Pub Date : 2025-03-09DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113404
Benjamin Figgis, Sheikh Izzal Azid, David Parlevliet
The growth of utility-scale solar power plants, which can now have more than a million PV modules, has created the need for automated monitoring and inspection technologies. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs, or “drones”) have become widely used, especially for thermal infrared imaging, due to their falling cost, increasing technical capability, and ability to survey many modules quickly. However drones have certain limitations: they do not see the underside of PV arrays or balance-of-system equipment, it is difficult to hold a steady position for long- or repeated-exposure imaging, and operating permits can be onerous. In such cases unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs, or “robots”) can be advantageous for PV plant inspection. This paper reviews robot movement mechanisms (wheels, tracks and legs), types of PV faults for which they are suited, and their current status of use in commercial solar farms. Further, it examines typical obstacles to robot navigation in Australian solar farms. Key conclusions are that robots are likely to complement rather than replace drones for PV inspection, and are especially valuable for reducing fire risk by detecting hot-spots in electrical components.
{"title":"Review of unmanned ground vehicles for PV plant inspection","authors":"Benjamin Figgis, Sheikh Izzal Azid, David Parlevliet","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113404","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The growth of utility-scale solar power plants, which can now have more than a million PV modules, has created the need for automated monitoring and inspection technologies. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs, or “drones”) have become widely used, especially for thermal infrared imaging, due to their falling cost, increasing technical capability, and ability to survey many modules quickly. However drones have certain limitations: they do not see the underside of PV arrays or balance-of-system equipment, it is difficult to hold a steady position for long- or repeated-exposure imaging, and operating permits can be onerous. In such cases unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs, or “robots”) can be advantageous for PV plant inspection. This paper reviews robot movement mechanisms (wheels, tracks and legs), types of PV faults for which they are suited, and their current status of use in commercial solar farms. Further, it examines typical obstacles to robot navigation in Australian solar farms. Key conclusions are that robots are likely to complement rather than replace drones for PV inspection, and are especially valuable for reducing fire risk by detecting hot-spots in electrical components.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113404"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143578078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-09DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113409
Qian Guo, Quan-Song Li
Organic small-molecule electron transport materials (ETMs) exhibit fantastic potential in achieving high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, the novel asymmetric naphthalene diimide (NDI) derivatives were designed by fused-ring engineering and end-group engineering based on the symmetric NDI-based E molecule. These asymmetric NDI derivatives are designed by tuning thiophene units (A1, A2, and A3), introducing heteroatoms into the donor (B1, B2), and introducing asymmetric end groups (C1, C2, and C3). Quantum chemical calculations show that the energy levels of ETMs match well with MAPbI3. In addition, a strong linear correlation (R2 > 0.96) is observed between the LUMO energies, adiabatic electron affinities, and reorganization energies. Notably, the electron mobility of the asymmetric molecule B1 is enhanced by 16 times (0.851 cm2V−1s−1) compared to the symmetric E molecule (0.053 cm2V−1s−1). The calculation shows that the designed asymmetric molecules exhibit robust interaction with perovskite, and the Bader charge indicates enhanced electron injection from the perovskite to the ETM. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations verified that the asymmetric structure (A2 and C3) can effectively prevent water from invading the perovskite surface. This asymmetric molecular design strategy provides insights for designing novel ETM for high performance PSCs.
