REVIEW OF SOLAR RADIATION ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES FOR PREDICTING LONG-TERM THERMAL COLLECTOR PERFORMANCE - APPLICABILITY TO BANGKOK DATA.

Studies of measured solar irradiation data at specific locations can be classified as either primary or secondary. A primary analysis focuses predominantly on obtaining or verifying interactions of the various radiation components over different time scales. A secondary analysis aims at studying irradiation patterns specially suited for long-term solar collector performance predictions. Techniques and methodologies for performing the above, as well as corresponding generalized correlations, have been proposed in the literature reviewed in the first half of this article. Since these correlations for computing the long-term collector performance have been developed from data of relatively few temperate locations, their validity to tropical locations is still unproven. The second part of this article, which addresses itself to reassessing the above with raw irradiation data at Bangkok, reveals some important features of solar radiation in Bangkok.