The Effects of Nonuniform Illumination on the Electrical Performance of a Single Conventional Photovoltaic Cell

Damasen Ikwaba Paul,Mervyn Smyth,Jayanta Mondol,Aggelos Zacharopoulos

doi:10.1155/2015/631953

Damasen Ikwaba Paul, Mervyn Smyth + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/631953

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Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) concentrators are a promising approach for lowering PV electricity costs in the near future. However, most of the concentrators that are currently used for PV applications yield nonuniform flux profiles on the surface of a PV module which in turn reduces its electrical performance if the cells are serially connected. One way of overcoming this effect is the use of PV modules with isolated cells so that each cell generates current that is proportional to the energy flux absorbed. However, there are some cases where nonuniform illumination also exists in a single cell in an isolated cells PV module. This paper systematically studied the effect of nonuniform illumination on various cell performance parameters of a single monocrystalline standard PV cell at low and medium energy concentration ratios. Furthermore, the effect of orientation, size, and geometrical shapes of nonuniform illumination was also investigated. It was found that the effect of nonuniform illumination on various PV cell performance parameters of a single standard PV cell becomes noticeable at medium energy flux concentration whilst the location, size, and geometrical shape of nonuniform illumination have no effect on the performance parameters of the cell.

Highlights

Photovoltaic (PV) concentrators are devices that use mirrors, lenses, or solar reflectors to collect irradiation from a large area and focus the intensity onto a small area so as to increase irradiation intensity on the surface of a solar cell/module [1]
Most of the concentrators such as the Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPCs) that are currently used for PV applications yield nonuniform flux profiles on the surface of a PV module which in turn reduces its electrical performance if the cells are serially connected
That, at low energy concentration ratio, nonuniform illumination does not have any effect on the I-V characteristic of a single standard PV cell

Summary

Introduction

Photovoltaic (PV) concentrators are devices that use mirrors, lenses, or solar reflectors to collect irradiation (both beam and scattered) from a large area and focus the intensity onto a small area so as to increase irradiation intensity on the surface of a solar cell/module [1]. Most of the concentrators such as the Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPCs) that are currently used for PV applications yield nonuniform flux profiles on the surface of a PV module which in turn reduces its electrical performance if the cells are serially connected. It is a well-known fact that, for a PV module with PV cells in series connection, its power output decreases depending on the cell(s) with the least illumination energy flux. There are some cases where nonuniform illumination exists in a single cell in an isolated cells PV module [4]

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