Solar Panel Deployment Research Articles

Smart tubular hinge with multi-environment adaptability for rapid elastic and gentle shape memory deployment

Smart deployable structures are a crucial solution for reducing spacecraft weight and enhancing rocket space utilization. Traditional deployable structures based on composite materials can only achieve either elastic deployment or shape memory deployment, failing to meet multi-condition, high-intelligence requirements. In this work, we developed a tubular hinge with dual-deformation deployability. For rapid deployment needs, the hinge can be deformed at room temperature and achieve quick elastic deployment within 0.3 s at room or low temperatures. For autonomous fixation and slow deployment, the hinge can be fixed at high temperatures and achieve a gentle shape memory deployment within 100 s. More significantly, the hinge exhibits excellent environmental stability, maintaining superior deployable characteristics even after exposure to high and low-temperature environments and long-term folding. This hinge has been used to the deployment of solar panels and solar sails.

Numerical Investigation on the Thermal Characteristics of Lightweight Metal Mesh-Based Reflector Antenna with Various Knitting Conditions

Proper prediction of the temperature variation in a metallic wire mesh for spaceborne large deployable reflector antennas is essential for evaluating the dimensional stability of the antenna under extreme on-orbit thermal environments. However, predicting the temperature of a mesh is difficult because of its complex yarn configuration. To analyze the thermal behavior of the spaceborne mesh antenna reflector, the thermal optical characteristics with various knitting methods of the metallic mesh were obtained experimentally in this study. Subsequently, to analyze the thermal sensitivity of the reflector based on its optical properties, an on-orbit thermal analysis of the mesh reflector was performed based on measurements of the mesh specimen. We also investigated the influence of deployable solar panels on the thermal gradient of the reflector.

Cool Roofs Could Be Most Effective at Reducing Outdoor Urban Temperatures in London (United Kingdom) Compared With Other Roof Top and Vegetation Interventions: A Mesoscale Urban Climate Modeling Study

AbstractComprehensive studies comparing impacts of building and street levels interventions on air temperature at metropolitan scales are still lacking despite increased urban heat‐related mortality and morbidity. We therefore model the impact of 9 interventions on air temperatures at 2 m during 2 hot days from the summer 2018 in the Greater London Authority area using the WRF BEP‐BEM climate model. We find that on average cool roofs most effectively reduce temperatures (∼−1.2°C), outperforming green roofs (∼0°C), solar panels (∼−0.5°C) and street level vegetation (∼−0.3°C). Application of air conditioning across London (United Kingdom) increases air temperatures by ∼+0.15°C. A practicable deployment of solar panels could cover its related energetic consumption. Current practicable deployments of green roofs and solar panels are ineffective at large scale reduction of temperatures. We provide a detailed decomposition of the surface energy balance to explain changes in air temperature and guide future decision‐making.

Analyzing the Influence of Solar Panel Deployment on Land Use and Biodiversity Patterns in the Bhadla and Pokhran Regions of the Thar Desert: A Comparative Study with Oran Landscape

Analyzing the Influence of Solar Panel Deployment on Land Use and Biodiversity Patterns in the Bhadla and Pokhran Regions of the Thar Desert: A Comparative Study with Oran Landscape

Mapping of Household Photovoltaic Research in Indonesia: A literature review using bibliometric analysis

This research aims to undertake a bibliometric study on household photovoltaics within the Indonesian context. The objectives include mapping the global trends in publications related to household photovoltaics, mapping the trends within the Indonesian context, analyzing the performance of authors, affiliations, sources, and papers, identifying research hot topics, and determining research themes. This study utilized 122 Scopus-indexed articles. The findings reveal an increasing trend in the number of publications on household photovoltaics both globally and within the Indonesian context. In the Indonesian context, Tarigan, E stands out as the most relevant author, the University of Indonesia emerges as the most relevant affiliation, IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science leads as the most relevant source, Renewable Energy takes the lead as the most influential source, and article title ’Energy and Economic Losses Caused by Dust on Residential Photovoltaic (PV) Systems Deployed in Different Climate Areas,’ stands out as the most influential. This study identified five themes as hot topics (Photovoltaic Quality and Performance, Economic Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems, Net Metering and Inverter of Rooftop Photovoltaic in Indonesia, Monitoring System of Residential Solar Panels, and Technical and Economics of Solar Power Plants) and four research themes (The Adoption of Household Rooftop Photovoltaics and Influencing Factors, Design and Planning for Rooftop Solar Panel Deployment, Rooftop Photovoltaics Adoption and Renewable Energy Targets, and Economic Analysis of Rooftop Photovoltaic).