{"title":"Asymmetrical A-DA′D-A–type electron transport materials with enhanced electron mobility and water-resistant interface for perovskite solar cells","authors":"Qian Guo, Quan-Song Li","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113409","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113409","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Organic small-molecule electron transport materials (ETMs) exhibit fantastic potential in achieving high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, the novel asymmetric naphthalene diimide (NDI) derivatives were designed by fused-ring engineering and end-group engineering based on the symmetric NDI-based E molecule. These asymmetric NDI derivatives are designed by tuning thiophene units (A1, A2, and A3), introducing heteroatoms into the donor (B1, B2), and introducing asymmetric end groups (C1, C2, and C3). Quantum chemical calculations show that the energy levels of ETMs match well with MAPbI<sub>3</sub>. In addition, a strong linear correlation (R<sup>2</sup> > 0.96) is observed between the LUMO energies, adiabatic electron affinities, and reorganization energies. Notably, the electron mobility of the asymmetric molecule B1 is enhanced by 16 times (0.851 cm<sup>2</sup>V<sup>−1</sup>s<sup>−1</sup>) compared to the symmetric E molecule (0.053 cm<sup>2</sup>V<sup>−1</sup>s<sup>−1</sup>). The calculation shows that the designed asymmetric molecules exhibit robust interaction with perovskite, and the Bader charge indicates enhanced electron injection from the perovskite to the ETM. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations verified that the asymmetric structure (A2 and C3) can effectively prevent water from invading the perovskite surface. This asymmetric molecular design strategy provides insights for designing novel ETM for high performance PSCs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113409"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143578071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-09DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113401
Hongyang Wei , Qing Xu , Dongchu Chen , Min Chen
Degradation of performance at elevated temperatures is a common challenge encountered by anodic alumina solar spectrally selective absorption films. In this work, anodic alumina photonic crystal films sequentially electrodeposited with Co and Ag nano-particles were prepared. The photonic crystal structure of the anodic alumina part and the nano-particle morphology of the electrodeposited metals were characterized. The solar spectrally selective absorption properties of the films were investigated with respect to the electrodeposition time of Ag and thermal annealing history of the films. Moreover, the surface chemical states of the Co and Ag in these films were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The contents of the Ag electrodeposited into the films were increased approximately linearly with prolonging its electrodeposition time until 250 s and then leveled off. The properties of the films were moderately improved with increasing Ag content, while the degradation of the properties incurred by thermal annealing was substantially alleviated. Various species on the surface of the Co in the films with different thermal annealing histories were identified and quantified, with respect to which the Ag content dependence of the solar spectrally selective absorption performance of these films was explicated. The optimal Ag electrodeposition time was ascertained to be 250 s, corresponding to an Ag content of ∼ 0.25 mg/cm2, by balancing the performance of the films and efficiency of the preparation process. The values of spectral selectivity of the resulting film were 7.75 and 5.80 before and after being annealed at 300 °C in air for 24 h, respectively.
{"title":"Insights into the solar spectrally selective absorption performance of anodic alumina photonic crystal films electrodeposited with cobalt and silver: Silver content dependence and the mechanisms","authors":"Hongyang Wei , Qing Xu , Dongchu Chen , Min Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113401","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113401","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Degradation of performance at elevated temperatures is a common challenge encountered by anodic alumina solar spectrally selective absorption films. In this work, anodic alumina photonic crystal films sequentially electrodeposited with Co and Ag nano-particles were prepared. The photonic crystal structure of the anodic alumina part and the nano-particle morphology of the electrodeposited metals were characterized. The solar spectrally selective absorption properties of the films were investigated with respect to the electrodeposition time of Ag and thermal annealing history of the films. Moreover, the surface chemical states of the Co and Ag in these films were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The contents of the Ag electrodeposited into the films were increased approximately linearly with prolonging its electrodeposition time until 250 s and then leveled off. The properties of the films were moderately improved with increasing Ag content, while the degradation of the properties incurred by thermal annealing was substantially alleviated. Various species on the surface of the Co in the films with different thermal annealing histories were identified and quantified, with respect to which the Ag content dependence of the solar spectrally selective absorption performance of these films was explicated. The optimal Ag electrodeposition time was ascertained to be 250 s, corresponding to an Ag content of ∼ 0.25 mg/cm<sup>2</sup>, by balancing the performance of the films and efficiency of the preparation process. The values of spectral selectivity of the resulting film were 7.75 and 5.80 before and after being annealed at 300 °C in air for 24 h, respectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113401"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143578073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing industries by enabling layer-by-layer fabrication of complex components. Among AM techniques, Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is widely used but is energy-intensive, limiting its sustainability. This study explores the potential of concentrated solar energy as an alternative heat source for sintering Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) in a solar-powered 3D printing process. A custom-designed solar 3D printer, equipped with stepper motors and an Arduino UNO for precise control, was utilized to evaluate critical process parameters such as feed rate, hatch spacing, and layer thickness. The results indicate that feed rate and hatch spacing are pivotal to energy density, directly influencing sintering quality. Optimal sintering occurred at feed rates between 100–200 mm/min, which provided sufficient energy for uniform layer fusion, balancing surface finish and mechanical strength. Larger feed rates resulted in incomplete sintering and weaker parts, while a hatch spacing of 1.67 mm offered efficient pass binding with reduced build time. The study successfully demonstrated the fabrication of multilayer TPU structures using solar energy, achieving mechanical properties comparable to conventional LPBF techniques. This solar-powered approach underscores the potential for integrating renewable energy into additive manufacturing, offering a sustainable alternative to laser-based systems. Future refinements, such as dynamic solar tracking and real-time parameter adjustments, could further enhance its industrial viability. By leveraging renewable energy, this research represents a significant step toward eco-friendly manufacturing solutions, reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint while maintaining high-quality outputs.
