Abstract

During the last three decades, renewable energies have been under consideration for replacing fossil fuels. The main obstacle in doing so is the relatively higher price for renewable energies. Solar energy is the major source of renewables. The main problem with solar energy is its low intensity, especially when photovoltaics is considered. To increase the specific power and hence decrease the cost of the power output of photovoltaics, concentrating systems may be used. Systems with concentrating ratio of less than 10 are of great importance due to the usage of normal monocrystal solar cells with no complicated cooling systems. In the present research, the performance of a monocrystal photovoltaic panel under concentrated sunlight was both experimentally and numerically investigated. A two-diode model was devised and validated by experimental data. Then variations in open circuit voltage, short circuit current, and output power were simulated with changes in radiation intensity and panel temperature. The simulation results resemble the experimental results very well. In the experiments, concentrating sunlight was achieved by flat mirrors. Effects of change in radiation intensity and cell temperature are reported. By using the concentrating system, the power output of the solar panel was increased up to 1.9 times under standard conditions.

Keywords:Solar cell; Photovoltaic panel; Concentrator; Two-diode model