scholarly journals Thermal Effects on Photovoltaic Array Performance: Experimentation, Modeling, and Simulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1460
Author(s):  
Levon Ghabuzyan ◽  
Kevin Pan ◽  
Arianna Fatahi ◽  
Jim Kuo ◽  
Christopher Baldus-Jeursen

The performance of photovoltaic (PV) arrays are affected by the operating temperature, which is influenced by thermal losses to the ambient environment. The factors affecting thermal losses include wind speed, wind direction, and ambient temperature. The purpose of this work is to analyze how the aforementioned factors affect array efficiency, temperature, and heat transfer coefficient/thermal loss factor. Data on ambient and array temperatures, wind speed and direction, solar irradiance, and electrical output were collected from a PV array mounted on a CanmetENERGY facility in Varennes, Canada, and analyzed. The results were compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and existing results from PVsyst. The findings can be summarized into three points. First, ambient temperature and wind speed are important factors in determining PV performance, while wind direction seems to play a minor role. Second, CFD simulations found that temperature variation on the PV array surface is greater at lower wind speeds, and decreases at higher wind speeds. Lastly, an empirical correlation of heat transfer coefficient/thermal loss factor has been developed.

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 2217-2227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siri Sofie Eide ◽  
John Bjørnar Bremnes ◽  
Ingelin Steinsland

Abstract In this paper, probabilistic wind speed forecasts are constructed based on ensemble numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecasts for both wind speed and wind direction. Including other NWP variables in addition to the one subject to forecasting is common for statistical calibration of deterministic forecasts. However, this practice is rarely seen for ensemble forecasts, probably because of a lack of methods. A Bayesian modeling approach (BMA) is adopted, and a flexible model class based on splines is introduced for the mean model. The spline model allows both wind speed and wind direction to be included nonlinearly. The proposed methodology is tested for forecasting hourly maximum 10-min wind speeds based on ensemble forecasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts at 204 locations in Norway for lead times from +12 to +108 h. An improvement in the continuous ranked probability score is seen for approximately 85% of the locations using the proposed method compared to standard BMA based on only wind speed forecasts. For moderate-to-strong wind the improvement is substantial, while for low wind speeds there is generally less or no improvement. On average, the improvement is 5%. The proposed methodology can be extended to include more NWP variables in the calibration and can also be applied to other variables.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-36
Author(s):  
Otieno Fredrick Onyango ◽  
Sibomana Gaston ◽  
Elie Kabende ◽  
Felix Nkunda ◽  
Jared Hera Ndeda

Wind speed and wind direction are the most important characteristics for assessing wind energy potential of a location using suitable probability density functions. In this investigation, a hybrid-Weibull probability density function was used to analyze data from Kigali, Gisenyi, and Kamembe stations. Kigali is located in the Eastern side of Rwanda while Gisenyi and Kamembe are to the West. On-site hourly wind speed and wind direction data for the year 2007 were analyzed using Matlab programmes. The annual mean wind speed for Kigali, Gisenyi, and Kamembe sites were determined as 2.36m/s, 2.95m/s and 2.97m/s respectively, while corresponding dominant wind directions for the stations were ,  and  respectively. The annual wind power density of Kigali was found to be  while the power densities for Gisenyi and Kamembe were determined as and . It is clear, the investigated regions are dominated by low wind speeds thus are suitable for small-scale wind power generation especially at Kamembe site.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Dianat

The research paper investigates the impact of a window’s exterior air film on the assembly temperature. The exterior air film constitutes a vital portion of a window’s insulating values. The air film increases the temperature of the window exterior pane to a temperature above ambient temperature. The air film also rises the interior glass temperature and reduces the heat transfer from the interior surface. According to computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the air film is removed in windy conditions, decreasing the window temperature on the outside as well as on the inside. The idea behind the project is to carry out an experimental procedure on three different windows to validate the CFD results, which indicates the effect of various wind speeds. Keyword: Exterior air film, computational fluid dynamics, window assembly, wind speed


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Dianat

The research paper investigates the impact of a window’s exterior air film on the assembly temperature. The exterior air film constitutes a vital portion of a window’s insulating values. The air film increases the temperature of the window exterior pane to a temperature above ambient temperature. The air film also rises the interior glass temperature and reduces the heat transfer from the interior surface. According to computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the air film is removed in windy conditions, decreasing the window temperature on the outside as well as on the inside. The idea behind the project is to carry out an experimental procedure on three different windows to validate the CFD results, which indicates the effect of various wind speeds. Keyword: Exterior air film, computational fluid dynamics, window assembly, wind speed


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Long Wang ◽  
Cheng Chen ◽  
Tongguang Wang ◽  
Weibin Wang

