Field Of Solar Energy Research Articles

Solar panel monitoring: real-time system using video watermarking and Mosaicing

In this paper, we propose a new approach to monitor a solar plant in real-time using an embedded vision system, comprised mainly of raspberry Pi3 card, GPS and thermometer sensors, and an HD camera module. This approach consists on using image processing techniques on solar energy fields. It is implemented on two steps, the first apply the digital watermarking technique based on discrete cosine transform (DCT) to indexing a captured video. We start by capturing all information from the solar plant (GPS coordinates, temperature, date, and time), then we embed on each video frame their related data. This method depends on transforming the video frames from the spatial to the frequency domain using DCT and embedding data in 8 × 8 block coefficients. The second step consists on applying a mosaicing techniques based on the scale invariant features transform (SIFT), in order to generate a panoramic image of the solar plant from video frames. Remotely, the supervisor can visualize the image of the whole, part, or panel of the solar plant, and exploits the embedded data to ensure an efficient real-time monitoring. The proposed method allows a high efficiency in terms of accuracy, data security, and retrieving data quickly, also it offers a high capacity, less imperceptibility and good robustness.

Development of a Utility Model for the Measurement of Global Radiation in Photovoltaic Applications in the Internet of Things (IoT)

In order to develop future projects in the field of photovoltaic solar energy, it is essential to accurately know the potential solar resources. There are many methods to estimate the incident solar radiation in a certain place. However, most of them are very expensive or do not have the ideal characteristics for good monitoring of a particular photovoltaic installation. For these reasons, an electronic device connected to the internet of things (IoT) is presented in this paper which manages to measure global radiation in photovoltaic applications. The device developed has been patented in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. It presents some features that make it very suitable to measure photovoltaic installations with the advantage of being a low cost and very reliable device. The device has been tested to determine global horizontal irradiance obtaining a correlation coefficient R2 = 0.994.

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ОСНОВНЫХ РЕЖИМОВ РАБОТЫ И ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ КОНСТРУКЦИИ ФОТОЭЛЕКТРИЧЕСКИХ СИСТЕМ ДЛЯ ПОСТРОЕНИЯ МИКРОМОЩНОЙ СОЛНЕЧНОЙ ЭЛЕКТРОСТАНЦИИ

Актуальность. Изменения геополитики и конъюнктуры мировых энергетических рынков всё больше и больше оказывают влияние на мировую экономику, вынуждая не только совершенствовать энергетические технологии, но и определять приоритеты государства в области энергетической политики. Такими приоритетами являются увеличение генерации от новых видов возобновляемых источников энергии и быстрое развитие соответствующих технологий, которые, в свою очередь, обеспечивают удешевление производств. Вместе с этим известно, что повысить надежность энергосистемы и одновременно увеличить производство электроэнергии можно за счет распределённой энергетики, основой которой является, в том числе, и микрогенерация от солнечных электростанций. В этой связи необходимы дополнительные исследования по адаптации существующих методик расчета фотоэлектрических систем к их использованию при разработке и построении маломощных солнечных электростанций. Актуальность обусловлена еще и тем, что необходимо создать максимально эффективную и недорогую систему преобразования солнечной энергии в электрическую, которая бы соответствовала любым заданным техническим требованиям, была надежной и простой в эксплуатации. Цель: разработать эффективную фотоэлектрическую систему и создать недорогую микромощную солнечную электростанцию с заранее заданными параметрами и техническими характеристиками для дальнейших экспериментальных исследований. Методы. При выполнении расчетов и исследовании основных режимов работы и элементов конструкции фотоэлектрических систем использовались результаты многочисленных научных исследований, в том числе и прикладных, и имеющийся на сегодняшний день опыт в области солнечной энергетики, который был получен при выполнении некоторых теоретических и экспериментальных работ. При разработке и моделировании электронных схем использовались многофункциональные системы DipTrace и EasyEDA. Результаты. Обоснована целесообразность применения более простых методик определения вероятной или фактической инсоляции с использованием программного обеспечения PVsyst, и погрешностью расчетов за один год не более 10 %. Разработаны: 1) технология для экспериментального производства фотоэлектрических модулей заданных геометрических размеров и номинальной мощности; 2) надежная за счет актуаторов система управления двухосным солнечным трекером, повышающая эффективность фотоэлектрических систем в широтах Западной и Юго-Западной Сибири; 3) структурная схема управления микромощной солнечной электростанцией; 4) электронные схемы солнечного контроллера MPPT, преобразователя DC-DC, инвертора DC-AC и главного управляющего блока на основе микроконтроллера ATmega326.

