Evaluation of photovoltaic panel temperature in realistic scenarios

•The developed realistic model captures more reasonably the thermal response and hysteresis effects.•The predicted panel temperature is as high as 60°C under a solar irradiance of 1000W/m2 in no-wind weather.•In realistic scenarios, the thermal response normally takes 50–250s.•The actual heating eff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy conversion and management 2016-01, Vol.108, p.60-67
Main Authors: Du, Yanping, Fell, Christopher J., Duck, Benjamin, Chen, Dong, Liffman, Kurt, Zhang, Yinan, Gu, Min, Zhu, Yonggang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambient temperature
Heating
Heating effect
Irradiance
Panels
Photovoltaic cells
PV panel temperature
Realistic scenarios
Solar cells
Thermal hysteresis
Thermal response time
Weather conditions
Wind speed
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Summary:•The developed realistic model captures more reasonably the thermal response and hysteresis effects.•The predicted panel temperature is as high as 60°C under a solar irradiance of 1000W/m2 in no-wind weather.•In realistic scenarios, the thermal response normally takes 50–250s.•The actual heating effect may cause a photoelectric efficiency drop of 2.9–9.0%. Photovoltaic (PV) panel temperature was evaluated by developing theoretical models that are feasible to be used in realistic scenarios. Effects of solar irradiance, wind speed and ambient temperature on the PV panel temperature were studied. The parametric study shows significant influence of solar irradiance and wind speed on the PV panel temperature. With an increase of ambient temperature, the temperature rise of solar cells is reduced. The characteristics of panel temperature in realistic scenarios were analyzed. In steady weather conditions, the thermal response time of a solar cell with a Si thickness of 100–500μm is around 50–250s. While in realistic scenarios, the panel temperature variation in a day is different from that in steady weather conditions due to the effect of thermal hysteresis. The heating effect on the photovoltaic efficiency was assessed based on real-time temperature measurement of solar cells in realistic weather conditions. For solar cells with a temperature coefficient in the range of −0.21%∼−0.50%, the current field tests indicated an approximate efficiency loss between 2.9% and 9.0%.
ISSN:0196-8904
1879-2227
DOI:10.1016/j.enconman.2015.10.065