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Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance
Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2023.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613901663764480 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Takoorparsadh, Mohini |
| author2 | Rix, Arnold J.
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| author_browse | Rix, Arnold J.
Takoorparsadh, Mohini |
| author_facet | Rix, Arnold J.
Takoorparsadh, Mohini |
| author_sort | Takoorparsadh, Mohini |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2023. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/127158 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:43:30.888Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/127158 Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance Takoorparsadh, Mohini Rix, Arnold J. Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Photovoltaic cells Spectrum, Solar Spectral irradiance Spectral sensitivity Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2023. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Bifacial PV technology was developed to allow for the additional irradiance contribution incident to the module’s rear-side. Due to this increased solar input, bifacial modules have been reported to have a higher yield per area than monofacial modules of a similar electrical rating. Bifacial modules, however, have a wide range of projected increased yield, which fosters uncertainty in the design and prediction of a bifacial PV system. In this thesis, an investigation is presented to better understand the actual contributions of each side of the bifacial module to its total generation. The solar behaviour incident to the module’s generating faces and module performance is additionally investigated. The measurement system developed for this investigation makes use of the Kipp&Zonen SMP10 pyranometer to measure global plane-of-array irradiance and the Spectrafy SolarSIM G Spectrometer to measure the spectral description of irradiance incident to the generating faces of the bifacial PV module. The Hellerman Tyton (HT) I-V500 I-V tracer is used to measure the bifacial PV module behaviour under the corresponding measured solar input. These devices were chosen to guarantee that the results provided by the investigation were obtained using industry-compliant measuring instruments. When considering I-V tracers that could be used for the PV behaviour measurement, we noticed the high cost of commercially available I-V tracers. The high cost of commercially available I-V tracers leads to the alternative testing procedures employed by technicians who may not have access to I-V tracers. The project’s problem statement was revised accordingly to include the development of a low-cost I-V tracer for use by solar technicians. The developed I-V tracer’s functionality was evaluated through comparison with the HT I-V500 I-V tracer. The total module behaviour was measured with the sides of the bifacial module completely unshaded. The front-side behaviour was measured with the rear-side of the module completely shaded and leaving the front-side of the module completely unshaded and vice versa for the rear-side behaviour. The measured operating points (maximum power point, short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage) measured using the developed I-V tracer were within 5% error of the operating points captured using the HT tracer. The I-V curve plots measured using the developed I-V tracer also visually expressed similar behaviour (shape) to the HT tracer’s I-V curve plots. This indicates that the developed low-cost I-V tracer had adequate functionality for usage by solar technicians and students. The bifacial PV module performance was investigated with respect to the irradiance incident to its generating faces. This was achieved by comparing the estimated module per-side and total short-circuit current to the measured behaviour. This was done to determine whether the irradiance captured using a pyranometer or the spectral irradiance captured using a spectrometer yields better estimates of the module’s measured behaviour. To evaluate the estimated per-side short-circuit current using a spectral description of irradiance, the spectral response of the bifacial PERC PV cell technology is multiplied by the measured plane-of-array spectral irradiance. Due to the unavailability of the bifacial PERC spectral response data, estimations of the module’s bifacial PERC spectral response were made. The estimated spectral response was used to approximate the per-side short-circuit currents from the measured spectral description of irradiance. The operating per-side short-circuit currents were also calculated using the measured front and rear plane-of-array irradiance as measured using a pyranometer. The estimated total short-circuit current uses the accepted electrical behaviour of the parallel Rsh-Rs one-diode model for bifacial PV cells. The parallel Rsh-Rs one-diode model for bifacial PV cells estimates the total short-circuit current generation as the sum of the front-side and rear-side short-circuit currents. The predicted short-circuit current responses were compared to the PV module operating short-circuit current behaviour for that solar input. The results of this investigation show that as the sky conditions tend towards more overcast conditions, the spectral description of irradiance becomes more significant in predicting the per-side and total predicted short-circuit current, as well as the percentage increase provided by the rear-side of the bifacial module towards its total generation. The measured increase provided by the module’s rear-side generation was then investigated. Using measured I-V curves for clear-sky, partly cloudy, and overcast conditions, the actual percentage increase supplied