Performance Investigation of a Photovoltaic Module Integrated with Different Optical Filters

Abstract

Currently, 10 to 25% of the solar energy that reaches the PV unit surface is transformed into electricity, with the rest being dissipated as heat. The efficiency of converting the incident solar radiation into electrical power is greatly influenced by the heat accumulation on the photovoltaic modules. Coupling the PV module with optical filters are considered to be one of the most promising techniques to dramatically raise the electrical efficiency. In the present investigation, two optical filters employing different static working fluids coupled with a PV module are designed and compared with the stand-alone PV module experimentally. The results find that the efficiency of the optical filter using water reaches to about 60.02%, which is higher than the optical filter employing glycerin by implementing the Monte Carlo approach. When the optical filters are combined with the PV unit, the electrical power output is increased by around 60 and 64%, respectively, when compared to the PV module without the optical filter.