Long-term testing study of tensile ETFE, PTFE and PVDF membrane structure integrated thin Si-PV

Abstract

PV membrane structure combines membrane and flexible photovoltaic panels , to harvest electricity from solar energy and achieve flexible and lightweight design at the same time. However, Membrane structure has encountered some problems in the development of photovoltaic integration, such as low energy conversion efficiency, and the reliability of the integration of photovoltaic modules and structure in the long term. Therefore, the development and evaluation of new membrane materials integrated flexible thin Silicon Photovoltaic (Si-PV) cells with high conversion efficiency are described and tested to understand the relationship between conversion efficiency and temperature under different solar radiation conditions. Uniaxial tensile tests were carried out to understand the mechanical performance of the new material under solar radiation and found it has good mechanical properties for engineering. A membrane structure prototype integrated photovoltaic is developed and built. The prototype consists of roof, facade, insulation, semiconductor air conditioner and monitoring cabinet. Three tensile membrane roofs integrated PV are made of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) membrane, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coated glass fabric membrane and polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) coated polyester fabric membrane which are typical architectural membrane materials. Through the long-term testing, structural performance, photovoltaic temperature, membrane film temperature, indoor air temperature and humidity, solar energy generation were monitored continuously to demonstrate the promising performance and applicability.