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Energies
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Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System
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Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A2: Solar Energy and Photovoltaic Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 12616

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Maurizio De Lucia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial, Engineering, University of Florence, Via di S. Marta, 3 50139 Florence, Italy
Interests: energy systems; renewable energy; solar concentrators; energy efficiency; integrated and hybrid solar system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Philip Eames

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Thermal Energy Storage Group, Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK
Interests: thermal energy storage; heat transfer, thermodynamics; thermofluids; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); numerical modelling; numerical simulation; solar system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Amedeo Amoresano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: mechanical engineering, energy conversion, energy engineering, engineering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, numerical simulation, thermal engineering, computational fluid dynamics, CFD simulation
Dr. Giacomo Pierucci

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50121 Firenze, Italy
Interests: solar linear concentrators; concentrator solar power (CSP); solar heating and cooling (SHC); energy efficiency; integrated solar system in building; positive energy building (PEB); positive energy district (PED)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growth in global energy consumption over the past few decades has been significant, and demand for energy will continue to grow due to global population increase. The energy demand is increasing rapidly, with an excessive fossil fuel consumption in civil and industrial sectors. Therefore, the concentration of CO2 and greenhouse gas due to fossil fuels in atmosphere has dramatically increased along with its environmental issues and concerns. As a result, several approaches have to be undertaken to decrease fossil fuel consumption. Within this frame of reference, renewable energies play an important role.

Solar energy is the most abundant permanent energy resource, and solar energy systems have been grabbing the largest amount of attention among all other renewable energy systems—wind energy, biomass, geo thermal, ocean power, etc. Every solar energy technology features some combination of characteristics (such as passive and active solar energy, thermal and photovoltaic systems, concentrating and non-concentrating systems) to harness sunlight.

The European road map has been set with very ambitious goals; by 2030, it foresees a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions and an increase in renewable sources of 38.5%. The economic sustainability of CSP-type solar techniques has now been established, but the size of the plants is prohibitive for many situations. Distributed thermal and electrical solar generation remains a priority for everyone.

This Special Issue will cover the latest advances in the solar system. We encourage the submission of papers focused on novel design of solar energy systems and components, the test principle, and techniques for existing and novel systems. Furthermore, we welcome articles that investigate the latest methodologies in modeling and simulation of solar components as well as solar systems. Another suggested topic may include research on recent technical developments of solar systems with an emphasis on the efficiency and levelized cost of energy for solar systems.

Prof. Dr. Maurizio De Lucia
Prof. Dr. Philip Eames
Dr. Amedeo Amoresano
Dr. Giacomo Pierucci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Renewable energy 
  • Active solar energy 
  • Passive solar energy 
  • Thermal solar systems 
  • Photovoltaic solar systems 
  • Concentrating solar system 
  • Non-concentrating solar systems
  • Testing methods for solar systems 
  • Modeling of solar systems

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 8665 KiB  
Article
Optical Raytracing Analysis of a Scheffler Type Concentrator
by Daniela Fontani, Paola Sansoni, Franco Francini, Francesco Toni and David Jafrancesco
Energies 2022, 15(1), 260; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15010260 - 31 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1838
Abstract
The Scheffler type concentrator is a curved metal reflector particularly suitable for solar thermal systems with a receiver fixed to the ground. Its operating principle is to deform the reflector throughout the year to optimize its performance in collecting sunlight. This study analyses [...] Read more.
The Scheffler type concentrator is a curved metal reflector particularly suitable for solar thermal systems with a receiver fixed to the ground. Its operating principle is to deform the reflector throughout the year to optimize its performance in collecting sunlight. This study analyses the optical performance of a Scheffler reflector during the year. A CAD software tool is utilized to reproduce the mechanical deformations of a real Scheffler concentrator and the shape of the light spot on the receiver is analyzed by means of raytracing simulations. The starting configuration is the equinoctial paraboloid, which produces a point-like spot on the two equinox days only. On all other days of the year, this paraboloid is deformed in a suitable way in order to keep the spot as small as possible, but, even so, it is no longer a point-like spot. In the present work the simulated light distributions on the receiver, generated by the paraboloids (deformed or original), are compared. The results confirm the working principle of the Scheffler type concentrator and allow correctly sizing the receiver. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System)
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12 pages, 6048 KiB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of Photovoltaic Modules by Combined Damp Heat and Temperature Cycle Test
by Hyeonwook Park, Wonshoup So and Woo Kyoung Kim
Energies 2021, 14(11), 3328; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14113328 - 05 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2750
Abstract
Standard damp heat (DH), temperature cycle (TC), and combined DH-TC tests were performed using monocrystalline Si 72-cell modules with a conventional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant, and their module performance and electroluminescence images were investigated. During the DH test, a significant drop (~20%) [...] Read more.
Standard damp heat (DH), temperature cycle (TC), and combined DH-TC tests were performed using monocrystalline Si 72-cell modules with a conventional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant, and their module performance and electroluminescence images were investigated. During the DH test, a significant drop (~20%) in the maximum output power of the module was noticed, primarily because of the degradation of fill factor and an increase in series resistance at 5500 h of DH testing (DH5500), presumably due to the corrosion of metal electrodes by moisture ingress. Conversely, it was revealed that temperature cycling did not seriously degrade module performance until 1400 cycles. However, the combined DH5000-TC600 test suggested in this study, with a sequence of DH1000-TC200-DH1000-TC200-DH1000-TC200-DH2000, was confirmed to provide harsher conditions than the DH-only test by causing a 20% decrease in maximum output power (Pmax) after DH3000/TC400. Promisingly, we confirmed that the module with a polyolefin elastomer encapsulant showed better durability than the module with EVA even in the combined DH-TC test, showing a limited decrease in Pmax (~10%) even after the DH5500/TC600 test. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System)
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Graphical abstract

