Solar cells have traditionally been used for a direct sunlight to energy conversion, and there has been relatively little investigation into their use as a low data rate optical detector. This report summarizes the results of experimental work to model a silicon solar cell, and its response to a pulse of light. A lumped circuit model, and governing equations for each of the elements is developed. Experimental data on several cells are used to curve fit the governing equations. The parameters of interest are tested as a function of both temperature, and background illumination. Having derived a working model, using open circuit measurements, the behavior of the operational model can be predicted for several values of load resistance. The energy of the output pulse and the Fourier spectrum of the output of the cell are heuristically examined.

Although a Transient Simulation Program (TRNSYS) has become a widely used model for simulating a solar energy system, there has not been extensive work done in validating this model with actual data. The approach used to validate this model consisted of a modular buildup of components with validation for each module. Extreme care was taken in choosing the necessary parameters to model each component. Where parameters were not given, they were either derived or reasonable values were selected based upon general conditions prevailing in Central Florida or conditions which are generally true for certain solar hot water systems. The intent of this approach was to avoid forcing the model to fit experimental data. Such forcing can cause present results to correlate favorably, but gives no assurances for model performance in future simulations which may be made for varying conditions or completely different systems. TRNSYS compared favorably with experimental data. The average error for an entire 8 hour simulation with 15 minute intervals was only 3.39 percent for the entire tank and collector combination. The model's major deviations were in the start-up collector outlet temperature and rapid changing in actual hot water demand which the model could not match primarily in amplitude and not phase.

This thesis focused on the performance of large-scale renewable energy projects for the United States Air Force. As global energy demands continue to rise, the need to find ways to save energy and produce alternative sources of energy will increase. The Federal Government has begun to address the challenge of energy production and energy security in recent years. In order to increase both the energy production and energy security for the Air Force, there is a trend to increase the amount of renewable energy produced on military installations. The goal of this research was to compare the estimated and actual performance of these large-scale on-site renewable energy projects at Air Force installations. The variables considered for this research were the execution methods and the renewable energy sources. The performance of each project was evaluated against factors identified in previous sustainable construction studies. The study found that actual performance of third party owned and operated projects differed from the expected performance by less than the Air Force owned and operated projects, and that performance of renewable energy projects differed from the expected performance by less than high performance buildings from previous studies. The study also found factors that contributed to the gap between the expected and actual performance including optimistic modeling, unusual weather, operational issues and higher than expected maintenance of the projects. The results of this research were an initial step in understanding the actual performance of large-scale renewable energy projects. / Master of Science

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:57:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CarlosAlbertoPQLF.pdf: 2273640 bytes, checksum: a4f60a823eb1d55227bb74c387319cef (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-31 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / A model of a solar oven with a reflective surface composed of two mirror segments is presented, constituting a two semi-parabolic surfaces made of fiberglass, applied on a ceramic mold, intended to be used in residential and commercial cooking. The reflective surface of the semi-parable is obtained with the use of multiple plain segments of 2 mm wide mirrors. The semi-parabolic structure has visible movements that are comparable to that of the sun. The technical details of the manufacturing and assembling processes will be presented with an analysis of the viability of thermal, economic, and materials of such prototype. This prototype has important social implications and primordial aspects, which combats the ecological damages caused by the wide-scale use of firewood during cooking. It has been demonstrated that the solar oven has the capacity to cook simultaneous two meals distinct for a family of four / Apresenta-se um modelo de fog?o solar ? concentra??o composto por dois segmentos espelhados, constituindo duas semi-par?bolas, obtidas atrav?s da utiliza??o de fibra de vidro, aplicada sobre um molde cer?mico, destinado ao cozimento de alimentos para fins residenciais, urbanos e rurais. O espelhamento das semi-par?bolas foi obtido atrav?s da utiliza??o de m?ltiplos segmentos planos de espelho de 2 mm de espessura. A estrutura das semi-par?bolas tem mobilidade de movimentos para a corre??o do movimento aparente do sol. Ser?o apresentados detalhes t?cnicos dos processos de fabrica??o e montagem e uma an?lise das viabilidades, t?rmica, econ?mica e de materiais de tal prot?tipo, que tem uma conota??o social importante e um aspecto primordial, que ? o combate a danos ecol?gicos proporcionados pela utiliza??o, ainda em larga escala, da lenha para o cozimento dos alimentos. Comprovou-se que ? poss?vel o cozimento simult?neo de alimentos de duas refei??es distintas para uma fam?lia de quatro pessoas

