Question

‘I’ is the intensity of the solar radiation at a distance ‘x’ from the surface of the Sun, and if ‘A’ is the surface area of a solar flat plate collector placed at x, with its surface directly facing the sun, and with ‘I’ and ‘A’ given in SI units, the power falling on the collector is given by _________ Watts

Answer 1

Intensity is defined as power received per unit area.

So here we also know that sun is considered at point source so its power is inversely depends on square of the distance from the sun.

So intensity received by the solar plate is given by

$P = \frac{P_o}{4\pi x^2} * area\: of\: plate$

here intensity I is defined as

$I = \frac{P_o}{4 \pi x^2}$

so the power received on the plate is given as

[tex]P = I*A[tex]

So the power received by plate is given as IA