ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the estimation of the monthly average solar energy absorbed by the solar collector. It devises four Microsoft Excel programs. The information provided in the Excel files can be used in many different ways, including an estimate of the solar energy incident on a surface and the solar energy absorbed on a solar collector. The four programs are contained in the folder entitled, Incident-Absorbed Solar Radiation. The programs are: fixed, two axis tracking, one axis azimuth angle tracking and one axis tilt angle tracking. In order to understand the analyses for modeling the tracking, we need to consider several angles involving the collector surface and the location of the sun. The most important angle is the angle between the normal to the collector’s surface and the incoming solar radiation. The chapter concludes with a sample problem.
