Structural analysis of a mobile device for the End–of–Life treatment of photovoltaic panels

Abstract

The use of photovoltaic panels in Europe led to the installation of about 100GWp in the last decade, an amount which is still growing. The productive life of panels is expected to be between 10 to 30 years, so that in the future a strong demand for systems able to perform their End–of–Life treatment is undoubted. As a consequence of the Directive 2012/19/EU, the decommissioning of photovoltaic plants has to be performed in order to achieve challenging material recycling and recovery targets. Small size, mobile treatment plants have been proposed to reduce the investment needed for their installation in comparison with large industrial ones.A prototype system for the treatment of photovoltaic panels is presented; it is designed to be transported within the limits of ordinary freight transport vehicles. All the systems included in the plant have been organized in a production line mounted in three containers. Due to functional reasons, the containers have been design and built specifically for these use, providing the necessary integration between the installed machinery and of auxiliary systems such as dust collection system, sound insulation and vibration absorbers. For the verification of resistance and stiffness of the system – which differs from regular freight containers – an adaptation of suitable standards is proposed. After the definition of appropriate loads for the case study, the structures of the containers are analyzed using Finite Elements software. The analysis shows that due to the characteristics of the application the structure is not suitable for general containers use, but – considering the limitations of the application in terms of transportation needs – the results can be considered acceptable.