{"title":"Solar-Driven additive Manufacturing: Design and development of a novel sustainable fabrication process","authors":"Angshuman Hazoary , Manish Panwar , Atul Singh Rajput , Sajan Kapil","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113387","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113387","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Additive Manufacturing</em> (AM) is revolutionizing industries by enabling layer-by-layer fabrication of complex components. Among AM techniques, <em>Laser Powder Bed Fusion</em> (<em>LPBF</em>) is widely used but is energy-intensive, limiting its sustainability. This study explores the potential of concentrated solar energy as an alternative heat source for sintering <em>Thermoplastic Polyurethane</em> (<em>TPU</em>) in a solar-powered 3D printing process. A custom-designed solar 3D printer, equipped with stepper motors and an Arduino UNO for precise control, was utilized to evaluate critical process parameters such as feed rate, hatch spacing, and layer thickness. The results indicate that feed rate and hatch spacing are pivotal to energy density, directly influencing sintering quality. Optimal sintering occurred at feed rates between 100–200 mm/min, which provided sufficient energy for uniform layer fusion, balancing surface finish and mechanical strength. Larger feed rates resulted in incomplete sintering and weaker parts, while a hatch spacing of 1.67 mm offered efficient pass binding with reduced build time. The study successfully demonstrated the fabrication of multilayer <em>TPU</em> structures using solar energy, achieving mechanical properties comparable to conventional <em>LPBF</em> techniques. This solar-powered approach underscores the potential for integrating renewable energy into additive manufacturing, offering a sustainable alternative to laser-based systems. Future refinements, such as dynamic solar tracking and real-time parameter adjustments, could further enhance its industrial viability. By leveraging renewable energy, this research represents a significant step toward eco-friendly manufacturing solutions, reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint while maintaining high-quality outputs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143576786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-08DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113381
Mohammed Telidjane , Benaoumeur Bakhti
Ensuring the reliability of photovoltaic (PV) inverters is crucial for the stable operation of PV systems. Traditional fault detection methods based on time-domain or frequency-domain analysis often struggle with noise and disturbances, limiting their sensitivity and effectiveness. This paper presents a novel fault detection approach utilizing cyclostationary analysis to enhance the identification of transistor faults in PV inverters. By exploiting the cyclostationary properties of the inverter voltage signal, we decompose it into periodic and residual components to extract fault signatures. The cyclic autocorrelation function (CAF) is computed for the residual signal, revealing hidden periodicities linked to fault conditions. The proposed method is validated by modeling PV panels under various conditions using the Bishop model and analyzing the impact of transistor open-circuit and short-circuit faults on inverter performance. Comparative analysis reveals that CAF exhibits superior fault sensitivity compared to conventional root mean square (RMS) metrics, making it a promising tool for early and robust fault detection. This approach contributes to improving PV system reliability and maintenance efficiency, paving the way for advanced diagnostic techniques in power electronics.
