scholarly journals Effect of Wind Load on Performance of Photovoltaic (PV) Modules Available in Pakistan

Author(s):  
Rizwan Mehmood Gul ◽  
Fahad Ullah Zafar ◽  
Muhammad Ali Kamran ◽  
Muhammad Noman

Mechanical integrity of a Photovoltaic (PV) module plays a major role in its performance and electrical output. Mechanical loads which include loads produced by wind, snow, rain, and hail tend to degrade the performance of PV module by generating stresses and enhancing micro-cracks and defects. This research aims to investigate the impact of wind loads on the performance of PV modules, particularly the degradation in its power output. A load of 2400 Pa was applied as per international standards (ASTM E1830-15 and IEC-61215). A total of four PV module samples, of the same specifications with 60 W rated power, were initially subjected to solar flash testing and Electroluminescence (EL) imaging. This was followed by three cycles of mechanical load test. After the mechanical load tests, the modules were again subjected to solar flash testing and EL imaging and the results were compared. It was noted that static wind load degrades the mechanical integrity of photovoltaic modules in two ways; by aiding the propagation of existing cracks and initiating new cracks. This loss of mechanical integrity degraded the power output of PV module. Maximum drop of 2% in the power output and 0.27% in the efficiency was observed. In addition, the average increase of 3.37% in the series resistance was observed indicating decrease in performance.

In this research, an experimental study of the impact of stagnant water on solar modules is investigated. Two different experiments using two identical photovoltaic (PV) modules S1 and S2 were used for the study. In the first experiment, the PV module S1 was covered with stagnant water and the second PV module was unshielded with water. In the second experiment, the PV modules were swapped with S2 covered with stagnant water and S1 unshielded with water. The experiments were carried out under normal operating temperature of PV cells at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka on latitude 6:52 degrees north, longitude 7:23 degrees. Results obtained from the first experiment show that the efficiency and power output of S1 PV module decreased by 9.3% and 8.0% respectively when compared with that of S2 PV module. In the case of output voltage and current, it was found that shielding of PV module S1 with stagnant water caused an increase in the output voltage by 1.93% and a decrease in the output current by 10.26%. In the second experiment, the efficiency and Output power of PV module S2 decreased by 9.21% and 8.18% respectively when compared with the unshielded PV module S1. In the case of voltage and current, it was found that shielding of PV module S2 with stagnant water caused an increase in the Output voltage by 1.63% and decrease in the output current by 10.91%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Radwan H. Abdel Hamid ◽  
Youssef Elidrissi ◽  
Adel Elsamahy ◽  
Mohammed Regragui ◽  
Karim Menoufi

Abstract This article presents an evaluation of the performance of PV modules with the variation of some technical and environmental parameters: The PV module tilt angle, and the impact of soiling on the power output of PV module, and the transmittance of the PV glass surfaces. The experiments were achieved in Helwan City (Egypt) at the premises of the Faculty of Engineering of Helwan University. For the soiling part, it comprises two experiments: Transmittance of PV glass surfaces, and the power output of PV modules. For the transmittance experiment, it has been achieved using a simplified method, where three PV glass surfaces were placed at three different tilt angles (0°, 15°, and 30°) and left exposed to the outdoor environment without cleaning for a period of 25 days during the summer season. For the experiment concerning the impact of soiling on the power output, a set of PV modules connected in series have been exposed for a period of 75 days to the outdoor environment without cleaning. Finally, for the PV module tilt angle experiment, another set of PV modules have been used for that purpose, where four different tilt angles were experimented: 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°. The present research recommends that more studies are needed in the same context, taking into consideration correlating the technical and environmental parameters in one single experiment and during different times of the year. This would be helpful in having overarching perspective regarding the electrical performance of PV modules under different circumstances of tilt angles and soiling patterns within the area of Helwan (Egypt).


