IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i11p1091-d81327.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimentally Investigating the Effect of Temperature Differences in the Particle Deposition Process on Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Modules

Author

Listed:
  • Yu Jiang

    (Renewable Energy Research Group, Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China)

  • Lin Lu

    (Renewable Energy Research Group, Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China)

Abstract

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the dust particle deposition process on solar photovoltaic (PV) modules with different surface temperatures by a heating plate to illustrate the effect of the temperature difference (thermophoresis) between the module surface and the surrounding air on the dust accumulation process under different operating temperatures. In general, if the temperature of PV modules is increased, the energy conversion efficiency of the modules is decreased. However, in this study, it is firstly found that higher PV module surface temperature differences result in a higher energy output compared with those modules with lower temperature differences because of a reduced accumulation of dust particles. The measured deposition densities of dust particles were found to range from 0.54 g/m 2 to 0.85 g/m 2 under the range of experimental conditions and the output power ratios were found to increase from 0.861 to 0.965 with the increase in the temperature difference from 0 to 50 °C. The PV module with a higher temperature difference experiences a lower dust density because of the effect of the thermophoresis force arising from the temperature gradient between the module surface and its surrounding air. In addition, dust particles have a significant impact on the short circuit current, as well as the output power. However, the influence of particles on open circuit voltage can be negligible.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu Jiang & Lin Lu, 2016. "Experimentally Investigating the Effect of Temperature Differences in the Particle Deposition Process on Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Modules," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-9, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:11:p:1091-:d:81327
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/11/1091/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/11/1091/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rehman, Shafiqur & El-Amin, Ibrahim, 2012. "Performance evaluation of an off-grid photovoltaic system in Saudi Arabia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 451-458.
    2. Piliougine, M. & Cañete, C. & Moreno, R. & Carretero, J. & Hirose, J. & Ogawa, S. & Sidrach-de-Cardona, M., 2013. "Comparative analysis of energy produced by photovoltaic modules with anti-soiling coated surface in arid climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 626-634.
    3. Lu, Hao & Lu, Lin & Wang, Yuanhao, 2016. "Numerical investigation of dust pollution on a solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on an isolated building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 27-36.
    4. Adinoyi, Muhammed J. & Said, Syed A.M., 2013. "Effect of dust accumulation on the power outputs of solar photovoltaic modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 633-636.
    5. Kalogirou, Soteris A. & Agathokleous, Rafaela & Panayiotou, Gregoris, 2013. "On-site PV characterization and the effect of soiling on their performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 439-446.
    6. Bouaouadja, N. & Bouzid, S. & Hamidouche, M. & Bousbaa, C. & Madjoubi, M., 2000. "Effects of sandblasting on the efficiencies of solar panels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(1-4), pages 99-105, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Conceição, Ricardo & González-Aguilar, José & Merrouni, Ahmed Alami & Romero, Manuel, 2022. "Soiling effect in solar energy conversion systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    2. Karim Menoufi, 2017. "Dust Accumulation on the Surface of Photovoltaic Panels: Introducing the Photovoltaic Soiling Index (PVSI)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-12, June.
    3. Thamer Alquthami & Karim Menoufi, 2019. "Soiling of Photovoltaic Modules: Comparing between Two Distinct Locations within the Framework of Developing the Photovoltaic Soiling Index (PVSI)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Costa, Suellen C.S. & Diniz, Antonia Sonia A.C. & Kazmerski, Lawrence L., 2018. "Solar energy dust and soiling R&D progress: Literature review update for 2016," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2504-2536.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lu, Hao & Zhao, Wenjun, 2019. "CFD prediction of dust pollution and impact on an isolated ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 829-840.
