Performance analysis of a wearable photovoltaic system

Abstract

This paper provides a performance analysis of a wearable photovoltaic system mounted on the outer surface of a backpack. Three types of photovoltaic materials, commonly used for electricity generation, have been investigated under various conditions including sun irradiance, angle-of-incidence and sun inclination. The results of the investigation have shown that the system equipped with the rigid mono-Si panels performs 3.5 to 4.9 times better than the system equipped with a-Si flexible PV modules. The average power generated by the wearable photovoltaic system is about 30% of the maximum installed power for any photovoltaic type. This paper presents the test data resulting from the evaluation of the daily energy production of a wearable photovoltaic power supply.