Design Considerations and Measured Performance of Nontracked Mirror-Augmented Photovoltaics

Abstract

Costs associated with conventional photovoltaic (PV) installations (module manufacturing, mounts, wiring and installation labor, etc.) scale linearly with system area, and prudent design practices for increasing the light harvesting may significantly enhance the power output per unit area and cost per watt. The use of PV modules that have been augmented by the addition of a solar mirror provides an opportunity to improve light harvesting of a PV module and cost-per-watt considerations if the mirror is less expensive than the relative increase in power. In order to harvest greater insolation, an optimized design configuration between a flat-panel module and mirror is necessary for a fixed (nontracked) mirror-augmented photovoltaic (MAPV) system. A series of irradiance and energy harvest calculations were developed to screen various MAPV design configurations. We employed optical raytracing simulations to determine irradiance nonuniformities on the fixed MAPV system. The simulated results are compared with outdoor experimental field trial results. Over a three-month period of study, the fixed MAPV system produced 12% more power than an equivalent nonaugmented panel. An adjustable angle mounting system known as "time machine" was used to estimate yearly power production by adjusting the relative position of the MAPV system to represent varying times of the year. Current-voltage (I-V) curve tracing of test modules was performed during the field trials on augmented and nonaugmented modules for comparison. The experimental time machine result is in agreement with the irradiance simulation, which shows a gullwing curve of annual power output with peak production on the equinoxes and reduced production on the solstices.

Estimation of system efficiency and utilisation factor of a mirror integrated solar PV system

“…In the proposed MISPVS, the total solar radiation impinging on the surface of the solar panel (G tp ) is the sum of direct radiation on the solar panel (G dir ), the reflected irradiation (G r ) from the mirror and the total diffuse radiation (G d ) as in (12) [26]. The direct solar irradiation (G dir ), and reflected irradiation from plane mirror (G r ), are obtained from (13) and 14, respectively…”

“…Here, authors observed an enhancement of 26.2% power compared to an equivalent non‐augmented solar PV system [23]. Later, the same authors found that the improvement in power with respect to non‐ augmented PV is only about 12% [13]. Later, the simulation and experimental analysis conducted by Rob W. Andrews et al [32], on the application of plane mirrors on traditional PV system, found a boost in energy about 18%, which indicates that non‐tracked plane mirrors are a low‐cost energy enhancement method for traditional PV system.…”

“…There are numerous researches in the field of enhanced extraction of solar power from an existing system and the same is visible from the literature which includes the development of new maximum power point tracking algorithms, solar tracking methods, array reconfigurations, cooling, orientation and optimal tilt angle of the solar panel, suitable selection of different inverter topologies and the use of non-tracked mirror augmented PV systems [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. All the above schemes will be feasible only if they are able to guarantee lower investment cost with high system efficiency.…”

Insights into metastability of photovoltaic materials at the mesoscale through massiveI–Vanalytics

“…The Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension (SDLE) Research Center at Case Western Reserve University owns and operates a unique outdoor test facility, the "SDLE SunFarm" in Cleveland, OH, 56 that provides 14 dual-axis solar trackers populated with 144 commercial photovoltaic modules, 122 individual grid-connected photovoltaic power plants of varying power, and four mirror-augmented PV (MAPV) modules, 57 with controllable nonuniform irradiance forcing bypass diodes to be forward biased.…”