    2. Lu, Hao & Zhao, Wenjun, 2018. "Effects of particle sizes and tilt angles on dust deposition characteristics of a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 514-526.
    3. Karim Menoufi, 2017. "Dust Accumulation on the Surface of Photovoltaic Panels: Introducing the Photovoltaic Soiling Index (PVSI)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-12, June.
    4. Conceição, Ricardo & González-Aguilar, José & Merrouni, Ahmed Alami & Romero, Manuel, 2022. "Soiling effect in solar energy conversion systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    5. Yao, Wanxiang & Kong, Xiangru & Xu, Ai & Xu, Puyan & Wang, Yan & Gao, Weijun, 2023. "New models for the influence of rainwater on the performance of photovoltaic modules under different rainfall conditions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. You, Siming & Lim, Yu Jie & Dai, Yanjun & Wang, Chi-Hwa, 2018. "On the temporal modelling of solar photovoltaic soiling: Energy and economic impacts in seven cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1136-1146.
    7. Lu, Hao & Zhang, Li-Zhi, 2019. "Influences of dust deposition on ground-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays: A CFD simulation study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 21-31.
    8. Raillani, Benyounes & Salhi, Mourad & Chaatouf, Dounia & Bria, Abir & Amraqui, Samir & Mezrhab, Ahmed, 2023. "A new proposed method to mitigate the soiling rate of a photovoltaic array using first-row height," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    9. Isaacs, Stewart & Kalashnikova, Olga & Garay, Michael J. & van Donkelaar, Aaron & Hammer, Melanie S. & Lee, Huikyo & Wood, Danielle, 2023. "Dust soiling effects on decentralized solar in West Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    10. Lu, Hao & Lu, Lin & Wang, Yuanhao, 2016. "Numerical investigation of dust pollution on a solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on an isolated building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 27-36.
    11. Khan, M. Ryyan & Hanna, Amir & Sun, Xingshu & Alam, Muhammad A., 2017. "Vertical bifacial solar farms: Physics, design, and global optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 240-248.
    12. Guan, Yanling & Zhang, Hao & Xiao, Bin & Zhou, Zhi & Yan, Xuzhou, 2017. "In-situ investigation of the effect of dust deposition on the performance of polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1273-1284.
    13. Micheli, Leonardo & Fernandez, Eduardo F. & Aguilera, Jorge T. & Almonacid, Florencia, 2020. "Economics of seasonal photovoltaic soiling and cleaning optimization scenarios," MPRA Paper 104104, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Ramli, Makbul A.M. & Prasetyono, Eka & Wicaksana, Ragil W. & Windarko, Novie A. & Sedraoui, Khaled & Al-Turki, Yusuf A., 2016. "On the investigation of photovoltaic output power reduction due to dust accumulation and weather conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 836-844.
    15. Tanesab, Julius & Parlevliet, David & Whale, Jonathan & Urmee, Tania, 2018. "Energy and economic losses caused by dust on residential photovoltaic (PV) systems deployed in different climate areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 401-412.
    16. Wang, Zhaohua & Li, Yi & Wang, Ke & Huang, Zhimin, 2017. "Environment-adjusted operational performance evaluation of solar photovoltaic power plants: A three stage efficiency analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1153-1162.
    17. Mellit, A. & Tina, G.M. & Kalogirou, S.A., 2018. "Fault detection and diagnosis methods for photovoltaic systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-17.
    18. Fan, Siyuan & Wang, Xiao & Cao, Shengxian & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Yanhui & Liu, Bingzheng, 2022. "A novel model to determine the relationship between dust concentration and energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    19. Umar, Shayan & Waqas, Adeel & Tanveer, Waqas & Shahzad, Nadia & Janjua, Abdul Kashif & Dehghan, Maziar & Qureshi, Muhammad Salik & Shakir, Sehar, 2023. "A building integrated solar PV surface-cleaning setup to optimize the electricity output of PV modules in a polluted atmosphere," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    20. Sun, Xingshu & Khan, Mohammad Ryyan & Deline, Chris & Alam, Muhammad Ashraful, 2018. "Optimization and performance of bifacial solar modules: A global perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1601-1610.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:11:p:1091-:d:81327. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.