Investigation of the effect of photovoltaic (PV) surface temperature on the system performance of concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV)

In this study, the effect of temperature on PV system efficiency was investigated in a system where photovoltaic panels were assciated with compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) reflectors. Firstly, literature studies were conducted and concentrators existing in the market were investigated. In addition, the structure and physical characteristics of PV systems are also discussed. Non-imaging systems were used as reflectors in the CPV system. Analysis of CPC-PV, V-trough-PV and CHC-trumpet PV systems was performed in the Fortran program. As a result of the analysis, the heat flux values related to the different incident angles of the radiation were taken and the effect of the temperature on these systems was studied numerically by applying it to the two dimensional PV module generated in Fortran program. Water cooling system has been applied to reduce the effect of temperature. The electrical performances were evaluated by taking into account the uniformity and temperature. CPC provides mostly uniform illumination only around the normal incident angle of solar rays. On the other hand, V-trough and CHC-trumpet geometries show quite similar characteristic with reasonably uniform illuminations. The average temperature in the CPV-PV system is 303-304 K. The average temperature in the V-trough-PV system is 297-304 K and the CHC-trumpet-PV system is 299-304 K. For the CPC-PV, V- trough-PV and CHC-trumpet-PV systems, the minimum efficiency values are 14.3%, 14.5% and 14.6% respectively, while the maximum values are 14.5%, 15% and 14.9% respectively. CHC-trumpet reflector needs almost as half size as that of V-trough or CPC system to attain similar concentration ratio. CHC system has quite uniform illumination and shows a better performance compare to the other CPV panels in terms of the power output per reflector surface area.