{"title":"Cyclostationary analysis for fault detection in PV inverters","authors":"Mohammed Telidjane , Benaoumeur Bakhti","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113381","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113381","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ensuring the reliability of photovoltaic (PV) inverters is crucial for the stable operation of PV systems. Traditional fault detection methods based on time-domain or frequency-domain analysis often struggle with noise and disturbances, limiting their sensitivity and effectiveness. This paper presents a novel fault detection approach utilizing cyclostationary analysis to enhance the identification of transistor faults in PV inverters. By exploiting the cyclostationary properties of the inverter voltage signal, we decompose it into periodic and residual components to extract fault signatures. The cyclic autocorrelation function (CAF) is computed for the residual signal, revealing hidden periodicities linked to fault conditions. The proposed method is validated by modeling PV panels under various conditions using the Bishop model and analyzing the impact of transistor open-circuit and short-circuit faults on inverter performance. Comparative analysis reveals that CAF exhibits superior fault sensitivity compared to conventional root mean square (RMS) metrics, making it a promising tool for early and robust fault detection. This approach contributes to improving PV system reliability and maintenance efficiency, paving the way for advanced diagnostic techniques in power electronics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113381"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143578077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-07DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113374
Umar Hanif Ramadhani , Lathifa Nur Ramdhania , Hikmayani Iskandar , Ahmad Fudholi , Haznan Abimanyu
At least 14.5% of the total greenhouse gas emissions significantly contributed from animal agriculture, emphasize the importance of more sustainable practices on farms. Solar thermal technologies offer a promising solution by providing clean energy for several key processes within animal agriculture, such as (1) drying animal feed, (2) drying animal products, and (3) heating processes. We comprehensively review the current and potential uses of solar thermal technologies for each of these processes, including the demand calculation and drying kinetics in the process. The pre-calculation phase of each process, including accurate demand calculations and the modeling of drying kinetics, is critical to optimizing the system’s performance. We also identify research gaps that need to be explored. For drying animal feed, most studies focus on food waste and are conducted in tropical regions. We show that there is significant potential to cut emissions further by applying solar thermal technologies to simply drying regular animal feed. Future research should examine technical and management challenges to make solar-powered drying a continuous process. Similarly, research on drying animal products mostly takes place in tropical countries, focusing on specified products like beef and fish. Expanding these studies to cover a wider range of products and incorporating additional preservation methods into drying kinetics calculations will help improve system sizing. Most solar heating research is based in Europe and often focus at hybrid systems that integrate solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) technologies to meet electricity needs. There is a need for more studies on different heating applications, such as chicken brooders, and how hybrid PV systems can address continuous electricity demands. Additionally, more work is needed to evaluate the overall applicability of solar drying technologies in various regions and to establish standardized measures of emission reductions per kilogram of protein.
{"title":"Review of solar thermal technologies in sustainable animal agriculture farms: Current and potential uses","authors":"Umar Hanif Ramadhani , Lathifa Nur Ramdhania , Hikmayani Iskandar , Ahmad Fudholi , Haznan Abimanyu","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113374","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113374","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>At least 14.5% of the total greenhouse gas emissions significantly contributed from animal agriculture, emphasize the importance of more sustainable practices on farms. Solar thermal technologies offer a promising solution by providing clean energy for several key processes within animal agriculture, such as (1) drying animal feed, (2) drying animal products, and (3) heating processes. We comprehensively review the current and potential uses of solar thermal technologies for each of these processes, including the demand calculation and drying kinetics in the process. The pre-calculation phase of each process, including accurate demand calculations and the modeling of drying kinetics, is critical to optimizing the system’s performance. We also identify research gaps that need to be explored. For drying animal feed, most studies focus on food waste and are conducted in tropical regions. We show that there is significant potential to cut emissions further by applying solar thermal technologies to simply drying regular animal feed. Future research should examine technical and management challenges to make solar-powered drying a continuous process. Similarly, research on drying animal products mostly takes place in tropical countries, focusing on specified products like beef and fish. Expanding these studies to cover a wider range of products and incorporating additional preservation methods into drying kinetics calculations will help improve system sizing. Most solar heating research is based in Europe and often focus at hybrid systems that integrate solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) technologies to meet electricity needs. There is a need for more studies on different heating applications, such as chicken brooders, and how hybrid PV systems can address continuous electricity demands. Additionally, more work is needed to evaluate the overall applicability of solar drying technologies in various regions and to establish standardized measures of emission reductions per kilogram of protein.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113374"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143562402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-07DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113400
P. Merodio, F. Martínez-Moreno, E. Lorenzo
Rear irradiance on bifacial modules exhibits greater spatial non-uniformity compared to frontal irradiance, impacting performance metrics like the Structure Shading Factor (SSF) and Mismatch Loss (MML). SSF quantifies the fraction of rear irradiance obstructed by the mounting structure, while MML measures the resulting power losses due to non-uniformity.
