Title :
Recent advances in outdoor performance evaluation of PV systems
Author :
Quintana, M.A. ; King, D.L. ; Cannon, J.E. ; Woodworth, J.R. ; Boyson, W.E. ; Adams, N.P. ; Ellibee, D.E.
Author_Institution :
Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA
Abstract :
Sandia´s Photovoltaic Technology Laboratory (PTEL) routinely performs outdoor tests of a variety of one-sun and concentrator PV modules. Their experience is that while outdoor testing has its own set of problems, it can produce results that are more directly applicable to “field” conditions than testing in solar simulators. They have recently improved both the hardware and software at the PTEL to improve their accuracy and to deal with the special set of problems encountered in outdoor testing. Improvements in hardware include a computer-controlled solar tracker that allows them to test solar cell arrays up to 21 m2 in size; infrared imaging of modules; and electronic loads that allow them to test components with outputs up to 1,800 watts. Improvements in software include real-time monitoring of data collection; a relational database that has improved the reliability of test setups, operations and analyses; and a standardized reporting process that relates module performance to a number of environmental parameters
Keywords :
automatic test equipment; automatic testing; data acquisition; power engineering computing; real-time systems; semiconductor device testing; solar cell arrays; solar cells; solar energy concentrators; test facilities; 1800 W; accuracy; concentrator PV modules; data collection; electronic loads; environmental parameters; hardware; infrared imaging; outdoor performance evaluation; outdoor testing; performance; real-time monitoring; relational database; reliability; software; solar cell arrays; solar cells; solar tracker; standardized reporting process; test facility; Computational modeling; Electronic equipment testing; Hardware; Laboratories; Optical computing; Performance evaluation; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Software testing; Solar power generation;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1993., Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE
Conference_Location :
Louisville, KY
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1220-1
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1993.346952