Modelling Hourly Global Horizontal Irradiance from Satellite-Derived Datasets and Climate Variables as New Inputs with Artificial Neural Networks

More accurate data of hourly Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) are required in the field of solar energy in areas with limited ground measurements. The aim of the research was to obtain more precise and accurate hourly GHI by using new input from Satellite-Derived Datasets (SDDs) with new input combinations of clear sky (Cs) and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) irradiance on the horizontal surface and with observed climate variables, namely Sunshine Duration (SD), Air Temperature (AT), Relative Humidity (RH) and Wind Speed (WS). The variables were placed in ten different sets as models in an artificial neural network with the Levenberg–Marquardt training algorithm to obtain results from training, validation and test data. It was applied at two station types in northeast Iraq. The test data results with observed input variables (correlation coefficient (r) = 0.755, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 33.7% and bias = 0.3%) are improved with new input combinations for all variables (r = 0.983, RMSE = 9.5% and bias = 0.0%) at four automatic stations. Similarly, they improved at five tower stations with no recorded SD (from: r = 0.601, RMSE = 41% and bias = 0.7% to: r = 0.976, RMSE = 11.2% and bias = 0.0%). The estimation of hourly GHI is slightly enhanced by using the new inputs.

CONCEPTION OF A MASTER DEGREE PROGRAM IN SOLAR ENERGY: INFRASTRUCTURE, STRUCTURE AND RESULTS

Sustainable development is a key issue for the modern world economy. A solution for reducing the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on climate change and for compensating depletion of conventional energy resources relies on green economy and renewable energy. Polytechnic University Timisoara has a pioneering role in research and applications of solar energy to industrial and residential systems in Romania. The Renewable Energies -Solar master program has been introduced for providing a formal framework for environmental education and is dedicated to formation of highly qualified specialists. The program is organized by the Department of Physical Engineering Fundamentals since 2008. We present the motivation, conception, structure and results obtained by running this master program. Competences of graduates include: knowledge of thermal and photovoltaic solar energy chains, innovation in solar technology, assessment of new solar systems, ability to design automated systems for solar energy applications, operation and maintenance of solar systems and installations and management of solar systems. The curriculum and the syllabi have been designed for the creation and development of: cognitive competences, practical and applied skills, management, communication and relational abilities that are useful to the specialist working in the field of Solar Energy in the first half of the XXI century.

Environmentally Benign All-inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells

Organic/inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskite solar cells have recently emerged as the forerunner in the next generation of photovoltaic technology due to unprecedented progress in power conversion efficiency from their debut of 3.8% in 2009 to the currently certified 23.3%. Mixed PSC solar cells are subject to compositional degradation when exposed to ambient surroundings, which thwarts their real-world applications. Moreover, lead-based compounds pose environmental/health hazards. Very recently, all-inorganic lead-free perovskites have attracted enormous attention because this type successfully dismantles two roadblocks—instability and toxicity, which would accelerate the commercialization. In this outlook, we offered our perspective on the most recent developments in material sciences of halides all inorganic perovskites with possible alternatives to lead, the synthesis approaches, assessment of various device configurations and their progress in solar cells. For the sake of comparison, we also reviewed some all-inorganic but lead-based counterparts in order to motivate researchers to explore all the potentials. Surveying recent developments toward lead-free all-inorganic perovskite solar cells would offer a roadmap for developing new materials and navigate uncharted territory in solar energy fields.

Review of Mathematical Equations for the Design of Compound Parabolic Concentrating Solar Energy Collectors

Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) is the most popular static low-concentrating system for solar energy collection. The main advantages of CPCs over other solar collectors include high optical efficiency, elimination of the diurnal tracking requirement at intermediate concentrations and being able to collect both diffuse and direct radiation. The overall performance of CPCs depends on the accurate design of solar radiation reflecting surfaces, which is based on the edge-ray principle and identical optical length principle. However, most students and junior researchers in the field of solar energy find it difficult to design CPCs. The reason is that they cannot fully understand the design principles of CPCs and derive mathematical equations of the reflectors, thus they are only interested in the design equations. In this study, an attempt has been made to review all mathematical equations that have been used to design symmetric and asymmetric CPCs with different receiver configurations. This article offers an opportunity for researchers to obtain accurate information more quickly than going through past publications in the hope of finding something relevant. It is anticipated that the results from this study will increase the application of CPCs to photovoltaics and/or thermal conversions.