Estimate of return on investment in solar energy in schools in Sergipe

With the growing demand for energy and the environmental challenges associated with the use of fossil fuels and electrical energy in the world, the need to seek energy efficiency to reduce consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is highlighted. In addition, it has reinforced the search for renewable energy sources, emphasizing solar energy, as a sustainable alternative to meet energy demand, especially in Brazil, due to its potential for solar radiation. Public buildings, in particular schools, are identified as significant consumers of electricity, and it is pointed out that the high consumption is not only due to excessive use by consumers, but also to the intensive use of artificial lighting and conditioners of air. As it is an extensive country with high solar irradiation, there is, so, an alternative to reduce environmental impacts. The study area involved 310 schools in Sergipe, and the consumption of electricity was obtained from the website of the Sergipe Department of Education. To simulate the deployment of solar panels, the NEOSOLAR online calculator was used along with the energy tariff, providing information on average investment, and estimated monthly savings. The payback period was calculated using the Simple Payback Method for each school individually. The payback period for all schools was less than 10 years. Thus, it is concluded that the use of solar energy in these establishments proved to be an economically, socially, and environmentally viable practice.

Evaluating the 7E impact of solar photovoltaic power plants at airports: a case study

The deployment of solar panels at airports offers numerous benefits, such as clean energy production, cost savings, emission reduction, improved energy security, and a positive public image. In this study, the performance of various solar panel technologies is investigated based on the 7E framework (i.e. energy, exergy, economic, energoenvironmental, exergoenvironmental, energoenviroeconomic, and energoenviroeconomic) at airports in Pakistan. Initially, available spaces at five international airports are identified followed by energy assessments conducted with PVSyst simulation software. Next, a mathematical model is developed to evaluate exergy, economic, energoenvironmental, exergoenvironmental, energoenviroeconomic, and exergoenviroeconomic parameters. Results show that all airports demonstrate favorable performance ratios. Specifically, Quetta airport emerges as the optimal location as per the 7E assessment, showcasing a reference yield of 2752 kWh/kW, final yield of 2420.8 kWh/kW, 27.63% capacity utilization factor, 0.031 $/kWh levelized cost of electricity, 5730 tons of CO2 avoided annually, and $488,826 per year in greenhouse gas revenue, achieved through thin film-based technology with single axis tracking. Peshawar airport stands out for its high energy efficiency, while Karachi airport excels in exergy analysis. The outcome of the study will provide insights into the potential of these systems to mitigate energy challenges, considering economic feasibility and environmental implications.

Twenty years crystal growth of solar silicon: My serendipity journey

The past two decades have been a transformative era for solar silicon crystal growth, especially in the competition between multi-crystalline silicon (Multi-Si) and mono-crystalline silicon (Mono-Si). As a critical sector of the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, the demand for this crucial material has surged exponentially, expanding over a thousand-fold. This remarkable increase has led to an accumulative deployment of silicon solar panels, which now approach a striking terawatt (TW), capturing over 95 % of the global PV market share. Furthermore, the rapid advancements in crystal growth technology during this period have set an unprecedented historical benchmark. This paper reviewed our early effort in the hot-zone design of Czochralski (CZ) solar silicon and then discussed its recent advancements. In between, the small-grain high-performance multi-crystalline silicon (HPM-Si), which we proposed, and the mono-like silicon (ML-Si) were briefly introduced. Because of the much better ingot quality and growth yield, HPM-Si became the mainstream until 2018. Its market share peaked at more than 70 % in 2017 but slid down quickly and was replaced by CZ silicon due to the emergence of diamond wire sawing (DWS); the CZ silicon was easier to cut, and its kerf loss was much less. Since then, the CZ ingot size has also started to increase quickly. The wafer size increased from 156 mm × 156 mm (M0) to 217 mm × 217 mm (M12+) in a few recent years; the increase in wafer area was almost doubled. Nowadays, the market share of CZ mono-Si is over 80 %.