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Alok Dhaundiyal ◽  
Divine Atsu

This paper presents the modeling and simulation of the characteristics and electrical performance of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. Genetic coding is applied to obtain the optimized values of parameters within the constraint limit using the software MATLAB. A single diode model is proposed, considering the series and shunt resistances, to study the impact of solar irradiance and temperature on the power-voltage (P-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and predict the output of solar PV modules. The validation of the model under the standard test conditions (STC) and different values of temperature and insolation is performed, as well as an evaluation using experimentally obtained data from outdoor operating PV modules. The obtained results are also subjected to comply with the manufacturer’s data to ensure that the proposed model does not violate the prescribed tolerance range. The range of variation in current and voltage lies in the domain of 8.21 – 8.5 A and 22 – 23 V, respectively; while the predicted solutions for current and voltage vary from 8.28 – 8.68 A and 23.79 – 24.44 V, respectively. The measured experimental power of the PV module estimated to be 148 – 152 W is predicted from the mathematical model and the obtained values of simulated solution are in the domain of 149 – 157 W. The proposed scheme was found to be very effective at determining the influence of input factors on the modules, which is difficult to determine through experimental means.


Author(s):  
Wan Juzaili Jamil ◽  
Hasimah Abdul Rahman ◽  
Kyairul Azmi Baharin

Soiling refers to the accumulation of dust on PV modules which plays a small but significant role in degrading solar photovoltaics system efficiency. Its effect cannot be generalized because the severity is location and environment dependent. Currently, there are limited studies available on the soiling effect in the hot and humid Malaysian tropical climate. This paper presents an experimental-based approach to investigate the effect of soiling on PV module performance in a tropical climate. The experiment involved a full day exposure of a polycrystalline PV module in the outdoors with accelerated artificial dust loading and an indoor experiment for testing variable dust dimensions. The findings show that for the worst case, the module’s output can be reduced by as much as 20%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 5465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilke Celik ◽  
Marina Lunardi ◽  
Austen Frederickson ◽  
Richard Corkish

This work provides economic and environmental analyses of transportation-related impacts of different photovoltaic (PV) module technologies at their end-of-life (EoL) phase. Our results show that crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules are the most economical PV technology (United States Dollars (USD) 2.3 per 1 m2 PV module (or 0.87 ¢/W) for transporting in the United States for 1000 km). Furthermore, we found that the financial costs of truck transportation for PV modules for 2000 km are only slightly more than for 1000 km. CO2-eq emissions associated with transport are a significant share of the EoL impacts, and those for copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) PV modules are always higher than for c-Si and CdTe PV. Transportation associated CO2-eq emissions contribute 47%, 28%, and 40% of overall EoL impacts of c-Si, CdTe, and CIGS PV wastes, respectively. Overall, gasoline-fueled trucks have 65–95% more environmental impacts compared to alternative transportation options of the diesel and electric trains and ships. Finally, a hotspot analysis on the entire life cycle CO2-eq emissions of different PV technologies showed that the EoL phase-related emissions are more significant for thin-film PV modules compared to crystalline silicon PV technologies and, so, more environmentally friendly material recovery methods should be developed for thin film PV.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Firoz Khan ◽  
Béchir Dridi Rezgui ◽  
Jae Hyun Kim

Several tests were conducted to ratify the reliability and durability of the solar photovoltaic (PV) devices before deployment in the real field (non-ideal conditions). In the real field, the temperature of the PV modules was varied during the day and night. Nowadays, people have been bearing in mind the deployment of PV modules on concrete roads to make use of the space accessible on roads. In this regard, a comparative study on the failure and degradation behaviors of crystalline Si PV modules with and without a concrete slab was executed via a thermal cycling stress test. The impact of the concrete slab on the performance degradation of PV modules was evaluated. Electroluminescence (EL) results showed that the defect due to thermal cycling (TC) stress was reduced in the PV module with a concrete slab. The power loss due to the thermal cycling was reduced by approximately 1% using a concrete slab for 200 cycles. The Rsh value was reduced to approximately 91% and 71% after thermal cycling of 200 cycles for reference PV modules, respectively. The value of I0 was increased to approximately 3.1 and 2.9 times the initial value for the PV modules without and with concrete, respectively.


2015 ◽  
Vol 781 ◽  
pp. 267-271
Author(s):  
Santisouk Phiouthonekham ◽  
Anucha Lekkruasuwan ◽  
Surachai Chaitusaney

