Analysis of the hard and soft shading impact on photovoltaic module performance using solar module tester

Solar cells are a major alternate source of sustainable energy in the usual condition of depleting non- renewable energy sources. Nowadays, this source is getting more and more important due to its use in large and small-scale installations. One of the major causes of energy losses in photovoltaic (PV) modules is the shading. It can happen due to clouds passing, near trees, and/or neighboring structures. Generally, there are two types of PV module Shading which are either partial shading or complete shading. Both have a significant impact on the solar module output power. This paper is an attempt of carrying out a study of the electrical characteristics of a solar module with various percentages of simulated shading. The solar module tester (SMT) simulator was used in this study. The study approved the direct correlation between short-circuit current and solar irradiance. The advantage of using SMT is its stable irradiance in comparison to the practical unstable solar irradiance within the same period. The results of both methods of shading simulation show that shading has a significant impact on the performance of solar panel in terms of efficiency, fill factor and output power. For better performance, solar panels should install in shading free places as much as its possible.

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Characteristic comparison of photovoltaic module and photovoltaic thermal

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201820404010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 204 ◽

pp. 04010 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Krismadinata ◽

Remon Lapisa ◽

Syahril ◽

Asnil

Keyword(s):

Short Circuit ◽

Electrical Power ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Photovoltaic Module ◽

Heat Absorption ◽

Electrical Characteristics ◽

Solar Module ◽

Circulating Water ◽

Lower Temperature

This paper discusses an attempt to compares the electrical characteristics of two solar modules of the same type and size in which one of the solar modules at the bottom is mounted a copper pipe for circulating water (as call photovoltaic thermal). The research was steered to observe water cooling effect to electrical characteristics of PV module. This system serves as a heat absorption on the bottom of the solar module. The experiment is conducted at the same time, place, and sunlight intensity conditions for both solar modules. The characteristics of short-circuit current, open circuit voltage, upper and lower temperature and the irradiation of sunlight from the two solar modules are observed. The test results show that photovoltaic thermal generate greater electrical power than solar modules not equipped with heat absorption

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Solar irradiance estimation based on photovoltaic module short circuit current measurement

2013 IEEE International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Applications (ICSIMA) ◽

10.1109/icsima.2013.6717943 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Rodney H. G. Tan ◽

Priscilla L. J. Tai ◽

V. H. Mok

Keyword(s):

Solar Irradiance ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Current Measurement ◽

Photovoltaic Module

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Performance of 20 Watts Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Module under Yola Climate, North-East Nigeria

European Journal of Engineering Research and Science ◽

10.24018/ejers.2019.4.4.1248 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 70-73

Author(s):

Ndenah Markus Linah ◽

Osita C. Meludu ◽

Joseph Aidan ◽

Moses Elisha Kundwal

Keyword(s):

Solar Irradiance ◽

Polycrystalline Silicon ◽

Fill Factor ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Standard Test ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Solar Module ◽

North East ◽

Maximum Current

The performance of a 20 Watts polycrystalline silicon solar module was evaluated under Yola climatic condition. It was found that the values of short circuit current (Isc), open circuit voltage (Voc), maximum current (Imax) and maximum voltage (Vmax) of the solar module were slightly different from those labeled under Standard Test Condition (STC).This was due to lower solar irradiance under Yola climate compared to that at STC, which resulted to changes in power and efficiency of the module. The power rating of the module at STC was 20 Watts but it was found to be 12.49 Watts between 12:00 noon and 12.15 pm when the solar irradiance was 780 Wm-2. In addition, the efficiency of the module, which was 15 % at STC, was found to be 12 % at maximum irradiance of 780 Wm-2. The Fill-factor (FF) of the solar module on the other hand was 0.71 at STC but it was found to be 0.77 at solar irradiance of 780 Wm-2.