We propose a new experimental methodology to determine SSF and MML for one-in-portrait (1P), and 2P trackers, considering full-cell and half-cell modules. For 1P trackers, SSF is 10.0 % and MML is 0.46 %(0.40 %) for full-cell(half-cell) modules. For 2P trackers, SSF is 2.7% and MML is 0.35 %(0.21 %) for full-cell(half-cell) modules. The influence of tracker geometry is examined by varying the torque tube distance (1P) and East-West panel gaps (2P), providing mathematical relationships for SSF and MML.
Measurement uncertainties are estimated at 4 % (1P) and 2 % (2P) for SSF, and 4 % for MML in both trackers. When used for annual energy yield modelling, uncertainties rise to 10 % in SSF for both trackers and 20 %(30 %) in MML for 1P(2P) trackers, yet their impact on energy yield uncertainty is below 1 %.
{"title":"Experimental determination of the structure shading factor and mismatch losses for bifacial photovoltaic modules on variable-geometry, single-axis trackers","authors":"P. Merodio, F. Martínez-Moreno, E. Lorenzo","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113400","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113400","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rear irradiance on bifacial modules exhibits greater spatial non-uniformity compared to frontal irradiance, impacting performance metrics like the Structure Shading Factor (<em>SSF</em>) and Mismatch Loss (<em>MML</em>). <em>SSF</em> quantifies the fraction of rear irradiance obstructed by the mounting structure, while <em>MML</em> measures the resulting power losses due to non-uniformity.</div><div>We propose a new experimental methodology to determine <em>SSF</em> and <em>MML</em> for one-in-portrait (1P), and 2P trackers, considering full-cell and half-cell modules. For 1P trackers, <em>SSF</em> is 10.0 % and <em>MML</em> is 0.46 %(0.40 %) for full-cell(half-cell) modules. For 2P trackers, <em>SSF</em> is 2.7% and <em>MML</em> is 0.35 %(0.21 %) for full-cell(half-cell) modules. The influence of tracker geometry is examined by varying the torque tube distance (1P) and East-West panel gaps (2P), providing mathematical relationships for <em>SSF</em> and <em>MML</em>.</div><div>Measurement uncertainties are estimated at 4 % (1P) and 2 % (2P) for <em>SSF</em>, and 4 % for <em>MML</em> in both trackers. When used for annual energy yield modelling, uncertainties rise to 10 % in <em>SSF</em> for both trackers and 20 %(30 %) in <em>MML</em> for 1P(2P) trackers, yet their impact on energy yield uncertainty is below 1 %.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113400"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143562404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-07DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113301
Christoph Hilgert , Christian Jung , Kai Schickedanz , Guillaume Saliou , Anne Schlierbach , Marc Röger , Loreto Valenzuela , Erich Schaffer , Christoph Wasserfuhr
Polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS / silicone oils) are commonly used as heat transfer fluids (HTF) at temperatures up to 400 °C in various industries, but the applications in large scale parabolic trough collector fields for thermal power generation has not been established due to higher prices compared to the commonly used mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl. This paper describes the first system prototype demonstration in operational environment (loop scale) of a new silicone-based heat transfer fluid called HELISOL® 5A available at a competitive price level compared to the state of the art. Technical details of the parabolic trough test loop operated with HELISOL® 5A are presented. Solar operation at the state-of-the-art temperature of 400 °C for 150 h and at 425 °C for 480 h, demonstrated HELISOL® 5A’s loop scale functionality in analogy to DIN 51528. The tolerance of HELISOL® 5A to temperatures above 425 °C was demonstrated by an operation period of 50 h at 450 °C. The degradation of the HTF is determined by the degree of cross-linking between macromolecules. Based on accompanying HTF analysis correlated with sample-based gas analysis, no measurable HTF degradation after 480 h at 425 °C was found. Only the stress test at 450 °C reveals an onset of moderate thermal degradation reaching 0.1 % mole fraction of cross-linked molecules. The heat transfer performance of HELISOL® 5A was confirmed at 400 °C by solar blind infrared absorber tube temperature measurements indicating a steady temperature increase of 0.2 K/m along the receiver tubes at 6.2 kg/s mass flow.