Recent studies suggest that the performance of dye-sensitised solar cells (DSC) has appeared to have reached a limit, therefore solar cells based on semiconductor materials, such as extremely thin absorber (ETA) solar cells and tandem solar cells are currently the subject of intense research in the framework of low-cost photovoltaic devices as sources of harvesting sunlight to generate electricity. Generally, semiconductor solar cells have been divided into two different types, namely anodic and cathodic type solar cells. Extensive research and development work has been focused on anodic semiconductor sensitised solar cells to date. In contrast, the cathodic semiconductor sensitised solar cells have received no attention which is very surprising. Developing the cathodic semiconductor sensitised solar cell concept is very important in the development of tandem solar cells as well as other new solar cell configurations. The main reason for the lack of research in this area was due to the rarity of p-type semiconductor materials, which made it difficult to find suitable materials to match the energy band edges for cathodic semiconductor sensitised solar cells (CSSC) as well as solid-state cathodic semiconductor solar cells (SS-CSSC). The primary aim of this thesis was to construct cathodic semiconductor sensitised solar cells as well as their solid-state analogues (SS-CSSC). The work conducted within this doctoral study presents state-of-art materials and thin film processing/preparation methods, their characterisation and developing CSSCs and SS-CSSCs employing such films in cascade configurations. No reports have been published in the literature on SS-CSSC to date. The first stage of this thesis is focused on optimising the morphology and the texture (porosity) of the CuI and NiO semiconductor photocathode, by the introduction of new deposition methods namely, pulsed-electrodeposition (PED) and Aerosol-Assisted Deposition (AAD) and Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (AACVD). The electrodes prepared by employing the methods mentioned above and controlling the deposition parameters systematically, we have achieved significant improvement in the film morphology and the texture of the deposited films. The resulting electrodes showed excellent improvement in the photoelectrochemical performance which made it suitable for application in construction of both CSSC and SS-CSSC. The photoelectrochemical performance of the electrodes can be seen clearly through the photocurrent density data. For the case of bare CuI, the PEC performance of electrode prepared by the AAD and PED compared against that of continuous-electrodeposition (ED) electrodes. The photocurrent density achieved for the electrodes prepared by AAD and PED was reported around 175 and 75 µAcm-2 respectively which are way higher than the ED case. At the second stage of this study, the work focused on fabrication and characterisation of the CSSCs. Cathodic sensitised PEC solar cells (CuI/Cu2S/(Eu2+/Eu3+) and NiO/Cu2S/(I3-/I-)) were fabricated by deposition of p-Cu2S on the texture controlled CuI and NiO photocathodes. The morphological properties of the photocathode, in particular layer thickness, particle size and film porosity, play an important role in the PEC performance of CSSCs. Optimisation of these parameters led to increased adsorption of the Cu2S light harvester on the photocathode s surface. As a result, the charge injection from Cu2S to the wide band gap photocathode material (CuI and NiO) was significantly improved. Due to this, the CSSC performance showed significant improvement as semiconductor sensitised cathodic solar cells (CSSC). The IPCE and photocurrent density of the CSSC achieved in this study was around (19 and 7 %) and (1 and 0.5 mAcm-2) for the CuI/Cu2S and NiO/Cu2S electrodes respectively. Finally, the SS-CSSC has been fabricated by employing n-Fe2O3 electron transport layer. The construction of SS-CSSC for the first time using the n-Fe2O3 electron transport layer (CuI/Cu2S/Fe2O3 and NiO/Cu2S/Fe2O3) allowed us to study the materials, optical and photoelectrochemical properties of this device. Under AM 1.5 illumination, the SS-CSSC shows a photocurrent density of 6 and 9 µAcm-2 for CuI/Cu2S/Fe2O3 and NiO/Cu2S/Fe2O3 solar cells, respectively. The results of this work indicated low performance for both SS-CSSC compared to CSSC results, due to the lack of adsorption between the absorber and Fe2O3 electrode. However, this study proved the concept of SS-CSSC based on semiconductor material, which is valuable for the future work of cathodic semiconductor sensitised solar cells as well as solid-state tandem solar cells.

