Parametric sensitivity analysis of a one-dimensional thermal-electrical model of a photovoltaic solar module

Abstract

The efficiency of a photovoltaic module decreases with the increase in the temperature of the photovoltaic cell, which makes the determination of this temperature one of the determining factors in the modeling of a photovoltaic module. The objective of this work is to make a detailed study about the input parameters of a developed thermal-electrical model of a photovoltaic module, based on a sensitivity analysis. The model includes a thermal part, in which the temperature varies along the five layers of the module, and an electrical part, which is based on a single diode five parameters model. The coupling of these models into a thermal-electrical model is described. Through differential sensitivity analysis, the parameters that have a significant impact on estimating the photovoltaic cell temperature were determined. The variations of the sensitivity coefficients throughout a simulated day are presented. Parameters with the highest absolute sensitivity coefficients, such as the transmittance-absorptance product and open circuit voltage, are crucial for accurate temperature estimation and were further researched and determined with greater precision, in order to improve the model reliability. Conversely, parameters with lower absolute sensitivity coefficients, such as albedo and parallel resistance, were considered less important and could be simplified to enhance computational efficiency.