Building integration photovoltaic module with reference to Ghana: using triple junction amorphous silicon

This paper assesses the potential for using building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roof shingles made from triple-junction amorphous silicon (3a-Si) for electrification and as a roofing material in tropical countries, such as Accra, Ghana. A model roof was constructed using triple-junction amorphous (3a-Si) PV on one section and conventional roofing tiles on the other. The performance of the PV module and tiles were measured, over a range of ambient temperatures and solar irradiance. PVSyst (a computer design software) was used to determine the most appropriate angle of tilt. It was observed that 3a-Si performs well in conditions such as Accra, because it is insensitive to high temperatures. Building integration gives security benefits, and reduces construction costs and embodied energy, compared to freestanding PV systems. Again, it serves as a means of protection from salt spray from the oceans and works well even when shaded. However, compared to conventional roofing materials, 3a-Si would increase the indoor temperature by 1-2 °C depending on the surface area of the roof covered with the PV modules. The results presented in this research enhance the understanding of varying factors involved in the selection of an appropriate method of PV installation to offset the short falls of the conventional roofing material in Ghana.

Active cooling of low-concentrating hybrid PV/Thermal collectors

A series of measurements on the performance of solar cell string modules with low-concentrating CPC reflectors with a concentration factor C ˜ 4X have been carried out. To minimise the reduction in efficiency due to high cell temperatures, the modules were cooled. Four different way of cooling were tested:1) The thermal mass of the module was increased, 2) passive air cooling was used by introducing a small air gap between the module and the reflector, 3) the PV cells were cooled by a large cooling fin, 4) the module was actively cooled by circulating cold water on the back. The best performance was given with the actively cooled PV module which gave 2,2 times the output from a reference module while for the output from the module with a cooling fin the value was 1,8.Active cooling is also interesting due to the possibility of co-generation of thermal and electrical energy which is discussed in the paper. Simulations, based on climate data from Stockholm, latitude 59.4°N, show that there are good prospects for producing useful temperatures of the cooling fluid with only a slightly reduced performance of the electrical fraction of the PV thermal hybrid system.

Experimental performance of a string module in a CPC reflector cavity

The purpose of the work is to develop a cost effective semistationary CPC concentrator for a string PV-module. A novel method of using annual irradiation distribution diagram projected in a north-south vertical plane is developed. This method allows us easily to determine the optimum acceptance angle of the concentrator and the required number of annual tilts. Concentration ranges of 2-5x are investigated with corresponding acceptance angles between 5 and 15°. The concentrator should be tilted 2-6 times per year. Experiments has been performed on a string module of 10 cells connected in a series and equipped with a compound parabolic concentrator with C = 3.3X. Measurement show that the output will increase with a factor of 2-2.5 for the concentrator module, compared to a reference module without concentrator. If very cheap aluminium reflectors are used the costs for the PV-module can be decreased nearly by a factor of two.

Practical issues for testing thin film PV modules at standard test conditions.

Thin film photovoltaic (TF) modules have gained importance in the photovoltaic (PV) market. New PV plants increasingly use TF technologies. In order to have a reliable sample of a PV module population, a huge number of modules must be measured. There is a big variety of materials used in TF technology. Some of these modules are made of amorphous or microcrystalline silicon. Other are made of CIS or CdTe. Not all these materials respond the same under standard test conditions (STC) of power measurement. Power rates of the modules may vary depending on both the extent and the history of sunlight exposure. Thus, it is necessary a testing method adapted to each TF technology. This test must guarantee repeatability of measurements of generated power. This paper shows responses of different commercial TF PV modules to sunlight exposure. Several test procedures were performed in order to find the best methodology to obtain measurements of TF PV modules at STC in the easiest way. A methodology for indoor measurements adapted to these technologies is described.

Optical characterisation of semi-transparent PV modules for building integration

A complete characterisation of PV modules for building integration is needed in order to know their influence on the building’s global energy balance. Specifically, certain characteristic parameters should be obtained for each different PV module suitable for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), some by direct or indirect measurements at the laboratory, and others by monitoring the element performance mounted in real operating conditions. In the case of transparent building envelopes it is particularly important to perform an optical and thermal characterization of the PV modules that would be integrated in them. This paper addresses the optical characterization of some commercial thin-film PV modules having different degrees of transparency, suitable for building integration in façades. The approach is based on the measurement of the spectral UV/Vis/NIR reflectance and transmittance of the different considered samples, both at normal incidence and as a function of the angle of incidence. With the obtained results, the total and zoned UV, visible and NIR transmission and reflection values are calculated, enabling the correct characterization of the PV modules integrated in façades and the subsequent evaluation of their impact over the electrical, thermal and lighting performance in a building.

