Optical and thermal modeling of a photovoltaic module and experimental evaluation of the modeling performance

In the present study, coupled optical and thermal models were used to predict the temperature distribution of photovoltaic (PV) module's layers. To verify the modeling performance, an experimental measurement was also conducted in this study and temperatures of two PV modules fixed at 10 degrees and 30 degrees tilt angles were measured and compared with the predicted module temperatures. Two extra experimental data sets measured in two other locations of the globe were also used to further verify the modeling performance. The modeling prediction was also compared with the results of other mathematical models developed in the past studies. This study paid a special attention to the prediction of air convection heat transfer coefficient over the PV module as well as the optical and thermal modeling. The results of this study showed that the present modeling predicts the PV module temperature with a reasonable accuracy compared to the experimental data measured in this study and the other data sets measured in the other parts of the globe. The results also showed that the present modeling predicts the PV module temperature with a higher accuracy compared with the other mathematical models developed in the past studies. Furthermore, this study showed that the accurate prediction of convection heat transfer coefficient over the PV module based on ambient temperature and wind speed, yields to an accurate prediction of PV module temperature (c) 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 277-293, 2017