A method for the outdoor thermal characterisation of high-concentrator photovoltaic modules alternative to the IEC 62670-3 standard

Abstract

The IEC 62670-3 standard recommends the open-circuit voltage method to calculate the cell temperature inside high-concentrator photovoltaic (HCPV) modules. This method requires knowledge of the temperature coefficient of open-circuit voltage (β), and the same standard provides a procedure to get this parameter. In this paper, an alternative method for the thermal characterisation of HCPV modules is proposed. As an advantage, it allows obtaining both the β parameter and the internal thermal resistance (ρ) of the device from outdoor measurements. No internal sensor for measuring the cell temperature is required as in the case of the IEC 62670-3 standard. Knowing the ρ parameter allows a more accurate characterisation of the cell temperature. The proposed procedure is applied to a real HCPV module. An outdoor experimental campaign of two months in Jaén (Southern Spain) was carried out. The β value was underestimated in a 0.50% and the ρ value was overestimated in a 4.18%. When applying the estimated parameters for the prediction of the cell temperature, the open-circuit voltage method gave a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.41 °C, while the internal thermal resistance method gave a RMSE of 0.62 °C.