Orientador: Jose Tomaz Vieira Pereira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T10:01:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Varella_FabianaKarladeOliveiraMartins_M.pdf: 1832499 bytes, checksum: 1908f1a8e922a649668feeb398910006 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004 / Resumo: O mercado de aquecimento solar de água vem crescendo desde a década de 90, porém há falta de informações sobre estudos de caso que avaliem a inserção de aquecedores solares de água nos domicílios brasileiros. Visando contribuir para reduzir essa carência o presente trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar a inserção de aquecedores solares de água no distrito de Barão Geraldo, Campinas-SP. A avaliação foi efetuada através de um plano amostral aleatório estratificado, pois essa metodologia permite conhecer melhor as características próprias de cada segmento da região estudada. Foi necessária a construção de um cadastro para a população pertencente ao distrito de Barão Geraldo, a realização de uma amostra piloto, e por fim, uma amostra final. Após a elaboração do cadastro foram desenvolvidos três questionários para revendedores autorizados, fabricantes e consumidores. O resultado dos questionários aplicados aos consumidores mostra que 19% (com margem de erro máximo de ±5%) dos domicílios do distrito de Barão Geraldo possuem aquecedor solar, ou seja, 1.800 domicílios. Foi realizada a análise do perfil de consumo de energia elétrica dos domicílios por posse de aquecedor solar de água, no período de 1999 a 2003. Verificou-se que os domicílios com aquecedor solar estão consumindo mais energia elétrica do que aqueles que não o tem. Porém, não foi avaliado se esses domicílios consomem mais energia elétrica após a instalação do aquecedor solar / Abstract: The market of solar water heating is growing since the decade of 1990, however there is a lack of information on case studies that evaluate the insertion of solar water heaters in Brazilian dwellings. In order to supply that lack, the present work aims at evaluating the insertion of solar water heaters in Barão Geraldo, district of Campinas-SP. The evaluation was made through a stratified aleatory sample plan, which allows to know the characteristics of each segment of the studied area. It was necessary to create a database of Barão Geraldo population, to accomplish a pilot sample and a final sample. After the elaboration of the database three questionnaires were developed for resellers, manufacturers and consumers. The result of the applied questionnaires to the consumers shows that 19% (with maximum error margin of ±5%) of the dwellings of Barão Geraldo district possesses solar heaters, i.e. , 1.800 dwellings. The analysis of electric power consumption of the dwellings was realized by ownership of solar water heater, in the period from 1999 to 2003. It was verified that the dwellings with solar heaters consume more electric power than the ones that don't possess it. However, it wasn¿t evaluated if those dwellings consume more electric power after the installation of the solar heaters / Mestrado / Planejamento de Sistemas Energeticos / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Orientadores: Marlene Rita de Queiroz, Thomaz Penteado de Freitas Borges / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Agricola / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T17:44:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_BrenoMonteirodos_M.pdf: 1088354 bytes, checksum: 34b6badc189dd2dfeafa1a3c5f41515c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Uma metodologia para o projeto de coletores solares visando a secagem de grãos em silo foi implementada utilizando-se correlações empíricas previamente determinadas para o cálculo da fração solar fornecida pelo sistema. Foi realizado um estudo de caso de uma secagem de milho em silo, na cidade de Campinas ¿ SP, com pré-aquecimento do ar através de um coletor solar e aquecimento complementar com fonte energética convencional (GLP ou lenha). O coletor solar utilizado possui área de 1,80m2, foi construído com materiais de baixo custo e, devido ao material constituinte de seu leito (pedras britadas), apresenta elevada inércia térmica e capacidade de armazenar energia. A caracterização do coletor foi feita com o levantamento da sua curva de eficiência e com a determinação de sua constante de tempo. De maneira semelhante ao observado em coletores solares convencionais, a curva característica levantada apresentou comportamento linear. A capacidade de armazenar energia térmica foi constatada no elevado valor da constante de tempo obtida e pelas defasagens entre as curvas de calor útil fornecido ao ar e radiação solar incidente na superfície do equipamento. Na secagem de 1,20t de milho considerada no estudo de caso, utilizando-se uma vazão volumétrica específica de ar igual a 1,20 m3/m3.min à temperatura de 50°C, obteve-se uma economia de 31% na energia demandada para o aquecimento de ar. Através da análise de ciclo de vida econômico, para a utilização conjunta de energia solar e GLP no aquecimento de ar, foi determinada uma área coletora ótima de 7,50m2 a uma taxa de interesse de 0,12a.a., proporcionando o máximo retorno financeiro durante o ciclo de vida do equipamento. Aumentos nas taxas de interesse diminuem tanto os valores de área coletora ótima como do retorno financeiro durante o ciclo de vida econômico. Foi demonstrada, para as condições fixadas no estudo de caso, a viabilidade econômica da conversão de sistemas que utilizam GLP como fonte energética para sistemas assistidos por energia solar, proporcionando redução nos impactos ambientais da atividade e economia para o produtor rural. Nas mesmas condições foi verificada a inviabilidade econômica da utilização de energia solar em conjunto com a lenha / Abstract: A solar collector design procedure was proposed for sizing solar assisted crop-drying systems using empiric correlations, previously found, to determine the solar fraction supplied by the system. A case study of an in-bin crop drying was accomplished in the city of Campinas - SP with pre-heating of the air through a solar collector complemented by conventional energy source (LPG or firewood). The used solar collector had an area of 1,80m2, it was built with low cost materials and, due to its pebble bed, it presented a high thermal inertia and storing energy capacity. The collector was characterized by determining its efficiency curve and its time constant. As observed in conventional solar collectors, the characteristic curve presented linear behavior. The capacity to store thermal energy was confirmed by the high value of the time constant and by the delay between the useful heat and the incident solar radiation curves. In the studied case of drying 1,20 tons of corn, using a specific air flow rate equal to 1,20 m3/m3.min and a temperature of 50°C, it was saved 31% of the demanded energy for air heating. For a solar-assisted drying using LPG as the conventional source of energy, an optimum collector area of 7,50m2 was found through the life cycle saving analysis calculated with an annual interest rate of 0,12, providing the maximum saves during the equipment life cycle. Increasing the interest rate reduced both optimum collector areas and life cycle savings. For the crop drying case, it was demonstrated the economical viability of the conversion of LPG based to solar-assisted systems, providing reduction in the environmental impacts of the activity and savings for the rural producer. In the same conditions was demonstrated there is no economical viability in the conversion of firewood based to solar-assisted systems / Mestrado / Tecnologia Pós-Colheita / Mestre em Engenharia Agrícola

