Integrating Transparent and Conventional Solar Cells TSC/SC

Moh’d Al-Nimr, Abdallah Milhem, Basel Al-Bishawi and Khaleel Al Khasawneh
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Moh’d Al-Nimr: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Abdallah Milhem: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Basel Al-Bishawi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Khaleel Al Khasawneh: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-22

Abstract: Conventional photovoltaic cells are able to convert the visible light spectrum of solar radiation into electricity; the unused wavelengths of the solar radiation spectrum are dissipated as heat in the system. On the other hand, certain types of transparent solar cells are able to utilize the rest of the solar radiation spectrum. The integration of transparent solar cells with conventional photovoltaic cells enables the system to absorb and utilize both wavelengths of the solar radiation spectrum. In this paper, two models for integrating transparent solar cells with conventional photovoltaic cells are proposed, simulated, and analyzed theoretically. ANSYS software was used to obtain the results for the proposed models. It is an initial theoretical study that shows some first results; it is almost a work in progress. The results showed that the highest efficiency was for the model that had two cooling spaces. The efficiency was increased as the ambient air temperature decreased and the mass flow rate increased. The percentage drop in photovoltaic (PV) cell efficiency decreased as the mass flow rate increased and the ambient temperature decreased, and it had the lowest value when air/water was used for cooling. The efficiency of the transparent solar cell (TSC) increased as the transparency decreased; in order to have higher efficiency, PV efficiency should be high, with low transparency. When added, the transparent solar cell was supposed to increase the harvested energy due to the utilization of the unconverted solar radiation, but it left two negative side effects. The first negative side effect was the reduction of the transmitted radiation to the conventional solar cell due to the transmissivity of the transparent cell. The second negative impact was the increase in the conventional cell temperature due to the additional thermal resistance, which reduced the effectiveness of cooling the cell from above. The proposed models were verified by comparing the results of the standalone PV that were available in the literature with the two models that are proposed in this paper.

Keywords: transparent solar cell; integrating cell; efficiency; photovoltaic cell (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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