A new simulation method for the aeroelastic response of wind turbines under typhoons is proposed. The mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to simulate a typhoon’s average wind speed field. The measured power spectrum and inverse Fourier transform method were coupled to simulate the pulsating wind speed field. Based on the modal method and beam theory, the wind turbine model was constructed, and the GH-BLADED commercial software package was used to calculate the aerodynamic load and aeroelastic response. The proposed method was applied to assess aeroelastic response characteristics of a commercial 6 MW offshore wind turbine under different wind speeds and direction variation patterns for the case study of typhoon Hagupit (2008), with a maximal wind speed of 230 km/h. The simulation results show that the typhoon’s average wind speed field and turbulence characteristics simulated by the proposed method are in good agreement with the measured values: Their difference in the main flow direction is only 1.7%. The scope of the wind turbine blade in the typhoon is significantly larger than under normal wind, while that under normal operation is higher than that under shutdown, even at low wind speeds. In addition, an abrupt change in wind direction has a significant impact on wind turbine response characteristics. Under normal operation, a sharp variation of the wind direction by 90 degrees in 6 s increases the wind turbine (WT) vibration scope by 27.9% in comparison with the case of permanent wind direction. In particular, the maximum deflection of the wind tower tip in the incoming flow direction reaches 28.4 m, which significantly exceeds the design standard safety threshold.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 01044
Author(s):  
Wei Qiang Zheng ◽  
Wen Jun Wei ◽  
Ping Yi Liu

Aiming at the complexity of wind direction and irregular sand flow in a desert area, a combinatorial ring-shaped sand barrier is used. Stokes law of inertia force and centrifugal force and gravity sedimentation are used. With CFD fluid software Fluent, laminar flow model Equation and κ-ε turbulence model, the wind speed of the sand in the sand-gas-solid two-phase flow passing through the circular sand barrier is studied at different distances and different altitudes after the sand barrier, the wind speeds before and after the sand barrier are compared and analyzed . The mean minimum wind speed behind the single sand barrier was reduced by 32.5% -49.4% compared with that before the sand barrier. The wind speed at different height of the composite sand barrier was reduced by 30% -58.3% compared with the inlet wind speed, which solved the problem of irregular wind and sand control in the desert wind direction.


1987 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Nottingham

AbstractHourly trap catches of Delia radicum (L.) from opposite sides of host-plant (cabbage) and non-host-plant (carrot) plots in eastern England were analysed with respect to local wind direction, wind speed, temperature and humidity. More females were caught around host- than non-host-plant plots. They predominantly approached host-plant plots by upwind movement, but equal upwind and downwind movement occurred to non-host-plant plots. A generalized linear model revealed that wind speed and humidity influenced the total trap catch of females, with wind speeds below 2 m/s and relative humidities above 65% being most favourable to fly activity, while wind speed was the only variable having a significant effect on the trap catches of flies moving upwind to host-plant plots.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 3189-3203 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Barmpadimos ◽  
J. Keller ◽  
D. Oderbolz ◽  
C. Hueglin ◽  
A. S. H. Prévôt

Abstract. The trends and variability of PM10, PM2.5 and PMcoarse concentrations at seven urban and rural background stations in five European countries for the period between 1998 and 2010 were investigated. Collocated or nearby PM measurements and meteorological observations were used in order to construct Generalized Additive Models, which model the effect of each meteorological variable on PM concentrations. In agreement with previous findings, the most important meteorological variables affecting PM concentrations were wind speed, wind direction, boundary layer depth, precipitation, temperature and number of consecutive days with synoptic weather patterns that favor high PM concentrations. Temperature has a negative relationship to PM2.5 concentrations for low temperatures and a positive relationship for high temperatures. The stationary point of this relationship varies between 5 and 15 °C depending on the station. PMcoarse concentrations increase for increasing temperatures almost throughout the temperature range. Wind speed has a monotonic relationship to PM2.5 except for one station, which exhibits a stationary point. Considering PMcoarse, concentrations tend to increase or stabilize for large wind speeds at most stations. It was also observed that at all stations except one, higher PM2.5 concentrations occurred for east wind direction, compared to west wind direction. Meteorologically adjusted PM time series were produced by removing most of the PM variability due to meteorology. It was found that PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations decrease at most stations. The average trends of the raw and meteorologically adjusted data are −0.4 μg m−3 yr−1 for PM10 and PM2.5 size fractions. PMcoarse have much smaller trends and after averaging over all stations, no significant trend was detected at the 95% level of confidence. It is suggested that decreasing PMcoarse in addition to PM2.5 can result in a faster decrease of PM10 in the future. The trends of the 90th quantile of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were examined by quantile regression in order to detect long term changes in the occurrence of very large PM concentrations. The meteorologically adjusted trends of the 90th quantile were significantly larger (as an absolute value) on average over all stations (−0.6 μg m−3 yr−1).


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