Evaluation of the PV cell operation temperature in the process of fast switching to open-circuit mode

A procedure for measuring the overheating temperature (ΔT ) of a p-n junction area in the structure of photovoltaic (PV) cells converting laser or solar radiations relative to the ambient temperature has been proposed for the conditions of connecting to an electric load. The basis of the procedure is the measurement of the open-circuit voltage (VO C ) during the initial time period after the fast disconnection of the external resistive load. The simultaneous temperature control on an external heated part of a PV module gives the means for determining the value of VO C at ambient temperature. Comparing it with that measured after switching OFF the load makes the calculation of ΔT possible. Calibration data on the VO C = f(T ) dependences for single-junction AlGaAs/GaAs and triple-junction InGaP/GaAs/Ge PV cells are presented. The temperature dynamics in the PV cells has been determined under flash illumination and during fast commutation of the load. Temperature measurements were taken in two cases: converting continuous laser power by single-junction cells and converting solar power by triple-junction cells operating in the concentrator modules.

PhotoVoltaic DC-DC module integrated converter for novel cascaded and bypass grid connection topologies - design and optimisation

Grid connected PhotoVoltaic (PV) inverters fall into three broad categories — Central, String and Module Integrated Converers (MICs). MICs offer any avantaes in performance and flexibility, but are at a cost disadvantage. Two alternative novel approaches proposed by the author — cascaded dc-dc MICs and bypass dc-dc MICs — integrate a simple non-isolated intelligent dc-dc converter with each PV module to provide the advantages of dc-ac MICs at a lower cost. A suitable universal 150W 5A dc-dc converter design is presented based on two interleaved MOSFET half bridges. Testing shows Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) keeps losses under 1W for bi-directional power flows up to 15W between two adjacent 12V PV modules for the bypass application, and efficiencies over 94% for most of the operational power range for the cascaded converter application. Based on the experimental results, potential optimizations to further reduce losses are discussed.

Efficiency improvement of non-uniformly-aged PV arrays

The utilization of solar energy by photovoltaic (PV) systems have received much research and development (R&D) attention across the globe. In the past decades, a large number of PV array have been installed. Since the installed PV arrays often operate in harsh environments, non-uniform aging can occur and impact adversely on the performance of PV systems, especially in the middle and late periods of their service life. Due to the high cost of replacing aged PV modules by new modules, it is appealing to improve energy efficiency of aged PV systems. For this purpose, this paper presents a PV module reconfiguration strategy to achieve the maximum power generation from non-uniformly aged PV arrays without significant investment. The proposed reconfiguration strategy is based on the cell-unit structure of PV modules, the operating voltage limit of gird-connected converter, and the resulted bucket-effect of the maximum short circuit current. The objectives are to analyze all the potential reorganization options of the PV modules, find the maximum power point and express it in a proposition. This proposition is further developed into a novel implementable algorithm to calculate the maximum power generation and the corresponding reconfiguration of the PV modules. The immediate benefits from this reconfiguration are the increased total power output and maximum power point voltage information for global maximum power point tracking (MPPT). A PV array simulation model is used to illustrate the proposed method under three different cases. Furthermore, an experimental rig is built to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method will open an effective approach for condition-based maintenance of emerging aging PV arrays.

Online two-section PV array fault diagnosis with optimized voltage sensor locations

Photovoltaic (PV) stations have been widely built in the world to utilize solar energy directly. In order to reduce the capital and operational costs, early fault diagnosis is playing an increasingly important role by enabling the long effective operation of PV arrays. This paper analyzes the terminal characteristics of faulty PV strings and arrays, and it develops a PV array fault diagnosis technique. The terminal current-voltage curve of a faulty PV array is divided into two sections, i.e., high-voltage and low-voltage fault diagnosis sections. The corresponding working points of healthy string modules and of healthy and faulty modules in an unhealthy string are then analyzed for each section. By probing into different working points, a faulty PV module can be located. The fault information is of critical importance for the maximum power point tracking and the array dynamical reconfiguration. Furthermore, the string current sensors can be eliminated, and the number of voltage sensors can be reduced by optimizing voltage sensor locations. Typical fault scenarios including monostring, multistring, and a partial shadow for a 1.6-kW 3 $times$ 3 PV array are presented and experimentally tested to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed fault diagnosis method.