Performance of solar roof top panels with disparate particulate accumulation: Exergy analysis on an indoor lab study.

Deployment of solar photovoltaic panels are significantly rising to tackle adverse effects of climate change however, factors affecting output need to be categorized in addition to latitude angle and space. It is important to consider the atmospheric impact which can drastically change output power of solar panels. This study covers dust accumulation of soil, sand and ash at variable weights to foresee its effects on panel power output. Mixtures of these particles at multiple constituents were also analyzed. Experimental results indicated that clean panel gives maximum power output of 21.37W and exergy efficiency of 7.96% whereas ash accumulation showed worst results of 2.88W power output and 1.07% exergy efficiency at 700W/m2 and 50g dust accumulation. Other parameters like energy destruction, exergy losses and sustainability index were also analyzed. Trends have been illustrated in graphs along with the change in solar intensity and dust accumulations.

Optimal use of electric propulsion for drag compensation in very low earth orbit on satellites with deployable solar panels

In recent years, thanks to advancements in commercial hardware technology miniaturization, small satellites have become more and more important and effective in the Space ecosystem. In previous papers it has been demonstrated that future smallest observation systems, operating at a lower altitude than traditional systems, have the potential for comparable or better performance, much lower overall mission cost, lower risk, shorter schedules, lower up-front development cost, more sustainable business model, mitigating the problem of orbital debris. Flying in very low Earth orbit requires the addition of a propulsion system capable of providing drag compensation. Thanks to its high specific impulse, electric propulsion is potentially well suited for this task. However, the use of an electric thruster often requires significant power that can be provided only with deployable solar panels. To minimize the drag, the solar panels should be aligned with the satellite orbital velocity. At the same time, to maximize the power input, the solar panel surfaces should point toward the Sun. In the majority of cases these two conditions are not met simultaneously, so an optimal trade-off is needed. This topic is investigated in this paper by the use of an orbital model of a generic satellite with deployable solar panels. The model is able to simulate any circular orbit of the satellite in any day of the year and calculate both the power input and the drag from the solar panels based on their inclination. An equivalent specific impulse is also defined taking into account the thrust that the electric thruster has to provide only to push the area of the solar panels required to power the propulsion system. The results show, as expected, that the sun-synchronous Dawn-Dusk (or Dusk-Dawn) orbit is the preferred one for the electric propulsion as the velocity vector and the Sun vector are almost orthogonal. In the other cases, at very low Earth orbit, even relatively small inclinations of the solar panels respect to the velocity vector have a significant impact on the drag produced, increasing the propellant consumption and the required power. Nevertheless, it is shown also that if the solar panels are aligned with the velocity, the power lost can be kept reasonable. The same analysis could also apply to a satellite in low Earth orbit that does not employ an electric thruster but still needs deployable solar panels because of other sources of high power consumption (e.g. the payload).

Design of a New Multi-Variant Solar Panel Deployment System (Mvspds)