{"title":"Operation of HELISOL®5A in a parabolic trough test loop","authors":"Christoph Hilgert , Christian Jung , Kai Schickedanz , Guillaume Saliou , Anne Schlierbach , Marc Röger , Loreto Valenzuela , Erich Schaffer , Christoph Wasserfuhr","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113301","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113301","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS / silicone oils) are commonly used as heat transfer fluids (HTF) at temperatures up to 400 °C in various industries, but the applications in large scale parabolic trough collector fields for thermal power generation has not been established due to higher prices compared to the commonly used mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl. This paper describes the first system prototype demonstration in operational environment (loop scale) of a new silicone-based heat transfer fluid called HELISOL®<!--> <!-->5A available at a competitive price level compared to the state of the art. Technical details of the parabolic trough test loop operated with HELISOL®<!--> <!-->5A are presented. Solar operation at the state-of-the-art temperature of 400 °C for 150<!--> <!-->h and at 425 °C for 480<!--> <!-->h, demonstrated HELISOL®<!--> <!-->5A’s loop scale functionality in analogy to DIN<!--> <!-->51528. The tolerance of HELISOL®<!--> <!-->5A to temperatures above 425 °C was demonstrated by an operation period of 50<!--> <!-->h at 450 °C. The degradation of the HTF is determined by the degree of cross-linking between macromolecules. Based on accompanying HTF analysis correlated with sample-based gas analysis, no measurable HTF degradation after 480 <!--> <!-->h at 425 °C was found. Only the stress test at 450 °C reveals an onset of moderate thermal degradation reaching 0.1 % mole fraction of cross-linked molecules. The heat transfer performance of HELISOL®<!--> <!-->5A was confirmed at 400 °C by solar blind infrared absorber tube temperature measurements indicating a steady temperature increase of 0.2 <!--> <!-->K/m along the receiver tubes at 6.2 kg/s mass flow.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 113301"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143561949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-07DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2025.113386
Haoran Zhang, Boao Gong, Bohan Ma, Zhiyong Tao, Shi Wang
With the rapid growth of solar photovoltaic installations, defect detection in PV power stations has become crucial for ensuring operational safety and economic efficiency, as undetected defects can lead to significant performance degradation and potential hazards. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based Electroluminescence (EL) imaging offers an efficient solution for large-scale inspection. However, the harsh environmental conditions and complex imaging scenarios pose significant challenges to detection models, while edge computing deployment demands strict resource constraints. This study introduces SCRViT, a lightweight deep learning model that substantially improves detection performance on low-quality EL images through a spatial-channel reconstruction mechanism and a peer network co-learning strategy. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves 88.19% detection accuracy on simulated outdoor environment datasets, surpassing state-of-the-art approaches by 4.77% while reducing model parameters by 55.6%. Through multi-dimensional interpretability studies – including Shapley value feature attribution, GradCAM attention pattern analysis, and information-theoretic mechanism analysis – this research systematically elucidates the model’s environmental adaptation mechanisms. This lightweight yet robust solution enables real-time defect detection on edge devices, improving inspection efficiency and reducing operational costs while providing reliable decision support for practical applications in complex outdoor environments.
