Solar array design based on shadow analysis for increasing net energy collection in a competition vehicle

Gilberto Osorio-Gómez; Ricardo Mejía-Gutiérrez; Nicolás Suárez-Castañeda; Ana M. Gil-Herrera; Jorge A. Barrera-Velásquez

doi:10.1117/1.JPE.5.053091

8 June 2015 Solar array design based on shadow analysis for increasing net energy collection in a competition vehicle

Gilberto Osorio-Gómez, Ricardo Mejía-Gutiérrez, Nicolás Suárez-Castañeda, Ana M. Gil-Herrera, Jorge A. Barrera-Velásquez

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Photonics for Energy, Vol. 5, Issue 1, 053091 (June 2015). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.5.053091

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) applications such as in the architectural, automotive, and aerospace industries face design contradictions because they are expected to produce a lot of energy but are constrained by available area, surface shape, incident irradiance, shadows, and other aspects that have a negative influence on the energy produced by the solar panel. Solar competition vehicles are some of these challenging PV applications. The design of such solar arrays needs to consider efficiency evaluation in order to optimize space; it is difficult not to install solar modules in areas impacted by shadows. A design procedure for a solar array configuration based on shadow analysis for competition vehicles is presented. The principle is that shadows in moving objects can be simulated, since the vehicle, the earth and the sun are are moving in semipredictable patterns, thus net energy collection can be forecast. The case study presented is the solar array design of a vehicle that participated in the World Solar Challenge 2013. The obtained results illustrate how the employment of the procedure gives insights on important aspects to consider and also delivers qualitative and quantitative information for decision making. In addition, the experience in competition highlights some issues to be considered, modified, or improved in further vehicle designs.

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Gilberto Osorio-Gómez, Ricardo Mejía-Gutiérrez, Nicolás Suárez-Castañeda, Ana M. Gil-Herrera, and Jorge A. Barrera-Velásquez "Solar array design based on shadow analysis for increasing net energy collection in a competition vehicle," Journal of Photonics for Energy 5(1), 053091 (8 June 2015). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.5.053091

Published: 8 June 2015

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