Abstract
Conventional photovoltaic cells are able to convert the visible light spectrum of solar radiation into electricity; the unused wavelengths of the solar radiation spectrum are dissipated as heat in the system. On the other hand, certain types of transparent solar cells are able to utilize the rest of the solar radiation spectrum. The integration of transparent solar cells with conventional photovoltaic cells enables the system to absorb and utilize both wavelengths of the solar radiation spectrum. In this paper, two models for integrating transparent solar cells with conventional photovoltaic cells are proposed, simulated, and analyzed theoretically. ANSYS software was used to obtain the results for the proposed models. It is an initial theoretical study that shows some first results; it is almost a work in progress. The results showed that the highest efficiency was for the model that had two cooling spaces. The efficiency was increased as the ambient air temperature decreased and the mass flow rate increased. The percentage drop in photovoltaic (PV) cell efficiency decreased as the mass flow rate increased and the ambient temperature decreased, and it had the lowest value when air/water was used for cooling. The efficiency of the transparent solar cell (TSC) increased as the transparency decreased; in order to have higher efficiency, PV efficiency should be high, with low transparency. When added, the transparent solar cell was supposed to increase the harvested energy due to the utilization of the unconverted solar radiation, but it left two negative side effects. The first negative side effect was the reduction of the transmitted radiation to the conventional solar cell due to the transmissivity of the transparent cell. The second negative impact was the increase in the conventional cell temperature due to the additional thermal resistance, which reduced the effectiveness of cooling the cell from above. The proposed models were verified by comparing the results of the standalone PV that were available in the literature with the two models that are proposed in this paper.
Highlights
Energy harvesting is considered a mutual interest nowadays
This study does not take any economic aspects into consideration and these aspects will be the focus of an upcoming study after commercializing the transparent cell
The results showed that integrating a transparent solar cell with a conventional photovoltaic cell (TSC/SC) enabled the system to absorb and utilize both wavelengths of the solar radiation spectrum; the ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light spectrum
Summary
Energy harvesting is considered a mutual interest nowadays. Harvesting the energy that solar radiation possesses is one of the most important fields of energy harvesting. Scientists have come up with several ways to harvest the energy of light, where the most efficient way is solar cells. Those solar cells convert the light’s energy to electrical energy by allowing photons of light to knock electrons free from atoms to generate electricity [2]. The unused wavelengths (ultraviolet and infrared) do not have enough energy to dislodge the electrons and are absorbed by the system as a loss This part of the energy can be utilized by integrating transparent solar cells with conventional photovoltaic cells that enable the system to absorb both wavelengths of the solar radiation spectrum
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