Infinite photovoltaic solar arrays: Considering flux of momentum and heat transfer

Andrew Glick, Naseem Ali, Juliaan Bossuyt, Gerald Recktenwald, Marc Calaf and Raúl Bayoán Cal

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 156, issue C, 791-803

Abstract: Large scale solar farms supply an increasing amount of the worlds electricity supply. However, high operation temperatures can strongly reduce efficiency and panel lifetime, negatively affecting the levelized cost of energy. In this work, the convective heat transfer coefficient for a utility-scale solar farm is studied with combined thermal and particle-image-velocimetry measurements in a scaled wind tunnel experiment. The measurements confirm the applicability of the scaled experimental setup to study large solar arrays. Further, the velocity measurements indicate the complex flow structure within the solar array, governed by wakes directed upwards due to the orientation of the solar panels.

Keywords: Solar photovoltaic; Array cooling; PIV; Turbulence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:156:y:2020:i:c:p:791-803

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.03.183

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