The impact of partial shading on photovoltaic (PV) array is discussed in this paper. The partial shading on PV array can significantly decrease the power generation of PV array. This study examines the modeling of PV module which relates with solar irradiation, temperature, and shading pattern. There are different shading patterns on PV array, such as one-string shading, two-strings shading, and much more. The characteristics of current-voltage (I-V) and voltage-power (V-P) curves for each individual the PV array can be different dependent on the multiple MPPs, maximum power points (MPPs). These multiple MPPs are basically lower than the MPP in case of no shading. Therefore, the total generated energy in an interested time period is usually reduced. As a result, this paper proposes the appropriate arrangement of PV modules in a PV array in order to mitigate the impact of partial shading. Finally, the proposed arrangement of PV modules is tested in a testing system. All the obtained results confirms that the proposed arrangement of PV modules is effective and can be applied in practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramadan J. Mustafa ◽  
Mohamed R. Gomaa ◽  
Mujahed Al-Dhaifallah ◽  
Hegazy Rezk

This study scrutinizes the reliability and validity of existing analyses that focus on the impact of various environmental factors on a photovoltaic (PV) system’s performance. For the first time, four environmental factors (the accumulation of dust, water droplets, birds’ droppings, and partial shading conditions) affecting system performance are investigated, simultaneously, in one study. The results obtained from this investigation demonstrate that the accumulation of dust, shading, and bird fouling has a significant effect on PV current and voltage, and consequently, the harvested PV energy. ‘Shading’ had the strongest influence on the efficiency of the PV modules. It was found that increasing the area of shading on a PV module surface by a quarter, half, and three quarters resulted in a power reduction of 33.7%, 45.1%, and 92.6%, respectively. However, results pertaining to the impact of water droplets on the PV panel had an inverse effect, decreasing the temperature of the PV panel, which led to an increase in the potential difference and improved the power output by at least 5.6%. Moreover, dust accumulation reduced the power output by 8.80% and the efficiency by 11.86%, while birds fouling the PV module surface was found to reduce the PV system performance by about 7.4%.


Author(s):  
Peter Rodgers ◽  
Valerie Eveloy ◽  
Shrinivas Bojanampati

The electrical efficiency and reliability of photovoltaic (PV) modules are severely limited by elevated cell operating temperature in high solar irradiation and ambient air temperature environments, such as in the Middle East. In this study the potential of water-cooling to improve the electrical performance of stationary south facing and sun-tracked flat-type PV modules is experimentally investigated for application at oil and gas facilities in the Persian Gulf. The cooling design is based on gravity-assisted water trickling over the module active surface. In parallel with measurements of PV module electrical characteristics, global solar irradiation, ambient air and cooling water temperatures are also recorded. From the results obtained, the following initial guidelines are derived for the operation of PV modules in late winter to early spring conditions (G ≈ 485–900 W/m2, T∞ ≈ 26–40°C) in the United Arab Emirates (24.43°N, 54.45°E), which would correspond to summer at for example mid European latitudes: i) vertical single-axis sun tracking improves module peak electrical power output by 6% to 10% compared to operation in stationary, geographical south facing orientation, for both passively- or water-cooled modules; ii) for cooling water temperatures ranging from 26 to 33°C, water-cooling enhances the power output of stationary south facing and sun-tracked modules for a significant portion of the day, up to 19.8 W (21%) at solar noon; iii) the integration of water-cooling and sun-tracking increases power output by 22 W (26%) at for example 10:30 a.m. relative to a stationary, passively-cooled module. For the latitude and seasonal conditions considered, water-cooling a stationary PV module is 9 to 15% more effective than sun-tracking a passively-cooled module in terms of peak power output. Higher performance improvements could be obtained using either chilled or underground water at a temperature below ambient air temperature, particularly in Middle East summer conditions.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Luboń ◽  
Grzegorz Pełka ◽  
Mirosław Janowski ◽  
Leszek Pająk ◽  
Michał Stefaniuk ◽  
...  

The article presents the results of research on the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) modules cooled with water. The aim of the experiment was to improve the working conditions of solar modules. A temperature decrease was obtained for the PV module by pouring cool tap water onto the upper surface of the modules, either in imitation of rain or as a water film. The power of the cooled and non-cooled devices were then compared. The temperature of the cooled modules dropped to almost 25 °C, whilst the temperature of the non-cooled module was 45 °C. The best results were achieved by cooling modules with a water film, since there were no water splashes, and the continuous cooling of the surface leads to a 20% increase in power. During the test, the non-cooled module attained a maximum power of 105.3 W/m2, compared to 125.5 W/m2 for its cooled counterpart. Cooling the module, therefore, resulted in a power increase of 20.2 W/m2. The results of the work may be of particular interest for small installations, especially because it cleans the modules while providing an increase in power.


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