Researchers in Spain have assembled an experimental photo voltaic simulator for car-integrated and curved photo voltaic panels. They discovered that the short-circuit present measurements of the cells adopted the perfect response of the cosine of the curvature with variations of lower than 0.5%.
To satisfy the problem of figuring out curved, three-dimensional vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPV), scientists on the Polytechnic College of Madrid developed design rules and setup necessities for a photo voltaic simulator.
“We’re contemplating industrial manufacturing sooner or later,” the corresponding writer, Guido Vallerotto, stated pv journal. “Presently, we’re nonetheless bettering many facets of the simulator. The model we used for paper characterization is just not but prepared for commercialization, though it’s totally operational and functioning.
In a take a look at of a module with a radius of curvature of 1 meter, the analysis workforce discovered that their photo voltaic simulator measurement of the short-circuit present of the cells adopted the perfect cosine response of the curvature with variations of lower than 0.5%.
It additionally decided {that a} non-collimated mild supply, normally utilized in typical photo voltaic simulators for flat modules, has a non-uniformity enhance of between 2% and 20%, relying on the module. The intrinsic lack of uniformity underneath regular irradiance as a result of curved form is amplified when it’s illuminated by a non-collimated mild supply, the researchers stated.
The researchers examined their answer in a photo voltaic simulator on a flat panel and three curved modules, with radii of curvature of 3m, 2m and 1m, respectively. The modules are geared up with 32 metallic wrap-through (MWT) cells with eight strings of 4 cells. Every string is measured independently and in comparison with the anticipated cosine response.
The workforce outlined the situation of the sunshine supply, the kind of mild supply, and the size of the pulses. They selected a Helios 3198 photo voltaic simulator, initially developed to characterize concentrator photovoltaics (CPV), and tailored it to their proposed design. The sunshine pulse energy provide and electronics have been modified to accommodate the sluggish response time of typical silicon cells.
The setup features a black tunnel for stray mild rejection, together with baffles and light-weight entice containers, and chambers. The design of the tunnel is important to realize an irradiance non-uniformity higher than 1%, stated the researchers. Gentle-trapping chambers nearer to the lamp and baffles distributed alongside the tunnel are wanted to successfully suppress stray mild and make sure that solely the sunshine mirrored by the collimating mirror reaches the measurement aircraft.
The simulator relies on a multi-flash strategy the place the Xenon flash lamp is triggered whereas the module is biased to a special voltage for every flash pulse, recording completely different pairs of current-voltage time limits. within the decay of the heartbeat. The sunshine system consists of a round collimator with a diameter of two m and a focal distance of 6 m, and a small toroid flash lamp of 65 mm in diameter to acquire a collimated beam with a divergence which is 0.3 levels, which is analogous to direct regular irradiance. (DNI) in outside situations.
The photo voltaic simulator design, setup, and take a look at outcomes are introduced within the paper “Collimated photo voltaic simulator for curved PV module characterization,” revealed in Photo voltaic Vitality Supplies and Photo voltaic Cells.
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