Journal of Solar Energy Research
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Summer 2022

One of the major challenges faced in photovoltaic technology is the ability to harvest as much energy as possible from the sun. The peculiarity in geographic location and the sun’s movement has made it difficult to get maximum irradiation from the sun. The aim of this study is to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic power generated by optimizing the altitude and azimuth of a square meter PV module and also, develop an algorithm that helps the panel to track the position of the sun for optimum power generation. University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria was used as the location chosen for this study. The results obtained present the Optimal Angles and Maximum Irradiation for 2015 to 2019. For example the optimal tilt angle for a year 2019 was 6o with a maximum irradiance of 1.62×103 Wh/m2. The azimuth angle varied from 316o to 334o. The contribution of this study, is that the calculated optimal tilt angle considered all the three components of the irradiance: diffuse, direct and albedo irradiance. The obtained optimal tilt and azimuth angles were then used to design both fixed and dual axis maximum power point tracking system. Thereafter, comparative analyses for both systems were conducted considering four significant climatic days: (1) The Winter Solstice (2) Summer Solstice (3) Vernal and (4) Autumnal Equinoxes:

In this paper, a new structure of multilevel inverters with the reducing the count of utilized power equipment is presented. This inverter consists of two parts, a basic module, and an H-bridge. Since the basic module part is only able to generate positive and zero voltage levels, so the H-bridge is connected to the basic module to generate all levels symmetrically (positive and negative). The newly suggested inverter is investigated by two input source determination algorithms and the general configuration of the converter is proposed with the ability to extend to a high number of levels. From the general structure of the proposed multilevel inverter, one circuit is selected to perform all the simulations, implementations, and other studies on it. Moreover, in order to investigate the proper operation of the proposed structure, this inverter has been simulated in the application of a linear induction motor in which the inverter voltage sources are powered by photovoltaic systems. The power losses of the case-study circuit with symmetrically determined input sources using the NLC modulation method are investigated for three various loads. Besides, to demonstrate the merits and features of the new inverter, the suggested inverter is compared with some recent inverters. Finally, to demonstrate the possibility and function of the suggested multilevel inverter, the case-study circuit is simulated and implemented in MATLAB/Simulink software and power electronics laboratory, respectively.

The object of the research project is to enhance solar energy conversion into electricity and store it through photogalvanic cells. Various parameters were studied in a photogalvanic having D-Xylose+MB+Brij-35+NaLS PGS (photogalvanic system) for solar cell conversion and storage. The photo potential was observed at 684.00 mV for D-Xylose+MB+Brij-35+NaLS PGS for solar cells. The photocurrent was observed at 230.00 A in D-Xylose+MB+Brij-35+NaLS PGS for solar cells. The impact of solar energy was studied by varying the various parameters in PGS for solar energy-based conversion and storage. The D-Xylose+MB+Brij-35+NaLS PGS for solar cell performance was found 110.00 minutes in absence of light. The value of fill factor of the cell () = 0.2810 was observed and the powerpoint of the cell (pp) = 56.23 W was obtained for the solar energy conversion and storage. The mixed surfactants (NaLS+Brij-35) have experimentally proved the efficient system as the desired object of research with special reference to enhancing electrical out and storage of solar energy.

Tracking the sun is an important method for increasing the electricity generation of photovoltaic panels. Sun tracking systems are designed to track the sun with one axis or two axes, based upon solar azimuth angle and altitude angle. In this research, a pseudo two-axis sun tracker is presented and applied for installing the photovoltaic panel on. In this tracking system, one rotating motor is used instead of two, and more solar radiation is absorbed compared with common one-axis tracking systems. The results show that pseudo two-axis sun tracking system gains 2.82% more radiation than the conventional one-axis sun tracker. Through adjusting the angle two times a year, 4.01% more radiation is gained and adjusting the angle four times a year results in gaining 4.12% more radiation, while using a two-axis sun tracker results in 4.39% more radiation on the panel compared with one-axis sun tracker. The pseudo two-axis sun tracker’s performance with adjusting angle four times a year has little difference with two-axis sun tracker and due to using one motor instead of two, using a pseudo two-axis sun tracker is more economical. The percentage of increased radiation of pseudo two-axis sun tracker compared with fixed panel differs for various cities, which could be as high as 31% for some major Iranian cities.

Determining the amount of solar energy received on a surface is important for solar energy modeling and assessment as well as for buildings energy modeling. This paper presents a comparison between analytical and experimental data for normal, diffuse, and global horizontal average hourly solar radiation per month in Beirut (33.89 N; 35.50 E). Optimal position for solar panels is also investigated in 3 configurations: constant optimal angle; monthly variable tilt angle; and solar sensors with a tracking system of the solar race. After validating the numerical model comparing it to a weather file data for normal, diffused, and global horizontal average hourly solar radiation per month, optimization was made to determine the optimal position of solar collectors according the Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG2) Algorithm which is normally used for optimizing nonlinear problems. The results show a good accuracy between numerical model and available weather data. The optimum angle of inclination for the city of Beirut is close to 30° (27.9°). By varying this angle monthly (i.e. through an adjustable tilt chassis), a 6% increase of collected energy is obtained compared to a constant optimal angle. As for the system, it has great interest as it allows an increase of 37% of solar energy compared to a constant optimal angle.

In most recent sensitive industrial application of inverters, reliability is a crucial issue to care. Due to development of SCADA system and variety of renewable energy in electrical grids that are mostly scattered in distance, it is necessary to have ability to communicate within industrial control systems and be allowable to be aware of a system condition every moment. Inverters are the core part of the grid-tied PV system. In traditional inverters, just local monitoring of electrical parameters or inverter’s condition was available but nowadays operation condition of inverters and more information like status, quantity of input, output, and electrical parameters like voltage, current, power or occurred faults, are available using developed industrial communication protocols. In instructed fault tolerated inverter of this article, a fault is manually simulated and applied in one of the switches. The result is that the damaged element was replaced with a redundant reserved switch and it was identified remotely by control center using IEC60870-5-101. It gives an extra feature to prepare an ideal decision to repair or maintain of that damaged switch. Validation of communication between inverter ad control server is lasted using Fink-WinPP101 software using IEC 60870-5-101 protocol. The proposed strategy is emulated on the 7-level inverter and the tolerance ability and faulty condition report with time tag is proved by using protocol tester software Fink-WinPP101. Experimental and simulation results prove accuracy of the proposed system.