Title: The effect of non-uniformities in temperature on the performance parameters of an isolated cell photovoltaic module with a compound parabolic concentrator

Authors: Damasen Ikwaba Paul; Mervyn Smyth; Aggelos Zacharopoulos

Addresses: The Open University of Tanzania, P.O. Box: 23409, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania ' Centre for Sustainable Technologies, School of the Built Environment, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT37 0QB, UK ' Centre for Sustainable Technologies, School of the Built Environment, University of Ulster, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT37 0QB, UK

Abstract: This study investigated the effect of non-uniformities in cell temperature on the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, maximum power output and fill factor of each cell in a PV module with 11 isolated cells placed in a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC). To achieve this objective, symmetric CPC and a photovoltaic (PV) module were designed and fabricated. The PV module with and without the CPC were both exposed to a constant solar illumination of 615 W/m² continuous for 18 minutes. It was found that the temperature for the cells in the PV module without the CPC were almost constant while that with the CPC varied by 20%. Due to non-uniformities in cell temperature, the decrease in open-circuit voltage, maximum power output and fill factor was higher for cells with higher temperature than similar cells with lower temperature. However, the short-circuit current slightly increased with cell temperature.

Keywords: non-uniformity in temperature; cell temperature; temperature coefficient; energy flux distribution; isolated cell PV module; compound parabolic concentrator; CPC; temperature coefficient of the short-circuit current; temperature coefficient of the open-circuit voltage; temperature coefficient of the maximum power output; temperature coefficient of the fill factor.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRET.2019.097009

International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, 2019 Vol.10 No.1/2, pp.3 - 25

Received: 06 Oct 2017
Accepted: 31 Mar 2018
Published online: 14 Dec 2018 *

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