Experimental study on the comprehensive performance of building curtain wall integrated compound parabolic concentrating photovoltaic

Abstract

A novel concentrating photovoltaic curtain wall (CPV-CW) system integrated with building has been designed, tested and analyzed, and its application potential is determined and improvement suggestions are proposed. It can effectively improve the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) module and provide a more uniform indoor lighting environment. The concentrator is constructed with truncated stationary asymmetric compound paraboloid. And cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) with high transmittance is selected as its structural material. A model building combined with CPV-CW system curtain wall has been designed and applied to the outdoor experiments. It was tested on its electricity generation efficiency, the internal lighting environment, and thermal insulation ability. According to the real time results, under the clear weather conditions, the transmittance of the CPV-CW system reaches 9.1%. The highest CPV-CW system generation efficiency, 26.5%, could be found in winter, followed by the autumn and summer separately. In addition, CPV-CW system can create a more uniform indoor light environment and meet the requirements of building insulation. Based on the analysis, the CPV-CW system has a broad application prospect for building integrated with concentrating photovoltaic.