11 pages, 29014 KiB  
Article
A Study of Developing a Prediction Equation of Electricity Energy Output via Photovoltaic Modules
by Minsu Kim, Hongmyeong Kim and Jae Hak Jung
Energies 2021, 14(5), 1503; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14051503 - 09 Mar 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1601
Abstract
Various equations are being developed and applied to predict photovoltaic (PV) module generation. Currently, quite diverse methods for predicting module generation are available, with most equations showing accuracy with ≤5% error. However, the accuracy can be determined only when the module temperature and [...] Read more.
Various equations are being developed and applied to predict photovoltaic (PV) module generation. Currently, quite diverse methods for predicting module generation are available, with most equations showing accuracy with ≤5% error. However, the accuracy can be determined only when the module temperature and the value of irradiation that reaches the module surface are precisely known. The prediction accuracy of outdoor generation is actually extremely low, as the method for predicting outdoor module temperature has extremely low accuracy. The change in module temperature cannot be predicted accurately because of the real-time change of irradiation and air temperature outdoors. Calculations using conventional equations from other studies show a mean error of temperature difference of 4.23 °C. In this study, an equation was developed and verified that can predict the precise module temperature up to 1.64 °C, based on the experimental data obtained after installing an actual outdoor module. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System)
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18 pages, 6545 KiB  
Article
An Innovative Metaheuristic Strategy for Solar Energy Management through a Neural Networks Framework
by Hossein Moayedi and Amir Mosavi
Energies 2021, 14(4), 1196; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14041196 - 23 Feb 2021
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 3225
Abstract
Proper management of solar energy as an effective renewable source is of high importance toward sustainable energy harvesting. This paper offers a novel sophisticated method for predicting solar irradiance (SIr) from environmental conditions. To this end, an efficient metaheuristic technique, namely electromagnetic field [...] Read more.
Proper management of solar energy as an effective renewable source is of high importance toward sustainable energy harvesting. This paper offers a novel sophisticated method for predicting solar irradiance (SIr) from environmental conditions. To this end, an efficient metaheuristic technique, namely electromagnetic field optimization (EFO), is employed for optimizing a neural network. This algorithm quickly mines a publicly available dataset for nonlinearly tuning the network parameters. To suggest an optimal configuration, five influential parameters of the EFO are optimized by an extensive trial and error practice. Analyzing the results showed that the proposed model can learn the SIr pattern and predict it for unseen conditions with high accuracy. Furthermore, it provided about 10% and 16% higher accuracy compared to two benchmark optimizers, namely shuffled complex evolution and shuffled frog leaping algorithm. Hence, the EFO-supervised neural network can be a promising tool for the early prediction of SIr in practice. The findings of this research may shed light on the use of advanced intelligent models for efficient energy development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System)
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39 pages, 9804 KiB  
Article
A Thermal-Hydraulic Model for the Stagnation of Solar Thermal Systems with Flat-Plate Collector Arrays
by Ralph Eismann, Sebastian Hummel and Federico Giovannetti
Energies 2021, 14(3), 733; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14030733 - 30 Jan 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2341
Abstract
Stagnation is the transient state of a solar thermal system under high solar irradiation where the useful solar gain is zero. Both flat-plate collectors with selective absorber coatings and vacuum-tube collectors exhibit stagnation temperatures far above the saturation temperature of the glycol-based heat [...] Read more.
Stagnation is the transient state of a solar thermal system under high solar irradiation where the useful solar gain is zero. Both flat-plate collectors with selective absorber coatings and vacuum-tube collectors exhibit stagnation temperatures far above the saturation temperature of the glycol-based heat carriers within the range of typical system pressures. Therefore, stagnation is always associated with vaporization and propagation of vapor into the pipes of the solar circuit. It is therefore essential to design the system in such a way that vapor never reaches components that cannot withstand high temperatures. In this article, a thermal-hydraulic model based on the integral form of a two-phase mixture model and a drift-flux correlation is presented. The model is applicable to solar thermal flat-plate collectors with meander-shaped absorber tubes and selective absorber coatings. Experimental data from stagnation experiments on two systems, which are identical except for the optical properties of the absorber coating, allowed comparison with simulations carried out under the same boundary conditions. The absorber of one system features a conventional highly selective coating, while the absorber of the other system features a thermochromic coating, which exhibits a significantly lower stagnation temperature. Comparison of simulation results and experimental data shows good conformity. This model is implemented into an open-source software tool called THD for the thermal-hydraulic dimensioning of solar systems. The latest version of THD, updated by the results of this article, enables planners to achieve cost-optimal design of solar thermal systems and to ensure failsafe operation by predicting the steam range under the initial and boundary conditions of worst-case scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modeling, Design, Development and Testing for Solar System)
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