The performance investigation of the flexible photovoltaic cell under non-uniform distributed illumination

Xinyi Tian, Jun Wang, Jie Ji and Guodong Lu

Renewable Energy, 2025, vol. 240, issue C

Abstract: Flexible solar cell is lightweight and easy to bend, which facilitates advanced photoelectric devices' research and development (building-integrated photovoltaics, PV-powered wearable devices, vehicle-integrated photovoltaics, etc.). Nevertheless, in the novel application scenarios, the real operating condition would inevitably lead to unevenly distributed illumination over the curved PV devices and influence the photoelectric conversion process. To investigate the inhomogeneous-illuminated flexible PV cell, in this study the theoretical model was developed, which involved the real-time irradiance calculation, the determination of the current density, and the two-dimensional electric field analysis using finite element method. Test rig was established to study the flexible cell's electrical performance under partial-shading and rotational-bending conditions. The collected experimental data verified the theoretical model. Furthermore, the surface voltage and the current density distribution in the nonplanar/planar cell with the tilt angle are compared. The case study of the two types of cells under actual outdoor working conditions was conducted. The results indicated that the curved PV cell could enhance the normalized performance conversion efficiency in the case of big solar incident angle on the installed façade. The highest relative deviation of the power by the non-uniform and equivalent uniform cell is 0.443 % under outdoor conditions, signifying the calculation's simplification direction.

Keywords: Non-uniform illumination; Flexible PV; Curved PV; Performance analysis; Case study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:240:y:2025:i:c:s0960148124022389

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.122170

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