{"title":"Lightweight vision architecture with mutual distillation for robust photovoltaic defect detection in complex environments","authors":"Haoran Zhang, Boao Gong, Bohan Ma, Zhiyong Tao, Shi Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113386","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113386","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the rapid growth of solar photovoltaic installations, defect detection in PV power stations has become crucial for ensuring operational safety and economic efficiency, as undetected defects can lead to significant performance degradation and potential hazards. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based Electroluminescence (EL) imaging offers an efficient solution for large-scale inspection. However, the harsh environmental conditions and complex imaging scenarios pose significant challenges to detection models, while edge computing deployment demands strict resource constraints. This study introduces SCRViT, a lightweight deep learning model that substantially improves detection performance on low-quality EL images through a spatial-channel reconstruction mechanism and a peer network co-learning strategy. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves 88.19% detection accuracy on simulated outdoor environment datasets, surpassing state-of-the-art approaches by 4.77% while reducing model parameters by 55.6%. Through multi-dimensional interpretability studies – including Shapley value feature attribution, GradCAM attention pattern analysis, and information-theoretic mechanism analysis – this research systematically elucidates the model’s environmental adaptation mechanisms. This lightweight yet robust solution enables real-time defect detection on edge devices, improving inspection efficiency and reducing operational costs while providing reliable decision support for practical applications in complex outdoor environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113386"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143562401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Food is vital for human existence, supplying the energy and nutrients for daily activities and overall health. A significant proportion of the population in most developing countries relies on polluting fuels (firewood, animal dung, and agriculture waste) for daily cooking energy needs, which causes household air pollution. Adoption of clean cooking fuels is necessary to prevent health hazards (respiratory and cardiovascular diseases) due to household air pollution. Solar energy (clean energy) can address these challenges appropriately, but its limited acceptance as a cooking fuel is observed. In the present study, a detailed appraisal of the existing solar cooking systems is performed to understand the barriers to disseminating solar cooking practices among the people. The study thoroughly discusses the techno-economic, environmental, and social barriers to the wide-scale acceptability of solar cookers. Based on this comprehensive evaluation, the study presents an innovative design of a versatile indoor solar cooking system that can cook any food at any time, with complete process control, which is impossible in existing solar cooking technologies. Analysis-driven inventive design ideas have been discussed for the collection, storage, and utilization of solar energy for the proposed cooking system. The existing cooking system designs do not support most cooking applications, such as baking, frying, and boiling. Therefore, this study presents state-of-the-art cooking unit designs that can facilitate all major cooking processes. Experimental investigations are performed on the developed cooking units for various cooking applications. It is observed that the cooking units can cook various types of food in a time comparable to conventional cookstoves, i.e., boiling 500 g of potatoes, frying 80 g of potato chips, and baking a 60-gram chapati (an Indian flatbread) are completed in 13 min, 4 min, and 3 min, respectively. The experimental findings highlight the effectiveness and potential of the developed cooking units for integration into the proposed versatile indoor solar cooking system.
{"title":"Harnessing the sun for smoke-free kitchens: Appraisal of existing systems and inventive design suggestions for broader acceptance and versatility","authors":"Shubham Jain , K.Ravi Kumar , Dibakar Rakshit , B. Premachandran , K.S. Reddy","doi":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113392","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solener.2025.113392","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Food is vital for human existence, supplying the energy and nutrients for daily activities and overall health. A significant proportion of the population in most developing countries relies on polluting fuels (firewood, animal dung, and agriculture waste) for daily cooking energy needs, which causes household air pollution. Adoption of clean cooking fuels is necessary to prevent health hazards (respiratory and cardiovascular diseases) due to household air pollution. Solar energy (clean energy) can address these challenges appropriately, but its limited acceptance as a cooking fuel is observed. In the present study, a detailed appraisal of the existing solar cooking systems is performed to understand the barriers to disseminating solar cooking practices among the people. The study thoroughly discusses the techno-economic, environmental, and social barriers to the wide-scale acceptability of solar cookers. Based on this comprehensive evaluation, the study presents an innovative design of a versatile indoor solar cooking system that can cook any food at any time, with complete process control, which is impossible in existing solar cooking technologies. Analysis-driven inventive design ideas have been discussed for the collection, storage, and utilization of solar energy for the proposed cooking system. The existing cooking system designs do not support most cooking applications, such as baking, frying, and boiling. Therefore, this study presents state-of-the-art cooking unit designs that can facilitate all major cooking processes. Experimental investigations are performed on the developed cooking units for various cooking applications. It is observed that the cooking units can cook various types of food in a time comparable to conventional cookstoves, i.e., boiling 500 g of potatoes, frying 80 g of potato chips, and baking a 60-gram chapati (an Indian flatbread) are completed in 13 min, 4 min, and 3 min, respectively. The experimental findings highlight the effectiveness and potential of the developed cooking units for integration into the proposed versatile indoor solar cooking system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":428,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113392"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143562403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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