Segundo o Atlas Brasileiro de Energia Solar, apesar das diferentes características climáticas observadas no Brasil, pode-se constatar que a média anual de irradiação solar global apresenta boa uniformidade e elevados índices por todo o país. Os valores desta grandeza em quase toda a extensão do território brasileiro (4200-6700 Wh/m2/dia) são superiores aos da maioria dos países da União Europeia, como Alemanha (900-1250 Wh/m2/dia), França (900-1650 Wh/m2/dia) e Espanha (1200-1850 Wh/m2/dia), onde projetos para aproveitamento de energia solar, alguns contando com fortes incentivos governamentais, são amplamente disseminados. Grande parte dos avanços científicos obtidos nos estudos sobre aproveitamento da energia solar se deve à utilização de simuladores solares compactos nos experimentos de longa duração. Ao substituir o Sol por fontes artificiais, como lâmpadas capazes de emitir radiação próxima à solar, os simuladores eliminam a dependência de fatores naturais como condições climáticas, horário do dia, intermitência e movimento de direção da radiação solar. O projeto proposto para esta dissertação de Mestrado teve como objetivo o domínio do processo de concepção e fabricação de um simulador solar concentrador formado por lâmpadas e um refletor ótico. Uma vez dominada a técnica, um modelo piloto de simulador solar foi construído e alguns testes executados para avaliar a qualidade do projeto, a resistência dos componentes e o fator de concentração do aparato. / According to the Brazilian Atlas of Solar Energy, despite the different climatic characteristics observed in Brazil, the annual average of global solar irradiation has good uniformity and high levels throughout the country. The values of global solar irradiation in almost the entire length of Brazil (4200-6700 Wh/m2/day) are higher than those observed in most European Union countries, like Germany (900-1250 Wh/m2/day), France (900-1650 Wh/m2/day) and Spain (1200-1850 Wh/m2/day), where projects for solar energy applications, some of them relying on strong government incentives, are widely disseminated. Several scientific and technological advances made in the study of solar energy applications are due to the use of compact solar simulators in long-term experiments. Replacing the Sun by artificial sources, such as arc lamps with radiation emission similar to the Sun spectrum, indoor simulators avoid the dependence on natural conditions such as the weather, the daytime, the sunlight intermittence and the directional change of the solar radiation. The project proposed for this dissertation aimed to master the design and manufacturing processes of a high-flux solar simulator consisting of arc lamps and an optical reflector. Once technique was understood, a solar simulation pilot model was built and some tests were performed to assess the project quality, the resistance of components and the apparatus concentration factor.

Lau Yun Ngau, Patrick. / Bibliography: leaves 126-131 / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1985

This thesis presents and demonstrates procedures to model and optimize the collector field of a parabolic trough solar thermal power plant. The collector field of such a plant is universally organized into parallel loops of solar collectors. Heat transfer fluid returning from the energy conversion plant is heated to a moderately high temperature in the field. Typically fluid enters a collector loop around 270 °C and leaves at 380 °C. The fluid is then returned to the plant to generate steam. In the first part of this thesis, the collector field and the energy conversion system of a typical parabolic trough solar thermal power plant are modeled. The model is compared with actual performance data and is enhanced and verified as necessary. Originally, the collectors in the plants under consideration were provided with evacuated tube receivers of the highest feasible efficiency without much regard for cost effectiveness. In practice, these receivers have failed at an unexpected rate and need replacement. It is unlikely that a very expensive evacuated tube receiver is now the most cost effective for every location in a collector loop. In particular, a receiver optimized for 270 °C operation may not be optimal at 380 °C. For example, a relatively inexpensive receiver with a flat black absorber and no vacuum may be more cost effective in the lower temperature segments of a loop. In the second part of this thesis, a procedure for the optimum deployment of collectors is developed and demonstrated. The results of this research should be directly applicable to the refurbishment and upgrading of several of the largest solar energy plants in the world.