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Improving the Efficiency of Poly-Crystalline Photovoltaic Module Using Special Transparent Glass Covers

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.819.618 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 819 ◽

pp. 618-622

Author(s):

Y. Baradey ◽

Mohammad Nurul Alam Hawlader ◽

M. Idres ◽

S.I. Ihsan

Keyword(s):

Solar Energy ◽

Output Power ◽

Operating Temperature ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Photovoltaic Module ◽

Photovoltaic Systems ◽

Transparent Glass ◽

Pv Systems

Photovoltaic systems have become recently the most attractive and promising technology compared with other solar energy conversion devices. Solar energy reaches the earth’s surface in wavelengths between 0.300 and 2.50 μm. Silicon based photovoltaic systems convert only the wavelength between 0.35 to 0.82 μm of solar energy to electricity. The rest of incident solar radiation will be converted to heat, which will increase the operating temperature of the device and decrease the output power and efficiency. Maintaining the operating temperature of the PV systems at low and desired value was the main emphasis of different researches through the last decades. In this research, a special transparent glass cover (STGC) was used in order to cool down the photovoltaic module and, therefore, increase the output power and the efficiency of the module. The result showed that STGC led to 2.75% improvement in open circuit voltage, 9.6% increase in short circuit current, 26.4% increase in the output power, and 3% increase in the efficiency of the module.

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Fluttering Amplitude Amplification by Utilizing Flapping Moment in Flutter-Driven Triboelectric Nanogenerator

ASME 2021 15th International Conference on Energy Sustainability ◽

10.1115/es2021-62501 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yi Zhang ◽

Ka Chung Chan ◽

Sau Chung Fu ◽

Christopher Yu Hang Chao

Keyword(s):

Flow Velocity ◽

High Speed ◽

Aerodynamic Force ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Energy Output ◽

Small Scale ◽

Triboelectric Nanogenerator ◽

Peak Value

Abstract Flutter-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (FTENG) is one of the most promising methods to harvest small-scale wind energy. Wind causes self-fluttering motion of a flag in the FTENG to generate electricity by contact electrification. A lot of studies have been conducted to enhance the energy output by increasing the surface charge density of the flag, but only a few researches tried to increase the converting efficiency by enlarging the flapping motion. In this study, we show that by simply replacing the rigid flagpole in the FTENG with a flexible flagpole, the energy conversion efficiency is augmented and the energy output is enhanced. It is found that when the flag flutters, the flagpole also undergoes aerodynamic force. The lift force generated from the fluttering flag applies a periodic rotational moment on the flagpole, and causes the flagpole to vibrate. The vibration of the flagpole, in turn amplifies the flutter of the flag. Both the fluttering dynamics of the flags with rigid and flexible flagpoles have been recorded by a high-speed camera. When the flag was held by a flexible flagpole, the fluttering amplitude and the contact area between the flag and electrode plates were increased. The energy enhancement increased as the flow velocity increased and the enhancement can be 113 times when the wind velocity is 10 m/s. The thickness of the flagpole was investigated. An optimal output of open-circuit voltage reaching 1128 V (peak-to-peak value) or 312.40 V (RMS value), and short-circuit current reaching 127.67 μA (peak-to-peak value) or 31.99 μA (RMS value) at 12.21 m/s flow velocity was achieved. This research presents a simple design to enhance the output performance of an FTENG by amplifying the fluttering amplitude. Based on the performance obtained in this study, the improved FTENG has the potential to apply in a smart city for driving electronic devices as a power source for IoT applications.

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Prediction of Solar Irradiance Based on Artificial Neural Networks

Inventions ◽

10.3390/inventions4030045 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 45 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Waleed I. Hameed ◽

Baha A. Sawadi ◽

Safa J. Al-Kamil ◽

Mohammed S. Al-Radhi ◽

Yasir I. A. Al-Yasir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neural Networks ◽

Artificial Neural Networks ◽

Solar Irradiance ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Low Cost ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Pv Module ◽

Artificial Neural

Prediction of solar irradiance plays an essential role in many energy systems. The objective of this paper is to present a low-cost solar irradiance meter based on artificial neural networks (ANN). A photovoltaic (PV) mathematical model of 50 watts and 36 cells was used to extract the short-circuit current and the open-circuit voltage of the PV module. The obtained data was used to train the ANN to predict solar irradiance for horizontal surfaces. The strategy was to measure the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current of the PV module and then feed it to the ANN as inputs to get the irradiance. The experimental and simulation results showed that the proposed method could be utilized to achieve the value of solar irradiance with acceptable approximation. As a result, this method presents a low-cost instrument that can be used instead of an expensive pyranometer.