Thermography-based virtual MPPT scheme for improving PV energy efficiency under partial shading conditions

This paper proposes a new thermography-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) scheme to address photovoltaic (PV) partial shading faults. Solar power generation utilizes a large number of PV cells connected in series and in parallel in an array, and that are physically distributed across a large field. When a PV module is faulted or partial shading occurs, the PV system sees a nonuniform distribution of generated electrical power and thermal profile, and the generation of multiple maximum power points (MPPs). If left untreated, this reduces the overall power generation and severe faults may propagate, resulting in damage to the system. In this paper, a thermal camera is employed for fault detection and a new MPPT scheme is developed to alter the operating point to match an optimized MPP. Extensive data mining is conducted on the images from the thermal camera in order to locate global MPPs. Based on this, a virtual MPPT is set out to find the global MPP. This can reduce MPPT time and be used to calculate the MPP reference voltage. Finally, the proposed methodology is experimentally implemented and validated by tests on a 600-W PV array.

Exergy analysis of a solar photovoltaic module

PV energy is the direct conversion of solar radiation into electricity. In this paper, an analysis of the influence of parameters such as global irradiance or temperature in the performance of a PV installation has been carried out. A PV module was installed in a building at the University of Málaga, and these parameters were experimentally determined for different days and different conditions of irradiance and temperature. Moreover, IV curves were obtained under these conditions to know the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current of the module. With this information, and using the first law of thermodynamics, an energy analysis was performed to determine the energy efficiency of the installation. Similarly, using the second law of thermodynamics, an exergy analysis is used to obtain the exergy efficiency. The results show that the energy efficiency varies between 10% and 12% and the exergy efficiency between 14% and 17%. It was concluded that the exergy analysis is more suitable for studying the performance, and that only electric exergy must be considered as useful exergy. This exergy efficiency can be improved if heat is removed from the PV module surface, and an optimal temperature is reached.

Analyzing the Effect of Soiling on the Performance of a Photovoltaic System of Different Module Technologies in Kalkbult, South Africa

The fact that most of the large scale solar PV plants are built in arid and semi-arid areas where land availability and solar radiation is high, it is expected the performance of the PV plants in such locations will be affected significantly due to high cell temperature as well as due to soiling. Therefore, it is essential to study how the different PV module technologies will perform in such geographical locations to ensure a consistent and reliable power delivery over the lifetime of the PV power plants. As soiling is strongly dependent on the climatic conditions of a particular location a test station, consisted of about 24 PV modules and a well-equipped weather station, was built within the fences of Scatec’s 75 MW Kalkbult solar PV plant in South Africa. This study was performed to a better understand the effect of soiling by comparing the relative power generation by the cleaned modules to the un-cleaned modules. Such knowledge can enable more quantitative evaluations of the cleaning strategies that are going to be implemented in bigger solar PV power plants. The data collected and recorded from the test station has been analyzed at IFE, Norway using a MatLab script written for this thesis project. This thesis work has been done at IFE, Norway in collaboration with Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Scatec Solar a Norwegian independent power producer company. Generally for the polycrystalline modules it is found that the average temperature corrected efficiency during the period of the experiment has been 15.00±0.08 % and for the thin film-CdTe with ARC is 11.52% and for the thin film without ARC is about 11.13% with standard uncertainty of ±0.01 %. Besides, by comparing the initial relative average efficiency of the polycrystalline-Si modules when all the modules have been cleaned for the first time and the final relative efficiency; after the last cleaning schedule which is when all the reference modules E, F, G, and H have been cleaned for the last time it is found that poly3 performs 2 % and 3 % better than poly1 and poly16 respectively, poly13 performs 1 % better than poly15 as well as poly5 and poly12 performs 1 % and 2 % better than poly10 respectively. Besides, poly5 and poly12 performs a 9 % and 11 % better than poly7. Furthermore, there is no change in performance between poly6 and poly9 as well as poly4 and poly15. However, the increase in performance of poly3 to poly1, poly13 to poly15 as well as poly5 and poly12 to poly10 is insignificant. In addition, it is found that TF22 perform 7% better than the reference un-cleaned module TF24 and similarly; TF21 performs 7% higher than TF23. Furthermore, modules with ARC glass (TF17, TF18, TF19, and TF20) shows that cleaning the modules with only distilled water (TF19) or dry-cleaned after cleaned with distilled water(TF20) decreases the performance of the modules by 5 % and 4 % comparing to its respective reference uncleanedmodules TF17 and TF18 respectively.