Patterning aspects of small solar power development in Uzbekistan

The article describes the experience of “Mir Solar” LLC (Uzbekistan) in the use of patterning for the development and formation of small solar energy. The paper describes the patterning of the problem field of solar energy, which leads to effective practical solutions in the energy supply of rural and remote consumers of electric energy. The use of patterns shows that they contribute to the solution of many problems arising from the use of photovoltaic installations (PV), providing reliability and efficiency of power supply. Examples of effective implementation using patterning methods are given.

Electronic and electrical properties of siligraphene (g-SiC3) in the presence of several strains

Based on the first principles density functional theory (DFT), we have investigated the electronic and electrical properties of siligraphene (g-SiC3) under various percentages of strain. Our results show that the electronic and electrical properties can be controlled using (0% to −10%) strain. The behavior of g-SiC3 is altered from a semi metallic to semiconductor. The electronic band gap is opened under −9% and −10% strain. Also, the geometry of g-SiC3 is altered under with these two percentages of strain due to the bond length between C-Si atoms is increasing. The electrical conductivity of siligraphene g-SiC3 as a function temperature without and with strain has been given. We detected very exciting results. It is affected and changed when at the same percentage of strain, which applied to alter the behavior of g-SiC3 to semiconductor. Then, these properties can be led to generate new 2-D nanomaterials and devices with huge control over their physical properties for a wide range of applications ranging from photovoltaic to photo-catalysis. We show that siligraphene is a very promising 2D material with great impact that can lead to exceptional results in the field of solar energy and other application. Consequently, we push the experimental researches to discover this new 2D nanomaterial (siligraphene) for using in solar cell application.

Diamond: a gem for micro-optics

Photonics have developed greatly over the last several decades and brought about a variety of new concepts in communica tions, sensing, solar energy and many other fields. With the emerging applications of quantum technologies and all optical data processing, the impact of photonics on technology is unde niable, as evidenced through the International Year of Light and Light based Technologies in 2015.

The electronic structures and optical properties of B, C or N doped BaTiO3

The electronic structures and optical properties of Boron, Carbon or Nitrogen doped BaTiO3 are calculated by the first-principles calculations. The doped atoms decrease the band gap of BaTiO3 significantly, which could increase the host material ability to absorb the visible light. The absorption spectrum calculations confirm that both Boron and Carbon-doped BaTiO3 have a favorable performance in the absorption of visible light. However, Nitrogen-doped BaTiO3 doesn’t present the improvement. BaTiO3 doped with Boron or Carbon is expected to be a new class of perovskite materials for the field of solar energy.

Stable H-Terminated Edges, Variable Semiconducting Properties, and Solar Cell Applications of C3N Nanoribbons: A First-Principles Study.

Motivated by the recent synthesis of the graphene-like C3N nanosheet, the geometrical structures and electronic properties of its ribbon form, that is, C3N nanoribbons (C3NNRs), are investigated by first-principles calculations. It is found that there are five types of energetically favorable H-terminated edges in the C3NNRs. Different from graphene nanoribbons, the corresponding stable C3NNRs are all nonmagnetic semiconductors regardless of the edge shape and termination. However, their band feature and gap size can be modulated by the ribbon width and edge termination, which brings direct-, quasi-direct-, and indirect-band-gap semiconducting behaviors in the nanoribbons. Comparing to the C3N nanosheet, the work function is reduced in the C3NNRs with fully di- and monohydrogenated edges, which results in a type-II band alignment with SiC and silicane nanosheets. More interestingly, the combined hetero-nanostructures will be promising excitonic solar cell materials with high power conversion efficiencies up to 17–21%. Our study demonstrates that the C3NNRs have distinct edge stabilities and variable semiconducting behaviors, which endow fascinating potential applications in the fields of solar energy and nanodevices.

Thermal Energy Storage P(BeA-co-MMA) Microcapsules with Excellent Thermal Stability

