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Experimental study of low-concentrator photovoltaic systems: electrical and thermal

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Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) concentrators use lenses or mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto PV cells. This allows for a reduction in the cell area and then significantly reduces in the cost of electricity generated by replacing expensive PV converter area with less expensive optical material. In this paper, an experimental PV low-concentration systems and two photovoltaic concentrators systems were built, the first system consists of a lens which will concentrate the light on a photovoltaic cell; various characteristics of the solar cell practically obtained for various enlightened surfaces Si correspond to the various rates of concentration X. The second experiment was carried out with commercially available PV module, based on reflector mirrors; the incident radiation is concentrated on a PV panel by means of a set of flat mirrors. A concentration X depends on two variables: the slope angle α and the reflectors length C. A comparative electrical and thermal study of PVG and the CPV is presented (with and without concentration).

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Abbreviations

Pac:

Packing factor

PVG:

Photovoltaic generator

STC:

Standard test conditions

CPV:

Concentrator system

A :

Length of the PV panel

cρ :

Specific heat (J/Kg K)

C :

Reflectors length

E g :

Semiconductor band gap energy, 1.12 (eV)

E :

Solar irradiance (W/m2)

FF:

Fill factor

h :

Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

I :

Current (A)

Is:

Saturation current

Iscref :

Short-circuit current reference

k :

Boltzmann’s constant, 1.3807 × 10−23(J/K)

\( \dot{m} \) :

Mass flow rate (Kg/s)

n :

Ideality factor of the diode/number

P max :

Maximum power (W)

q :

Electronic charge, 1.6 × 10−19 (C)

Q :

Heat transfer energy (W)

Q ele :

Electrical energy(W)

Q th :

Thermal energy (W)

R :

Resistance (Ω)

S :

Surface area (m2)

T :

Temperature (°C)

T R :

Reflection factor of the mirror

t :

Time (s)

V :

Voltage (V)

V oc :

Open-circuit voltage (V)

\( V_{\text{oc}}^{{\prime }} \) :

Open-circuit voltage with concentration (V)

X :

Concentration

η :

Efficiency

τ :

Transmissivity

α :

Absorptivity/slop angle

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

δ :

Thickness (m)

amb:

Ambient

cond:

Conduction

d :

Diode

ele:

Electrical

G :

Generator

g :

Glass, glazing, gap

p:

Parallels

Ph:

Photo-generated

pv:

Photovoltaic module

s:

Series

sc:

Short circuit

sh:

Shunt

ted:

Tedlar

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’instrumentation, Faculté d’électronique et d’informatique, Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediene, El-Alia, BP 32, 16111, Bab-Ezzouar, Alger, Algeria

    H. Boumaaraf, A. Talha, N. Saidi & A. Habireche

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  1. H. Boumaaraf
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  2. A. Talha
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  3. N. Saidi
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Boumaaraf, H., Talha, A., Saidi, N. et al. Experimental study of low-concentrator photovoltaic systems: electrical and thermal. Electr Eng 100, 2569–2578 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00202-018-0722-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00202-018-0722-8

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