Multi-Variant Solar Panel Deployment System (MVSPDS) is defined as the satellite deployment System which can change its orientation according to the power supply required for the satellite or power supply source available to the satellite. To deploy the solar panels completely, it is necessary to design the deployment mechanism which has high precision and reliability. So, this method of deployment will not only provide the said benefit but also it will allow a wide range of application. Consequently, the analysis on the dynamic characteristic of the deployment mechanism must be done at an initial design stage. The design effectiveness and structural safety of the proposed solar panel module were validated by launch vibration and in-orbit environment tests at the qualification level. In this paper, the complete design of a new Multi-Variant Solar Panel Deployment System in a Satellite is proposed completely by me, where the author have inculcated various deployment methods and proposed a new method of satellite deployment. The complete design is done in the Autodesk 360 software (Educational license) where the design and animation method are extensively used to make this possible. It will be clearly depicted from the design that the structure is very compact during the process of orbit insertion. Yet when it come into working it definitely works according to the power need of the satellite. For an example when the satellite needs less amount of power it will transform itself in such a way that the amount of power generation will be less on the other hand when the satellite needs more power than the Solar Panel will change itself in such a way that it will have the maximum surface area as a result of which the power generation will be maximum. Moreover, the variety which provides is really unique as it also has the power to change its solar panel into different structure for an example it can change itself into a circle like structure it can change itself in the canister to form another structure and moreover it will work completely according to the need if programmed properly for space flight mission. And hence can give rise to a wide variety of different deployment methods.

Solar farm policy and farmland price – A land zoning perspective

Photovoltaic or solar energy is recognized as a significant source of renewable energy on a global scale. The utilization of ground-mounted solar panels is closely associated with the use of farmland, as solar power generation typically requires vast expanses of farmland. While previous studies have explored the use of price incentives to regulate the adoption of solar panels, little is known about the impact of land zoning policies on farmland prices. The relationship between farmland use policies and farmland prices is well-documented, with policies often capitalizing into the value of the land across various countries. The deployment of ground-mounted solar panels has raised concerns about the potential loss of farmland and the degradation of the farming environment. However, the policy debate has largely overlooked the price capitalization effect of solar panel installations. In an effort to mitigate the adverse effects of solar panels on agriculture, the Taiwanese government implemented revised zoning regulations that impose stricter limitations on small-scale ground-mounted type solar panels installed on farmland. As a result of this policy reform, solar panels are no longer permitted on farmland areas measuring less than 660 square meters. While it is expected that the installation of solar panels will slow down, the resulting price effects on farmland remain poorly understood. This paper measures the impact of the land zoning regulation on farmland prices in Taiwan. By utilizing nationwide data on farmland transactions and employing the difference-in-differences method, we discover that the tightened regulations pertaining to solar panel installation have led to a 21.8% reduction in farmland prices. Furthermore, the negative price effect is found to be least pronounced in high-productivity farmland. We also find that the decline in prices commenced two months after the reform and continued to intensify over time. Additionally, we identify a distributional effect concerning price, whereby farmland with higher prices per hectare experiences the most significant impact. Consequently, our study contributes an empirical analysis that confirms the substantial price capitalization effects of land zoning policies on farmland.

나노위성 전개형 태양전지판 전개시험 및 교훈

본 논문은 우주환경 과학임무 나노위성 SNIPE의 전개형 태양전지판의 전개시험을 통해 얻을 수 있는 나노위성 전개형 태양전지판 개발 방법론에 대해 논의한다. SNIPE와 같이 필요전력이 높은 나노위성은 보통 전개형 태양전지판을 사용하며 전개형 태양전지판의 전개는 임무 성공의 필수 조건이다. SNIPE 전개형 태양전지판은 본체와 동일하게 EQM으로 먼저 검증 후 FM으로 개발하였다. FM전개시험에서 EQM에는 없었던 다양한 문제가 발생하였고 이들의 원인을 분석한 결과 크게 세 가지로 첫 번째는 FM 힌지 제작 시 형상변경, 두 번째는 조립 오류, 세 번째는 힌지 설계 자체의 문제점이 있다는 결론을 얻을 수 있었다. 해결을 위해 EQM의 형상과 동일한 부품으로 교체, 태양전지판 재조립, 개별 태양전지판 별 교정작업을 수행하여 문제를 해결하였다. 이의 교훈으로 형상 관리의 중요성과 함께 향후 태양전지판 힌지 설계에 도움을 줄 수 있는 제안들을 기술한다.

