Abstract
Environment protection and energy saving are the most attractive trends in zero-carbon buildings. The most promising and environmentally friendly technique is building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), which can also replace conventional buildings based on non-renewable energy. Despite the recent advances in technology, the cost of BIPV systems is still very high. Hence, reducing the cost is a major challenge. This paper examines and validates the effectiveness of low-cost aluminum (Al) foil as a reflector. The design and the performance of planer-reflector for BIPV systems are analyzed in detail. A Bi-reflector solar PV system (BRPVS) with thin film Al-foil reflector and an LLC converter for a BIPV system is proposed and experimented with a 400-W prototype. A cadmium–sulfide (CdS) photo-resistor sensor and an Arduino-based algorithm was developed to control the working of the reflectors. Furthermore, the effect of Al-foil reflectors on the temperature of PV module has been examined. The developed LLC converter confirmed stable output voltage despite large variation in input voltage proving its effectiveness for the proposed BRPVS. The experimental results of the proposed BRPVS with an Al-reflector of the same size as that of the solar PV module offered an enhancement of 28.47% in the output power.
Highlights
Environmental pollution, global warming, and energy shortage have been generally seen as alarming global issues
The power generation performance of the building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is influenced by the amount the of available The power generation performance of the BIPV is influenced by the amount the of available solar radiation
The output power given by photovoltaic systems increases in proportion to the solar radiation
Summary
Environmental pollution, global warming, and energy shortage have been generally seen as alarming global issues. The building sector consumes a major proportion of energy. In the European Union, 30–40% of energy is consumed by the building sectors, that produce 32% of carbon dioxide emissions [1]. Attention has been given to zero energy buildings to develop future energy saving infrastructures. In this scenario, renewable energy is expected to play an important role. Building Integrated Photo–Voltaic (BIPV) is a new version of the PV system, in which the building is used for installation of PV modules to reduce cost and improve the appearance [2]. In addition to the environmental influences of BIPV, they reduce
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