Hiraku Kobayashi Lihn Ngyuen Farid Sarraf Aaron Stafford

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Yam Lee

Chemical and Materials Engineering Dept.

Grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) fastest growing power generation technology Current solar panel technology, for residential applications are only about 15% efficient.
REN21 Renewables 2010 Global Status Report (www.ren21.net)

The campus celebrates the new Amonix 7700 at the Lyle Center. Polycentric. Sept 30 2010

Weather Conditions ,Geography & Panel

placement must be considered because of temperature variation.

Aspen Solar.Teachengineering.(c) Jan 5, 2011

Solar cell Isc and Voc. Wikimedia. October 19 2008

ISC

increases slightly, while VOC decreases more significantly

Solar cell I-V curve as a function of temperature. Wikimedia. October 19 2008

Install a temperature-dependent charge controller or a maximum power tracker1 Apply cooling mechanism to back of PV arrays our project 1

Reference [1]:Min-Jung Wu, Erik J. Timpson, and Steve E. Watkins. Temperature Considerations in Solar Arrays. University of Missouri. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 2004

 Active Cooling1

-requires some external power source e.g Fans, Cooling fluid via pump
Passive Cooling 1

-requires no added power e.g Air flow, Phase Change Material

Reference [1]: Photovoltaic Efficiency. Teachengineering.org. Jan 5 2011

Encapsulated PCM. Microtechlabs.(c) 2011

Phase I: Compare Efficiencies of two PV Panels(Metal & Acrylic Backing) with varying Temperature

Phase II: Investigate the effectiveness of PCM to mitigate power loss due to increased temperature.

I vs. V curve (T=25.2 deg C)

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 10 V 20 30

Thermocouple

I vs. V curve (T=67.5deg C)

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 10 V 20

Pyranometer Resistance Box

Compare the two panels efficiency without PCM The PV panels will be placed in a test cell under fixed lighting. Values to measure: Temperature, Current, Voltage, & Incident radiation

Incident Light Results

Temperature Plots

Metal Backed Panel Acrylic Backed Panel

Temperature Plots

Metal Backed Panel Acrylic Backed Panel

I-V Curve

Power Curve

T (oC) 26.35 28.9 30.4 31.66 32.45 33.2 33.25

P (mW) 880 862 858 856 852 836 828

Attach PCM filled container to the back of the PV Panel Develop Temperature and IV curves

IT
PV Panel PCM Adiabatic Boundary Adiabatic Boundary

Adiabatic Boundary Acrylic Glass

Figure 1: Metal Backed Panel with PCM Container

Figure 2: Experimental test unit

Temperature Plots

Front of Panel

Back of Panel

PCM

Ambient

I-V Curve

P-V curve

Maximum Powers of Metal Backing PV Panel with PCM at Different Temperatures

675 670 665 660 Pmax (mW) 655 650 645 640 635 630 625 24 26 28 30 T (oC) 32 34 36 38

IV & Temperature curves display greater

efficiency for Acrylic backed panel

PCM tests are inconclusive

- Tests show PCM has negligible effect

Problem: Generating clearer IV-curves with

changing temperatures requires more elaborate and expensive equipment. Solution: Equipment now available through EE department
Problem: Halogen lamp overheated and required

frequent replacement Solution: Future teams should consider using halide lights alongside better equipment.

We would like to thank Dr. Yam Lee for his support and direction throughout this project. Additionally we would like to thank Dr. Nelson and Dr. Anz for their advice. Finally we would like to thank John Clothier for his donation of two PV Panels.

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1. Min-Jung Wu, Erik J. Timpson, and Steve E. Watkins. Temperature Considerations in Solar Arrays. University of Missouri. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 2004 2. Photovoltaic Efficiency. Teachengineering.org. Jan 5 2011

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Questions?