Sistemas fotovoltaicos integrados ao perfil de uso da edificação

Nos últimos anos, o consumo de energia vem crescendo mundialmente nos grandes centros urbanos, e esforços na área de eficiência energética estão sendo implantados, a fim de reduzir o consumo no horário da ponta e interrupções da rede. O aproveitamento das fontes renováveis, como o fotovoltaico em uma edificação se torna um atrativo a mais para a matriz energética num momento em que o país prima pela universalização dos serviços de energia e a classificação de edifícios comerciais, de serviço e públicos, além dos residenciais quanto à eficiência energética através do Procel Edifica (RTQ-C e RTQ-R). Os sistemas fotovoltaicos podem configurar perfis de uso nas edificações de modo a gerar energia para consumo próprio ou ligado à rede e ainda ter influência na arquitetura do prédio com revestimento: os perfis podem está em telhados, fachadas ou janelas, amenizando em alguns casos a carga térmica no prédio com sombreamento arquitetônico. Hoje, com o avanço da tecnologia no setor de armazenagem é possível, o atendimento com segurança e eficiência a uma edificação ou direcionar esta armazenagem a uma demanda específica como o atendimento à demanda de ciclo profundo, tais como, iluminação externa e recarga de veículos elétricos. Partindo da premissa de sistemas interruptos de energia, UPS, uso de fonte secundária como FV, baterias e Flywheel é apresentado uma forma de melhor gerenciar a energia armazenada, podendo estender a vida útil da bateria e conseqüentemente de todo o sistema fotovoltaico na edificação. Esta forma de armazenar energia proporciona um serviço de uso contínuo sem percepção das interrupções da rede com garantia de 20 anos, tal qual o módulo fotovoltaico, com esta proposta as perdas de energia elétrica na edificação serão atenuadas, pois a eletricidade será utilizada de forma eficiente e inteligente. O ponto de partida do estudo de caso no prédio do IBAM são os sistemas fotovoltaicos com geração distribuída (mini-redes) conectados à rede que são instalados para fornecer energia ao consumidor, complementando a quantidade de energia demandada, caso haja algum aumento do consumo de energia na edificação, ou ainda utilizar o sistema fotovoltaico na hora da ponta e interrupções do sistema da rede no período fora da ponta. A estocagem inercial por meio do Flywheel tem um papel fundamental nesta mini-rede (Flywheel, bateria VRLA, UPS, inversor e STS), pois a sua utilização pode ser apontada como uma inovação tecnológica quanto à regulação de tensão no sistema de energia elétrica, além de preparar a edificação para o smart-grid. Esta configuração de acumulação de energia permitiu a analise do deslocamento desta energia armazenada para o consumo no horário de ponta, mudando o conceito de sistemas fotovoltaicos autônomos no meio urbano e rural no país. Este conceito de armazenagem se confirma então como um aporte na eficiência de energia na edificação, podendo carrear economia de energia substancial, além de proporcionar uma confiabilidade no serviço de energia, com um baixo retorno do investimento e com uma garantia de funcionamento com pequena ou nenhuma manutenção durante o período de vida de 20 anos.

Estudo Comparativo de Controladores Fuzzy Aplicados a um Sistema Solar Fotovoltaico.

Neste trabalho apresenta-se o modelo de um controlador baseado em Lógica Fuzzy para um sistema de energia baseado em fonte renovável solar fotovoltaica (photovoltaic - PV) multi-string em operação isolada, para o aproveitamento da máxima potência desta fonte. O sistema é composto por painéis solares, conversor CC-CC tipo elevador de tensão (boost), armazenamento por banco de baterias, inversor trifásico e carga trifásica variável. O sistema fotovoltaico foi modelado no MATLAB/Simulink de forma a representar a curva característica V-I do módulo PV, e que é baseado nos dados disponíveis em data-sheets de painéis fotovoltaicos comerciais. Outros estudos de natureza elétrica tais como o cálculo dos valores eficazes das correntes no conversor CC-CC, para avaliação das perdas, indispensáveis para o dimensionamento de componentes eletrônicos, foram realizados. O método tradicional Perturb and Observe de rastreamento do ponto de máxima potência (Maximum Power Point Tracking MPPT) de painéis foi testado e comparado com métodos que usam a Lógica Fuzzy. Devido ao seu desempenho, foi adotado o método Fuzzy que realiza o MPPT por inferência do ciclo de trabalho de um modulador por largura de pulso (Pulse Width Modulation - PWM) através da variação da potência pela variação da corrente do painel solar. O modelo Fuzzy adotado neste trabalho foi testado com sucesso. Os resultados mostraram que ele pode ser robusto e atende à aplicação proposta. Segundo alguns testes realizados, este controlador pode realizar o MPPT de um sistema PV na configuração multi-string onde alguns arranjos fotovoltaicos são usados. Inclusive, este controle pode ser facilmente adaptado para realizar o MPPT de outras fontes de energia baseados no mesmo princípio de controle, como é o caso do aerogerador.