Latent heat storage systems are a highly efficient and environmentally friendly way to use residual heat and store renewable energy. Phase change materials, which can absorb or release the enthalpy of phase changes in certain temperature ranges, are considered one of the most reliable latent heat storage and thermoregulation materials. Phase change materials have been successfully used in the fields of solar energy, aerospace and aviation, environmental control and textiles. Among phase change materials, paraffin and n-alkane are the most popular due to their characteristics of high phase change enthalpy, high energy storage density, relative low volume change ratio, good physical and chemical stability, and no super-cooling or phase segregation behavior. More importantly, there are wide selective working temperature ranges which greatly extend their operating conditions. Microcapsules are considered micro scale containers to prevent core from leaking, isolate from the surroundings and maintain chemical and functional stability in service. There are several methods to synthesize microcapsules: spray dying, complex coacervation, sol-gel, in-situ polymerization, suspension polymerization and emulsion polymerization. Among these, suspension polymerization has the advantages of being simple, cheap, stable, eco-friendly and being easily controlled, which makes it the most popular chemical method to synthesize microcapsules. The majority shell materials of traditional microcapsules are synthetic macromolecules. The properties of shell materials impact the application and processing conditions of the final energy storage composite materials greatly. Nevertheless, the low thermal stability and physical strength of polymers in nature strongly restrict application fields of microcapsules. What’s more, the evaporation or sublimation of core materials causes the low thermal stability. In order to overcome these shortages of shell fracture, core leakage, core evaporation or sublimation existing in traditional microcapsules, we design a copolymer microcapsule with strong interaction force between shell and core parts, which has an unseparated surface layer between shell and core. The strong interaction force between shell and core allows the extreme improvement of thermal stability of microcapsules. The copolymer microcapsule is synthesized by suspension polymerization of behenyl acrylate (BeA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA). In this paper, we report the synthesis, size control and structure analysis of P(BeA-co-MMA) microcapsules which have both excellent thermal stability and high thermal energy storage capacity.

The removal of fluosilicic acid ions in acid wastewater silicon etched by potassium salt

A Silicon material is widely used in various industries, especially in the field of aerospace and solar energy. But a lot of acidic wastewater from silicon etched is produced by machining process of silicon core during polysilicon production process of modified Siemens process, which contains nitric acid, flu silicic acid, and hydrofluoric acid. The waste acid will cause environmental pollution. This research developed a way to make a chemical precipitation reaction of fluorosilicic acid, with precipitant (potassium nitrate, potassium sulphate) in the waste acid. The dilute nitric acid filtrate non-fluorinated is gotten after filtrated the precipitate. The results showed: (1) Potassium nitrate as precipitating agent, the remove flu silicic acid in waste acid and the utilization of the metal ion is the maximum;( 2) The optimal precipitant is potassium nitrate.

ENVIRONMENTAl IMPACTS OF THE USES OF SOLAR ENERGY IN EGYPT STUDY USING GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES

Solar energy is one of the most important energy resources in the world and is one of the most important sources of renewable energy because it is one of the main strategic options to meet the future needs of local and global energy, as it is available in most of the world. As well as it is a clean energy that does not pollute or harm the environment. Distribution of solar energy on the surface of the earth varies according to earth rotation around the sun and the difference between the distances between them throughout the year .Thus, magnitude and intensity of solar radiation on the earth’s surface varies greatly from one season to one another according to the distance between the earth and the sun distinguished by different incident angles throughout the day and the year. Density of the clouds plays an important role in obscuring and reducing amounts and intensity of solar radiation and hence it reduces amount of potential energy, which is revealed by maps of spatial distribute of solar radiation and maps of the potential energy in Egypt. In this study factors affecting solar radiation were analyzed and the potentials energy was estimated. The study included the analysis a questionnaire of the solar energy companies of (20) companies to reach a number of objectives, including to reveal to what extent the Egyptian culture in the field of solar energy, especially from the trend of establishing solar power plants in Egypt and the use of solar energy in various areas instead of traditional energy, some of the obstacles faced by investors in the field of solar energy in Egypt and how to overcome these obstacles in the near future have been cleared from the questionnaire. The questionnaire revealed as well that there is noticeable increase in using solar energy instead of conventional energy. Therefore, solar power stations are involved in a variety of activities such as industry, lighting, cooking, farming, water pumping,...etc. These activities ascertain the importance of solar energy to achieve sustainable development and environmental security. In that manner, the future strategic plan of Egypt, which known as 2030, mainly emphasizes on increasing usage of renewable energy generally, and solar energy in specific in the major projects.

Improved Performance of Natural Dye for Eco-friendly Solar Cell Application using SnO2 Nanoparticles by Chemical Precipitation Method

Natural dye-sensitized solar cells (NDSSCs) have gained important interest in the field of solar energy owing to their low production cost, simple fabrication and good efficiency. In the present study, SnO 2 nanoparticles were prepared by chemical precipitation method. The photoanode is fabricated using doctor-blade technique. In this paper, the dye molecules absorb light and make excited electrons the technique adopted, which in revolve create current in the output terminals of the cell. Graphite coated glass was used as the counter electrode. The prepared nanoparticles are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and UV-Visible spectroscopy. XRD analysis confirms the structure of tetragonal structure with rutile phase, and crystallite sizes 20-30 nm. Curcuma longa dye extract used as photosensitizer. FTIR results show the M-O (Sn-O) bond with no other distinct impurities from the chemical reactions that were used for SnO 2 preparation. Finally, photocurrent-voltaic characterization of nano-crystaline natural dye solar cell using I-V studies. It was found that the levels of short-circuit current (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF) and overall conversion efficiency (η) of Curcuma longa dye extract. Further suggestions to improve the efficiency of NDSSC are discussed.

