Assessment of the RACPC Performance under Diffuse Radiation for Use in BIPV System

Stephania Foster,Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’Ud,Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar,Roberto Ramirez-Iniguez,Jorge Alfredo Ardila-Rey,Abu Bakar Munir,Nurul Aini Bani,Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki,Daria Freier Raine,Jose Deciga-Gusi

doi:10.3390/app10103552

Abstract

In the last four decades there has been a significant increase in solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, which makes solar one of the most promising renewable energy sources. Following this trend, solar power would become the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050. Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, in which conventional materials can be replaced with PV panels that become an integral part of the building, can be enhanced with concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems. In order to increase the cost efficiency of a BIPV system, an optical concentrator can be used to replace expensive PV material with a lower cost option, whilst increasing the electrical output through the concentration of solar power. A concentrator called rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator (RACPC) was analysed in this work under diffuse light conditions. Software simulations and experimental work were carried out to determine the optical concentration gain of the concentrator. Results from this work show that, under diffuse light, the RACPC has an optical concentration gain of 2.12. The experimental work showed a value of 2.20, which confirms the results with only a 3.8% difference.

Highlights

A significant amount of the energy usage worldwide is consumed by buildings.The necessity of transforming buildings from energy users to energy producers has motivated an increase in renewable energy’s share of global energy consumption [1,2,3,4,5,6]
In terms of cost per unit power output, the concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) module could achieve a 20% reduction when compared with a non-concentrating counterpart
The analysis evaluates the gain performance of the rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator (RACPC) when it is exposed to rays coming from all with aa thickness thickness of of 11 mm mm and and aa 380

Summary

Introduction

A significant amount (around 40%) of the energy usage worldwide is consumed by buildings. The necessity of transforming buildings from energy users to energy producers has motivated an increase in renewable energy’s share of global energy consumption [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Sci. 2020, 10, 3552; doi:10.3390/app10103552 www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci Appl.

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