Reducing Operating Temperature in Photovoltaic Modules

doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2779842

Title: Reducing Operating Temperature in Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract

Reducing the operating temperature of photovoltaic modules increases their efficiency and lifetime. This can be achieved by reducing the production of waste heat or by improving the rejection of waste heat. We tested, using a combination of simulation and experiment, several thermal modifications in each category. To predict operating temperature and energy yield changes in response to changes to the module, we implemented a physics-based transient simulation framework based almost entirely on measured properties. The most effective thermal modifications reduced the production of waste heat by reflecting unusable light from the cell or the module. Consistent with previous results and verified in this work through year-long simulations, the ideal reflector resulted in an annual irradiance-weighted temperature reduction of 3.8 K for crystalline silicon (c-Si). Our results illustrate that more realistic reflector concepts must balance detrimental optical effects with the intended thermal effects to realize the optimal energy production advantage. Methods improving thermal conductivity or back-side emissivity showed only modest improvements of less than 1 K. We also studied a GaAs module, which uses high-efficiency and high-subbandgap reflectivity to operate at an annual irradiance-weighted temperature 12 K cooler than that of a c-Si module under the same conditions.

Authors:

^[1];

^[2]; Podraza, Nikolas J. ^[2];

^[3];

^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). National Center for Photovoltaics
Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States). Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC)
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

Publication Date:: 2018-01-09

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)

OSTI Identifier:: 1419416

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5J00-67837
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381

Publisher:: IEEE

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; computer simulation; optics; photovoltaic cells; photovoltaic systems; ray tracing; solar energy; solar panels; thermal conductivity; thermal management

Citation Formats


                    Silverman, Timothy J., Deceglie, Michael G., Subedi, Indra, Podraza, Nikolas J., Slauch, Ian M., Ferry, Vivian E., and Repins, Ingrid. Reducing Operating Temperature in Photovoltaic Modules.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
        Web.  doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2779842.

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                    Silverman, Timothy J., Deceglie, Michael G., Subedi, Indra, Podraza, Nikolas J., Slauch, Ian M., Ferry, Vivian E., & Repins, Ingrid. Reducing Operating Temperature in Photovoltaic Modules.  United States.  doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2779842.

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                    Silverman, Timothy J., Deceglie, Michael G., Subedi, Indra, Podraza, Nikolas J., Slauch, Ian M., Ferry, Vivian E., and Repins, Ingrid. Tue .  
        "Reducing Operating Temperature in Photovoltaic Modules".  United States.  doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2779842.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1419416.

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@article{osti_1419416,

  title        = {Reducing Operating Temperature in Photovoltaic Modules},

  author       = {Silverman, Timothy J. and Deceglie, Michael G. and Subedi, Indra and Podraza, Nikolas J. and Slauch, Ian M. and Ferry, Vivian E. and Repins, Ingrid},

  abstractNote = {Reducing the operating temperature of photovoltaic modules increases their efficiency and lifetime. This can be achieved by reducing the production of waste heat or by improving the rejection of waste heat. We tested, using a combination of simulation and experiment, several thermal modifications in each category. To predict operating temperature and energy yield changes in response to changes to the module, we implemented a physics-based transient simulation framework based almost entirely on measured properties. The most effective thermal modifications reduced the production of waste heat by reflecting unusable light from the cell or the module. Consistent with previous results and verified in this work through year-long simulations, the ideal reflector resulted in an annual irradiance-weighted temperature reduction of 3.8 K for crystalline silicon (c-Si). Our results illustrate that more realistic reflector concepts must balance detrimental optical effects with the intended thermal effects to realize the optimal energy production advantage. Methods improving thermal conductivity or back-side emissivity showed only modest improvements of less than 1 K. We also studied a GaAs module, which uses high-efficiency and high-subbandgap reflectivity to operate at an annual irradiance-weighted temperature 12 K cooler than that of a c-Si module under the same conditions.},

  doi          = {10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2779842},

  journal      = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},

  issn         = {2156-3381},

  number       = 2,

  volume       = 8,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2018},

  month        = {1}

}

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DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2779842

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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1: Total reflectance (top) for various simulated modules is shown with the normalized solar spectrum and the IQE [11] of the simulated solar cells (bottom). The curves labeled Li are modules with structures reproduced from [9] (see Section II-B2). Reflectance is shown for light at normal incidence, except formore »

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