5/7/2015

Projectdesign>Arrayandsystemlosses>ArrayThermallosses

ArrayThermallosses
ThermalModel
TheparametersoftheThermalbehaviourofthefieldaredefinedinthe"ArrayLosses"dialog(seealsoArrayLossesdefinition).
Thethermalbehaviourofthefieldwhichstronglyinfluencestheelectricalperformancesisdeterminedbyanenergybalancebetweenambienttemperatureand
cell'sheatingupduetoincidentirradiance:
U(TcellTamb)=AlphaGinc(1Effic)
whereAlphaistheabsorptioncoefficientofsolarirradiation,andEfficisthePVefficiency(relatedtothemodulearea),i.e.theenergyremovedfromthemodule.
TheusualvalueoftheAbsorptioncoefficientAlphais0.9.ItiseventuallymodifiableinthePVmoduledefinitiondialog.
Whenpossible,thePVefficiencyiscalculatedaccordingtotheoperatingconditionsofthemodule.Otherwiseitistakenas10%.
ThethermalbehaviourischaracterisedbyathermallossfactordesignedherebyUvalue(formerlycalledKvalue),whichcanbesplitintoaconstantcomponent
UcandafactorproportionaltothewindvelocityUv:
U=Uc+Uvv(Uin[W/mk],v=windvelocityin[m/s]).
Thesefactorsdependonthemountingmodeofthemodules(sheds,roofing,facade,etc...).
Forfreecirculation,thiscoefficientreferstobothfaces,i.e.twicetheareaofthemodule.Ifthebackofthemodulesismoreorlessthermallyinsulated,thisshould
belowered,theoreticallyuptohalfthevalue(i.ethebacksidedoesn'tparticipateanymoretothermalconvectionandradiationtransfer).

Determinationoftheparameters
ThedeterminationoftheparametersUcandUvisindeedabigquestion.Wehavesomereliablemeasureddataforfreemountedarrays,butthereisaseverelack
ofinformationwhenthemodulesareintegrated.Whatvalueshouldbechosenaccordingtotheairductsizesunderthemodules,andthelengthoftheairpath?
Itshouldbenoticedthattheheatcapacityoftheairisverylow.Evenwithlargeairvents,theflowingairunderthemodulesmayquicklyattaintheequilibriumwith
themodulestemperatureattheendoftheduct,leadingtonoheatexchangeatall.ThereforeforthetopofthearraythebackUvaluemaybethefullyinsulatedU
valueyoucanhavebigdifferencesbetweentheregionsofthearrayneartheairinlet,andattheoutlet.PVsystdoesn'ttakethisinhomogeneityofthearray
temperatureintoaccount.
Ontheotherhand,theuseofthewinddependenceisverydifficult.Reliableknowingofthewindvelocityisextremelyseldom(someprogramsconstructsynthetic
hourlyvaluesfrommonthlydata,butonwhichbasisandwithwhichmodels?).Andthe"meteoquality"windvelocity(measuredat10meterheightinfree
environment)isnotrepresentativeofthevelocityatthearraylevel(theremaybeafactorof1.5betweenthem).InthisrespecttheUvvalueisobviouslynotthe
sameforthesetwodefinitionsofthewindvelocity.

Defaultandproposedvalues
InoldversionsodPVsyst,thedefaultvaluesproposedbytheprogramwere
Uc=20W/mk,Uv=6W/mk/m/s
valueswhichhadbeenmeasuredonseveralinstallations,formodulesmountedinshedswithoutbackcoverage,withfreeaircirculationallaround.
Thesevaluesmatchedverywellthemeasurements(averagedeviationoftheorderof0.5to1C),butweredefinedusingWinddatarecordedjustoverthearray,in
builtenvironment.Suchvelocitiesarequitelowerthantheusualwinddataavailableinthemeteofiles,recordedata10mlevelormoreovertheobstacles.Therefore
withtheseparametersPVsystcalculatedaveryhighdissipativecoefficientandcoolarraytemperature,leadingtostronglyunderestimatedheatlosses.
Accordingtotheirownmeasurements,someusersproposed,whenusingstandardmeteovaluessuchthoseintheUSTMY2data(usuallyaround45m/seconan
averageincontinentalnotcoastplaces),thefollowingUvalues:
Uc=25W/mk,Uv=1.2W/mk/m/s

Bytheway,whenthewindvelocityisnotpresentinthedata,PVsysttransfersthewinddependentcontributionintotheUcfactor,assuminganaveragewind
velocityof1.5m/s(or3.3m/sinthelattercase).
Sinceversion4.0,thedefaultvalueisfixedforfreestandingarrays,as:
Uc=29W/mk,Uv=0W/mk/m/s
Ifyouhavefullyinsulatedarrays,thisshouldbehalved:
Uc=15W/mk,Uv=0W/mk/m/s
Concernedpeopleagreedthatthisisanacceptablechoice.
NB:ourrecentmeasurementsonanhorizontalarrayofamorphousframelessmodules,mountednotjointiveat8cmaboveasteelroof,showedavalueU=18
W/mk.
Thesevaluessupposeanaveragewindvelocityofaround1.5m/secatthecollectorslevel.Inverywindyregionslikecoasts(largeraveragewindvelocities),youcan
increasethevaluesbutwecannotsaybywhichamountinareliableway.

NOCTValues
SomepracticiansandmostofPVmodule'scataloguesusuallyspecifytheNOCTcoefficient("NominalOperatingCellTemperature"),whichyouareadvisedto
completelyforget...Pleasehavealookatthistopic!

http://files.pvsyst.com/help/thermal_loss.htm

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