficient energy supply is an essential factor for a country’s economic development. The utilization of solar energy plays very important role in this issue. Solar energy can be utilized through various marketing devices such as solar collector, photovoltaic cell etc. The amount of solar energy could be maximized if solar collector always faces the Sun throughout the day. In this paper, a famous empirical model suitable for clear sky is applied to calculate the solar radiation for different locations given geographic latitudes. A heuristic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, is adopted to determine the best installation angle of solar collector in Taiwan under clear sky taking into consideration of various time periods. The results show that the particle swarm optimization is a powerful method in optimizing the design of solar collector; the optimal tilt angles are positive for most of the months of year while negative for summer months from May to July. The annual best tilt angles for station Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Hualien and Taitung are 22.4 °, 21.5 °, 20.5 °, 20.2 °, 21.3 ° and 20.5 ° respectively. Furthermore the annual received energy is greater than the one incident upon the ground surface by 6.5%, 6.0%, 5.9%, 5.6%, 6.0% and 5.5% respectively.


Keywords: Solar Energy, Solar Radiation, Solar Collector, Optimal Angle, Particle Swarm Optimization


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