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Safety Analysis of Solar Module under Partial Shading

International Journal of Photoenergy ◽

10.1155/2015/907282 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Wei He ◽

Fengshou Liu ◽

Jie Ji ◽

Shengyao Zhang ◽

Hongbing Chen

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Power Dissipation ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Single Cells ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Heating Power ◽

Maximum Point ◽

Solar Module ◽

Partial Shading ◽

Efficient Alternative

Hot spot often occurs in a module when the qualities of solar cells mismatch and bypass diodes are proved to be an efficient alternative to reduce the effect of hot spot. However, these principles choosing a diode are based on the parameters of bypass diodes and PV cells without consideration of the maximum heating power of the shaded cell, which may cause serious consequences. On this basis, this paper presents a new approach to investigate partially shaded cells in different numbers of PV cells and different shading scenarios, including inhomogeneous illumination among solar cells and incomplete shading in one cell, which innovatively combines the same cells or divides one affected cell into many small single cells and then combines the same ones, and analyzes the shaded cell. The results indicate that the maximum power dissipation of the shaded cell occurs at short-circuit conditions. With the number of solar cells increasing, the shaded cell transfers from generating power to dissipating power and there is a maximum point of power dissipation in different shading situations that may lead to severe hot spot. Adding up the heat converted from solar energy, the heating power can be higher. In this case, some improvements about bypass diodes are proposed to reduce hot spot.

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Optical Properties of CaF2 Thin Film Deposited on Borosilicate Glass and Its Electrical Performance in PV Module Applications

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10165647 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (16) ◽

pp. 5647

Author(s):

Muhammad Aleem Zahid ◽

Shahzada Qamar Hussain ◽

Young Hyun Cho ◽

Junsin Yi

Keyword(s):

Borosilicate Glass ◽

Calcium Fluoride ◽

Thermal Evaporation ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Electrical Performance ◽

Photovoltaic Module ◽

Average Increase ◽

Vacuum Thermal Evaporation ◽

Pv Module

Calcium fluoride (CaF2) is deposited via vacuum thermal evaporation on borosilicate glass to produce an anti-reflection coating for use in solar modules. Macleod’s essential simulation is used to optimize the thickness of the CaF2 coating on the glass. Experimentally, a 120 ± 4 nm-thin CaF2 film on glass shows an average increase of ~4% in transmittance and a decrease of ~3.2% in reflectance, respectively, when compared to that of uncoated glass (Un CG), within the wavelength spectrum of approximately 350 to 1100 nm. The electrical PV performance of CaF2-coated glass (CaF2-CG) was analyzed for conventional and lightweight photovoltaic module applications. An improvement in the short-circuit current (Jsc) from 38.13 to 39.07 mA/cm2 and an increase of 2.40% in the efficiency (η) was obtained when CaF2-CG glass was used instead of Un CG in a conventional module. Furthermore, Jsc enhancement from 35.63 to 36.44 mA/cm2 and η improvement of 2.32% was observed when a very thin CaF2-CG was placed between the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and solar cell in a lightweight module.

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Development of a Low Cost Device for Measuring Solar Irradiance

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.457-458.1377 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 457-458 ◽

pp. 1377-1382

Author(s):

Yu Jie Chen ◽

Cong Hu ◽

Yi Ze Sun ◽

Zhuo Meng

Keyword(s):

Solar Irradiance ◽

Low Cost ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Solar Irradiation ◽

Photoelectric Cell ◽

Cost System ◽

Different Temperatures ◽

The Cost

For a determination of the system’s efficiency and decrease the cost, a low cost system for measuring solar irradiance is designed. By analyzing the influence of solar irradiance and temperature to solar cell, we have found that in case of different temperatures the variation of short-circuit current (Isc) in function of solar irradiation incident (E) is always linear. Then the read-out circuitry is designed to measure and convert the signal which is detected by the photoelectric cell and thermocouples. At last, the software is developed to compensate the temperature and make sure the device work normally. The results of detecting the system show that it’s effective and reliable.

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