by rear-side generation was evaluated. The average percentage increase in the maximum power point is 5.3%, while the average percentage increase in short circuit current is 7.24%. AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Die ontwikkeling van tweesydige (bifacial) PV tegnonologie maak dit moontlik om die agterkant van die module vir addisionele kragopwekking te benut. Sodoende word die opbrengs per oppervlakte ho¨er as di´e van eensydige (monofacial) modules met dieselfde elektriese eienskappe. Die verhoogde geprojekteerde opbrengs veroorsaak onsekerheid in terme van die ontwerp en opbrengsvoorspellings van tweesydige PV sisteme. Hierdie tesis ondersoek die energiebydrae van ‘n tweesyde module se agter- en voorkant om die algehele kragopwekking beter te verstaan. Die son se gedrag rakende die invalshoek op beide kante van die module, asook die moduleopbrengs, word ondersoek. Die ondersoek maak gebruik van die volgende meetinstrumente: die Kipp & Zonen SMP10 piranometer vir globale bestraling (irradiance) en die Spectrafy SolarSIM G spektrometer vir spektrumbestraling. Die gedrag van die tweesydige PV module word deur die Hellerman Tyton (HT) I-V500 I-V ray tracer onder verskillende sonbestralingstoestande gemeet. Die meetinstrumente wat gekies was voldoen aan die ingenieurswese bedryfs standaarde, wat ook verseker dat die metings en dus ook die resultate van ‘n ho¨e gehalte, sowel as betroubaar, is. I-V tracers wat kommersie¨el beskikbaar is, word met ho¨e kostes geassiosie¨er. Die ho¨e koste van kommersie¨el beskikbare I-V tracers lei tot prosedures, wat tegnici ontwikkel, om eerder lae koste multimeters te gebruik om die funksie van PV instalasies te bevestig. Omdat hierdie metodes nie altyd die gewensde resultate lewer nie sluit hierdie projek ook die ontwikkeling van ‘n lae koste I-V tracer in, wat sal uitwys of die PV korrek funksioneer. Die evalueringsprosedure sluit in om funksionaliteit van die voorgestelde I-V tracer met die HT I-V500 I-V tracer te vergelyk. Die gemete foutpersentasie tussen die voorgesteldeen die HT tracer se verskillende bedryfspunte (d.w.s. maksimum drywingspunt, kortsluitingsstroom en oopkringspanning) was minder as 5%. Die gemete I-V kurwes van die voorgestelde I-V tracer se gedrag stem met die HT I-V tracer ooreen. Dit dui dus aan dat die voorgestelde laer-koste I-V tracer voldoende is as ‘n meetinstrument om in die sonindustrie gebruik te kan word. Die tweesydige PV-module se werksverrigting met betrekking tot die invalsbestraling tot die module-aangesigte is verder ondersoek. Die gesimuleerde module-kante en algehele module kortsluitingsstroom is met die gemete gedrag vergelyk om te bepaal of die gedrag beter deur die piranometer se bestralingsdata of die spektrometer se spektrumbestraling beskryf kan word. Vir die spektrumbestralingsdata was die gesimuleerde voor- en agterkant selle van die tweesydige PERC PV module bereken deur die spektrumrespons (spectral response) met die gemete bestralingsdata te vermenigvuldig. Die tweesydige PERC spektrumresponsdata, van die spesifieke toetsmodule, was nie beskikbaar nie en dus moes die spektrumrespons aangepas word vanaf ’n beskikbare spektrumrespons vir die tegnologie. Sodoende was die gesimuleerde spektrumrespons gebruik om die per-kant kortsluitingsstroom van die gemete spektrumbestraling te skat. Verder was die per-kant kortsluitstroom bereken deur van die gemete voor- en agterkant bestraling wat gemeet is deur die piranometer gebruik te maak. Die gesimuleerde algehele modulestroom word as die parallele Rsh-Rs een-diode elektriese modelle vir tweesydige PV selle aanvaar. Dus kan die gesimuleerde kortsluitstroom, wat deur die spektrumbestraling bereken is, benader word as die totale gemete modulestroom. Die berekende kortsluitstroomrespons was met die PV module se drywingskortsluitingstroomrespons vir verskillende bestralingstoestande vergelyk. Die energieproduksietoename van die agterkantmodule kan beter vir wolklose/helder en deelsbewolkte toestande, met behulp van die pyranometer se globaalbestralingsmetings, geskat word. Die spektrumbestraling kan ook gebruik word om beter skattings van die agterkant se energieproduksietoename vir bewolkte toestande te maak. Die resultate dui aan dat die agterkant van die tweesydige module se energieproduksieverhoging meer akkuraat voorspel kan word met behulp van die gesimuleerde spektrumbestraling vir bewolkte toestande. Die energiegenerasieverhoging van die module agterkant is verder ondersoek. Die persentasieverhoging is ge¨evauleer deur gebruik te maak van I-V kurwes vir helder-, gedeeltelik bewolkte- en bewolkte toestande. Die gemiddelde persentasieverhoging vir die maksimum drywingspunt is 5.3% en die gemiddelde kortsluitstroom het ‘n 7.24% werksverrigtingstoename. Masters 2023-03-03T11:42:26Z 2023-05-18T07:07:20Z 2023-03-03T11:42:26Z 2023-05-18T07:07:20Z 2023-03 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/127158 en_ZA en_ZA xxvi, 197 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Photovoltaic cells Spectrum, Solar Spectral irradiance Spectral sensitivity Takoorparsadh, Mohini Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| title | Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| title_full | Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| title_fullStr | Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| title_short | Bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| title_sort | bifacial photovoltaic module performance evaluation with reference to the solar spectrum and broadband irradiance |
| topic | Photovoltaic cells Spectrum, Solar Spectral irradiance Spectral sensitivity |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/127158 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT takoorparsadhmohini bifacialphotovoltaicmoduleperformanceevaluationwithreferencetothesolarspectrumandbroadbandirradiance |