Determination of angle of inclination for optimum power production from solar power system. A case study

Abstract

This study evaluates the performance of the photovoltaic modules at different tilt angle (angle of inclination) from 5º to 90º.

The solar panel of 45 Watts capacity was placed on the manual tracker between the hours of 7:00am and 6:15pm on the geographical location of latitude of 40 55’ 58” North and longitude of 60 59’ 55” East in University of Port Harcourt environment between November and December, 2010. The protractor was used to measure the tilt angle which the solar panel made with the horizontal at an interval of 5º daily. A digital Multi-meter was employed to record the open circuit voltage VOC and short circuit current I_SC of the solar panel from which the power output was determined.

The study shows that the maximum power output of 39.74 watts was obtained at the tilt angle of 400 by 11.30a.m., a day that was characterized with high intensity of sunlight, in this geographical location. This result gives 88.31% of the full capacity of the employed solar panel. Considering the Daily Average Power Output, Tilt angle of 150 recorded Optimum Daily Average Power output of 16.83 Watts throughout the period of measurement. This suggests that tilt angle of 150 is considered as suitable angle for Solar panel installation for optimum daily power production in this geographical location.

Keywords: Angle of Inclination, Solar Panel, Multi meter, Protractor, Manual tracker