Origami With Rotational Symmetry: A Review on Their Mechanics and Design

Abstract Origami has emerged as a powerful mechanism for designing functional foldable and deployable structures. Among various origami patterns, a large class of origami exhibits rotational symmetry, which possesses the advantages of elegant geometric shapes, axisymmetric contraction/expansion, and omnidirectional deployability, etc. Due to these merits, origami with rotational symmetry has found widespread applications in various engineering fields such as foldable emergency shelters, deformable wheels, deployable medical stents, and deployable solar panels. To guide the rational design of origami-based deployable structures and functional devices, numerous works in recent years have been devoted to understanding the geometric designs and mechanical behaviors of rotationally symmetric origami. In this review, we classify origami structures with rotational symmetry into three categories according to the dimensional transitions between their deployed and folded states as three-dimensional to three-dimensional, three-dimensional to two-dimensional, and two-dimensional to two-dimensional. Based on these three categories, we systematically review the geometric designs of their origami patterns and the mechanical behaviors during their folding motions. We summarize the existing theories and numerical methods for analyzing and designing these origami structures. Also, potential directions and future challenges of rotationally symmetric origami mechanics and applications are discussed. This review can provide guidelines for origami with rotational symmetry to achieve more functional applications across a wide range of length scales.

Origami inspired deployable structures: Future mobile healthcare for low resource settings

Deployable structures may be defined as systems that can be packed, stored, transported, and then deployed or assembled into functional configurations. The potential applications of deployable structures includes portable or modular buildings, scaffolding, bridges for construction sites and stages for events, spacecrafts with deployable solar panels, antennas, etc, tent systems for disaster relief shelters, and medical equipment such as collapsible hospital beds, examinations tables. The literature suggests many more applications but there is a gap of how to achieve such systems from a design perspective. This study takes deployable mobile clinics as an example to delve deep into the product design, development and deployment inspired by the ancient art of origami.

Monoenergetic neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in Jupiter

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) can be captured by the Sun and annihilate in the core, which may result in production of kaons that can decay at rest into monoenergetic 236 MeV neutrinos. Several studies of detection of these neutrinos at DUNE have been carried out. It has been shown that if the WIMP mass is below 4 GeV, then they will evaporate prior to annihilation, suppressing the signal. Since Jupiter has a cooler core, WIMPs with masses in the 1--4 GeV range will not evaporate and can thus annihilate into kaons which decay at rest into monoenergetic neutrinos. We calculate the flux of these neutrinos near the surface of Jupiter and find that it is comparable to the flux of neutrinos from the Sun at DUNE for masses above 4 GeV and substantially greater in the 1--4 GeV range. Of course, detecting these neutrinos would require a neutrino detector near Jupiter. Obviously, it will be many decades before such a detector can be built, but should direct detection experiments find a WIMP with a mass in the 1--4 GeV range, it may be one of the few ways to learn about the annihilation process. A liquid hydrogen time projection chamber might be able to get precise directional information and energy of these neutrinos (and hydrogen is plentiful in the vicinity of Jupiter). We speculate that such a detector could be placed on the far side of one of the tidally locked Amalthean moons; the moon itself would provide substantial background shielding and the surface would allow easier deployment of solar panels for power generation.

Modeling and simulation of the kinematic behavior of the deployment mechanism of solar array for a 1‐U CubeSat

AbstractKinematics of deployable solar array mechanisms in CubeSat satellites have considerable influence on the stability and attitude control of a satellite, especially in low mass systems as CubeSats. One of the issues with the conventional solar panel deployment mechanisms in CubeSats is the speed of its deployment, especially when position‐lock to hold the panels back from oscillation is lacking. The generated oscillation becomes more pronounced in a system equipped with solar tracking unit and thus, reduces available projected area of the panels and causing fatigue at the yoke and panel hinges. This work aims at modeling and simulation of the 1‐U CubeSat solar panel deployment mechanism vibration control using fisher wire. Two‐fold panel deployment mechanism with a rolling sun‐tracking tilt mechanism was developed. The system performance from viewpoint of vibration analysis was evaluated using mass‐spring‐damper method and bond graph techniques. Numerical simulations and experiments were performed to validate the proposed method. The modeling and computational analysis were done with SOLIDWORKS software. The system was tested for vibration and stability using the seismic mass‐spring‐and‐damper arrangement to validate the model. A 3‐D printing was generated and tested to evaluate its vibration performance and its effects during deployment. The result was such that the two panels attached to a wing hinged at Y – and – Y directions deployed slowly and smoothly at approximately 2 s, giving room for the vibration to decay exponentially towards zero. This agrees with reported works where a DC motor was used to control speed of deployment by increasing time to 6.8 s. The simulated and experimental results of the printed model showed close agreement with the theoretical values with an error of 0.03% in energy supply reliability and up to 400% power generation potential when compared to body mounted solar panels with the same satellite specification without a significant impact on system strength and stability.

