Solar radiation heat transfer on building

[simplemath2]

I would like your support for the following problem:

My task is to evaluate heat gain from environment to a cooling storage tank in the summertime.

Two questions I have are:

1. Unit area solar radiation. Is there a map or similar to find the max unit area solar radiation at a location? I searched through ASHREA handbook we have and have no luck up to now.
2. Ground temperature. To evaluate heat gain from soil, I used soil temperature same as ambient dry bulb temperature to get the temperature difference(Tsoil-Tproduct). I feel like soil temperature shall be lower than ambient but could not find a concrete reference to justify the exact value.

Any comments or reference recommendations are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[willard3]

It will take more research than a web-board question. If you're in over your head, tell your boss you are.

Some tabularized data is here:

http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html

 

[DrRTU]

The tank should model like a building. I would use a load estimating software such as E-20, Trace or Quest to run the load. The solar gain will be a function of location, sun angle and exterior shading. Gain changes hour by hour and changes with sun location. The software will take care of location, temperature inside vs. outside, ground gain / loss and solar loads. Tailor the runs to show hour by hour and monthly. Most tanks are located close to a building so the shading factors will be very difficult. If the tank is round just is the approximate area based upon the maximum orientations allowed. Pay close attention to color and insulation. Most software packages provide documentation of the solar gain calculations.

 

[IRstuff]

1. There are insolation graphs all over the internet; there's even one in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insolation

2. The soil temperature varies as a function of depth. The surface usually tracks the ambient temperature, although, clear night sky will generally drive the surface temperature well below the ambient. During the day, you should expect the opposite, i.e., a hotter surface than ambient.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[sridhar1312]

Best way to do the heat load for summer time and if the tank is inside under roof. Then it is better to treat underneath roof with Radiant barrier film which reduces the radiation heat down to tank substantially.

If the tank is above ground in open space then also external radiant barrier film will help.