Experimental and Theoretical Research on Bending Behavior of Photovoltaic Panels with a Special Boundary Condition

Tengyuan Zhang, Lingzhi Xie, Yongxue Li, Tapas K. Mallick, Qingzhu Wei, Xia Hao and Bo He
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Tengyuan Zhang: Institute of New Energy and Low-carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610207, China
Lingzhi Xie: Institute of New Energy and Low-carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610207, China
Yongxue Li: College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Tapas K. Mallick: Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
Qingzhu Wei: Suzhou Talesun Solar Technologies Co., Ltd., Changshu 215542, China
Xia Hao: Institute of New Energy and Low-carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610207, China
Bo He: Institute of New Energy and Low-carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610207, China

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: Currently, the photovoltaic (PV) panels widely manufactured on market are composed of stiff front and back layers and the solar cells embedded in a soft polymeric interlayer. The wind and snow pressure are the usual loads to which working PV panels need to face, and it needs the panels keep undamaged under those pressure when they generate electricity. Therefore, an accurate and systematic research on bending behavior of PV panels is important and necessary. In this paper, classical lamination theory (CLT) considering soft interlayer is applied to build governing equations of the solar panel. A Rayleigh–Rita method is modified to solve the governing equations and calculate the static deformation of the PV panel. Different from many previous researches only analyzing simply supported boundary condition for four edges, a special boundary condition which consists of two opposite edges simply supported and the others two free is studied in this paper. A closed form solution is derived out and used to do the numerical calculation. The corresponding bending experiments of PV panels are completed. Comparing the numerical results with experiment results, the accuracy of the analytical solutions are verified.

Keywords: photovoltaic panel; bending behavior; classical lamination theory; Rayleigh–Rita method; special boundary condition; bending experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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