Impact of harsh weather conditions on solar photovoltaic cell temperature: Experimental analysis and thermal-optical modeling

Abstract

A photovoltaic panel cell temperature extremely affects its output, while is extensively affected by the variation in the environmental conditions. The current study investigated the main parameters affecting these regards and defines their independent and simultaneous impacts. It was shown that cell temperature depends directly on irradiation and ambient temperature, as well as inversely on humidity, wind speed, and the amount of accumulated dust on the surface of a panel with respectively standardized Beta coefficients of 0.541, 0.645, −0.035, −0.055 and −0.068. Based on the experimental and analytical analysis, five semi-empirical correlation forms were proposed to predict the cell temperature of a photovoltaic system with coefficients of determination of 0.728, 0.970, 0.972, 0.973, and 0.974. The detailed temperature distributions of a photovoltaic panel were also simulated by thermal-optical modeling under several harsh environmental conditions. Comparing the simulation results, correlation predictions, and experimental measurements confirmed complete consistency. Moreover, it was shown that considering the prediction precision, simplicity, and computational cost, the proposed correlation forms should be preferred. However, the thermal-optical modeling could predict the temperature distribution and provide more details. The proposed modified semi-empirical correlation forms in the current study can be easily coupled to other models to add precision and accuracy to the behavior prediction of a photovoltaic system under harsh weather conditions.