Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute Of Technology, İzmir, 2005. / Keywords: Solar house, solar radiation. Includes bibliographical references (leaves. 113-116).

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, 2004 / Includes bibliographical references (leaves. 96).

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Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on August 6, 2009. "Presented to the faculty of Architecture, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Architecture." Major professor: Dr. Jens Pohl. "June 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-111).

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Buildings both commercial and residential are the largest consumers of electricity. Integrating Photovoltaic technology in building architecture or Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) provides an effective means for meeting this huge energy demands and provides an energy hub at the place of its immediate requirement. However, this technology is challenged with problems like low efficiency and high cost. An effective way of improving the solar cell efficiency and reducing the cost of photovoltaic systems is either by reducing solar cell manufacturing cost or illuminating the solar cells with a higher light intensity than is naturally available by the use of optical concentrators which is also known as Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) technology. Integrating this technology in the architecture is referred as Building integrated Concentrating Photovoltaics (BICPV). This thesis presents a detailed performance analysis of different designs used as BICPV systems and proposes further advancements necessary for improving the system design and minimizing losses. The systems under study include a Dielectric Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Concentrator (DiACPC) designed for 2.8×, a three-dimensional Cross compound parabolic concentrator (3DCCPC) designed for 3.6× and a Square Elliptical Hyperbolic (SEH) concentrator designed for 6×. A detailed analysis procedure is presented showcasing the optical, electrical, thermal and overall analysis of these systems. A particular issue for CPV technology is the non-uniformity of the incident flux which tends to cause hot spots, current mismatch and reduce the overall efficiency of the system. Emphasis is placed on modelling the effects of non-uniformity while evaluating the performance of these systems. The optical analysis of the concentrators is carried out using ray tracing and finite element methods are employed to determine electrical and thermal performance of the system. Based on the optical analysis, the outgoing flux from the concentrators is predicted for different incident angles for each of the concentrators. A finite element model for the solar cell was developed to evaluate its electrical performance using the outputs obtained from the optical analysis. The model can also be applied for the optimization of the front grid pattern of Si Solar cells. The model is further coupled within the thermal analysis of the system, where the temperature of the solar cell is predicted under operating conditions and used to evaluate the overall performance under steady state conditions. During the analysis of the DiACPC it was found that the maximum cell temperature reached was 349.5 K under an incident solar radiation of 1000 W/m2. Results from the study carried on the 3DCCPC showed that a maximum cell temperature of 332 K is reached under normal incidence, this tends to bring down the overall power production by 14.6%. In the case of the SEH based system a maximum temperature of 319 K was observed on the solar cell surface under normal incidence. An average drop of 11.7% was found making the effective power ratio of the system 3.4. The non-uniformity introduced due to the concentrator profile causes hotspots in the BICPV system. The non-uniformity was found to reduce the efficiency of the solar cell in the range of 0.5-1 % in all the three studies. The overall performance can be improved by addressing losses occurring within different components of the system. It was found that optical losses occurred at the interface region formed due to the encapsulant spillage along the edges of the concentrator. Using a reflective film along the edge of the concentrating element was found to improve the optical efficiency of the system. Case studies highlighting the improvement are presented. A reflective film was attached along the interface region of the concentrator and the encapsulant. In the case of a DiACPC, an increase of 6% could be seen in the overall power production. Similar case study was performed for a 3DCCPC and a maximum of 6.7% was seen in the power output. To further improve the system performance a new design incorporating conjugate reflective-refractive device was evaluated. The device benefits from high optical efficiency due to the reflection and greater acceptance angle due to refraction. Finally, recommendations are made for development of a new generation of designs to be used in BiCPV applications. Efforts are made towards improving the overall performance and reducing the non-uniformity of the concentrated illumination.

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No description available.

MESMEG / Department of Mining and Environmental Geology / Solar energy development is experiencing significant growth due to national interest in increasing energy efficiency, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, increasing domestic energy production, and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Northern Cape is generally known to be one of the preferred areas for the generation of solar energy in South Africa, and even in the world, due to its abundant solar radiation. Although this area has abundant potential for solar power generation, not all the areas are suitable for construction of solar plant facilities especially those that are prone to sand storm and dust accumulation. Consequently, site evaluation is very crucial for planning, design and construction of the solar facility. The main objective of this study was to determine the suitability of a proposed site at Kakamas in the Northern Cape for construction of a photovoltaic solar facility. The specific objectives of this research were to assess and establish all the geotechnical aspects that may have an impact on the development of the site, to explore the surface conditions at the proposed site and to establish the soil properties and comment on the use of the on-site soils in the construction of the solar facility. Other specific objectives included to determine the variability of ground conditions and effects of such variability on the proposed development and to provide foundation recommendations for the design and construction of the solar facility. In order to obtain this information, methods such as desktop studies, geological survey, soil survey, magnetic survey and soil profiling were employed to obtain information about the geotechnical aspects of the study area and properties of the on-site soil. Field tests such as cone penetration and resistivity survey and laboratory tests such as foundation indicator test, California Bearing Ratio, pH and permeability test were also performed in order to determine the engineering, behavioral and hydraulic properties of the soil. The results of the geologic and magnetic survey indicated that the study area is underlain by mainly igneous and metamorphic rocks such as gneiss, quartzite, pegmatite, gneiss and calcrete. The results of the soil profiling and the resistivity survey showed that the study area is comprised of sandy soil with either two or three horizons while the cone penetration results revealed high variable soil consistency and stiffness which ranged from very loose to very stiff soils. The particle size distribution, atterberg limits and grading modulus indicated that the study area is characterized mainly by dry, cohesionless and non-plastic to slightly plastic coarse-grained sandy soil with sand content ranging from 71- 96%. From the CBR results, it was found that the soils in the study area generally classifies as G6 material and can be used as base, sub base and backfilling material in accordance with the TRH 14 specifications. The permeability test results indicated moderately permeable sandy silt soils with coefficient of permeability ranging between 1x10-3 to 8x10-3 cm/sec and ground water was encountered at 1.3 m depth. The material excavatability indicated variable material on site ranging from soft calcretes with soft excavation to highly competent material such as quartz and dorbank which require hard excavation while the side wall stability of trial pits indicated stable pit walls during the investigation giving an indication of stability of long pit excavations. The foundation analysis showed that driven piles and earth screws are the ideal foundation types for this site and that the site is generally suitable for construction of the solar facility provided all the recommendations are implemented. / NRF