Accelerating band gap prediction for solar materials using feature selection and regression techniques

We present a novel approach to apply machine learning techniques to build a more robust prediction model for band-gap energies (BG-E) of chalcopyrites, a class of materials for energy applications in the fields of solar energy, photocatalysis, and thermoelectrics. Guided by knowledge from domain experts and by previous works on the field, we aim to accelerate the discovery of new solar materials. Our objectives are two folds: (i) Identify the optimal set of features that best describes a given predicted variable. (ii) Boost prediction accuracy via applying various regression algorithms. Ordinary Least Square, Partial Least Square and Lasso regressions, combined with well adjusted feature selection techniques are applied and tested to predict the band gap energy of chalcopyrites materials. Compared to the results reported in Zeng et al. (2002), Suh et al. (1999, 2004), and Dey et al. (2014), our approach shows that learning and using only a subset of relevant features can improve the prediction accuracy by about 40%.

A comparative entropy based analysis of Cu and Fe3O4/methanol Powell-Eyring nanofluid in solar thermal collectors subjected to thermal radiation, variable thermal conductivity and impact of different nanoparticles shape

Abstract The efficiency of any nanofluid based thermal solar system depend on the thermophysical properties of the operating fluids, type and shape of nanoparticles, nanoparticles volumetric concentration in the base fluid and the geometry/length of the system in which fluid is flowing. The recent research in the field of thermal solar energy has been focused to increase the efficiency of solar thermal collector systems. In the present research a simplified mathematical model is studied for inclusion in the thermal solar systems with the aim to improve the overall efficiency of the system. The flow of Powell-Eyring nanofluid is induced by non-uniform stretching of porous horizontal surface with fluid occupying a space over the surface. The thermal conductivity of the nanofluid is to vary as a linear function of temperature and the thermal radiation is to travel a short distance in the optically thick nanofluid. Numerical scheme of Keller box is implemented on the system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which are resultant after application of similarity transformation to governing nonlinear partial differential equations. The impact of non dimensional physical parameters appearing in the system have been observed on velocity and temperature profiles along with the entropy of the system. The velocity gradient (skin friction coefficient) and the strength of convective heat exchange (Nusselt number) are also investigated.

Photovoltaic Power Generation in Indian Prospective Considering Off-grid and Grid-connected Systems

Electrical energy plays a vital role in the progress of any developed and developing nation across the world. The maximum capacity of electrical energy is supplied by fossil fuel-based centralized power generating stations. The inadequacy of fossil fuels and their harmful effects on the environment leads the research towards energy generation from renewable sources. Wind, solar, biogas, small hydro, etc. are the potential resources of renewable energy. Solar has the maximum potential out of the 900 GW estimated potential of renewable energy in India. This paper highlights the progress and efforts made in the field of solar energy in India. The current status of solar energy generation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) is reviewed thoroughly to justify the utilization of solar potential. The government initiatives, tariff policies, and solar energy incentives are presented in terms of different support programs, funding schemes, and subsidies. As a consequence, the future targets are being achieved by establishing solar parks and rooftop solar systems with the help of net metering concept. Moreover, some success stories as an eye-opener in the field of solar are also depicted.

SINKHOLE SUSCEPTIBILITY ANALYSIS FOR KARAPINAR/KONYA VIA MULTI CRITERIA DECISION

Abstract. Sinkholes are being a natural hazard which threads economic and human life. Sudden occurrence characteristic of sinkholes make it unable to escape. There are a lot of factor that activate sinkholes such as geology, irrigation, land use and human related factors. In Karapınar, Konya, there are over 200 sinkholes and this count is getting increased in recent years. Especially active agricultural lands, decreasing ground water level, extreme irrigation by 55267 water wells increase the risk factor of Karapınar. Nowadays, considering the economic contribution of Karapınar to Turkey economy in the field of agriculture, solar energy fields and thermal reactor which will be planned in next few years, prediction of sinkholes and searching for preventation ways are being more important issue. In this study, sinkhole susceptibility map via AHP was carried out for Karapınar in Konya. Slope, land use, elevation, geology, water wells, distance to roads and settlements criteria are included to determine susceptibility. The weights are calculated with AHP for each criterion and generated susceptibility map is overlapped with existing sinkholes. Suggestions and results are shared for this study.