An Analytical Feasibility Study for Solar Panel Installation in Qatar Based on Generated to Consumed Electrical Energy Indicator

The main objective of this study is to establish analytical feasibility for the deployment of solar panels in Qatar houses and other organisations; to calculate, by the use of analytical means, solar panel deployment scenarios with different panel sizes, efficiency, and sun per day, in order to estimate generated energy and compare that with actual consumption over a period of twelve months. In addition, the study aims to provide a comparative indicator on the ratio of generated energy to consumed energy and consumed electrical energy (GtoC), to establish the possibility of using the GtoC ratio as a new renewable energy rating index, for use in renewable energy investment and sales forecasting, in maintaining comparisons between different installation scenarios, and in upgrade planning and decision making. This study’s analytical solutions might be correlated with data from in situ solar panel installation scenarios in order to fully establish the performance under operational scenarios. The study will be beneficial to support roadmaps to foster solar panel deployment in Qatar, through demonstrating scenarios that can enable economic and environmental incentives. In addition, the study can be useful for other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states with similar weather and economic conditions. Moreover, GtoC indicator can be used as a new source of data to establish a data-driven model for suitable clean energy projects.

Optimization of Solar Panel Deployment Using Machine Learning

In this work, we proposed a mechanism for topology reconfiguration or optimization of photovoltaic (PV) arrays using machine learning-assisted techniques. The study takes into concern several topologies that includes series parallel topology, parallel topology, bridge link topology, honeycomb topology, and total cross tied. The artificial neural network-based topology reconfiguration strategy allows for optimal working conditions for PV arrays. With this, machine learning-assisted topology reconfiguration or optimal solar panel deployment enables the proposed mechanism to achieve higher degree of testing accuracy precision, recall, and f-measure under standard ideal condition.

Angular Displacement Control for Timoshenko Beam by Optimized Traveling Wave Method

The vibration of flexible structures in spacecraft, such as large space deployable reflectors, solar panels and large antenna structure, has a great impact on the normal operation of spacecraft. Accurate vibration control is necessary, and the control of angular displacement is a difficulty of accurate control. In the traditional control method, the mode space control has a good effect on suppressing low-order modes, but there is control overflow. The effect of traveling wave control on low-order modes is worse than the former, but it has the characteristics of broadband control. It can better control high-order modes and reduce control overflow. In view of the advantages and disadvantages of the two control methods, based on Timoshenko beam theory, this paper uses vector mode function to analyze the modal of spacecraft cantilever beam structure, establishes the system dynamic equation, and puts forward an optimized traveling wave control method. As a numerical example, three strategies of independent mode space control, traditional traveling wave control and optimized traveling wave control are used to control the active vibration of beam angle. By comparing the numerical results of the three methods, it can be seen that the optimal control method proposed in this paper not only effectively suppresses the vibration, but also improves the robustness of the system, reflecting good control performance. An innovation of this paper is that the Timoshenko beam model is adopted, which considers the influence of transverse shear deformation and moment of inertia on displacement and improves the accuracy of calculation, which is important for spacecraft accessory structures with high requirements for angle control. Another innovation is that the optimized traveling wave control method is exquisite in mathematical processing and has good results in global and local vibration control, which is not available in other methods.