INSTANTANEOUS DISTRIBUTION OF GLOBAL AND DIFFUSE-RADIATION ON HORIZONTAL SURFACES

The aim of this paper is to obtain a general expression for estimating both the instantaneous global and diffuse radiations on horizontal surfaces from the respective daily values. The proposed expression is a modified Gaussian distribution with two parameters which take into account its width and the asymmetries between morning and afternoon hours. The performance of the method has been tested by comparing the theoretical hourly results with the experimental data of six actinometric stations with different geographical location and climatic conditions. The comparison has shown that the method here proposed is accurate for both the diffuse and global radiation.