• DocumentCode
    3449276
  • Title

    A simple formula for estimating the optimum tilt angles of photovoltaic panels

  • Author

    Quinn, Stephanie White ; Lehman, Brad

  • Author_Institution
    Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA, USA
  • fYear
    2013
  • fDate
    23-26 June 2013
  • Firstpage
    1
  • Lastpage
    8
  • Abstract
    This paper presents a new approach to computing the optimal tilt angle for photovoltaic (PV) panels. The influence of cloudy conditions on the tilt angle is explored. It is demonstrated that more energy can be extracted from the PV system in cloudy conditions when the tilt angle of the panel is decreased compared to when the panel is aimed to be facing directly normal to the sun. Validation for fixed tilt, south-facing panels and for 2-axis tracking panels is presented by numerical simulations.
  • Keywords
    numerical analysis; solar cell arrays; 2-axis tracking panels; PV panels; PV system; cloudy conditions; fixed tilt south-facing panels; numerical simulations; optimum tilt angle estimation; photovoltaic panels; Azimuth; Clouds; Indexes; Meteorology; Radiation effects; Solar radiation; Sun;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • Conference_Titel
    Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2013 IEEE 14th Workshop on
  • Conference_Location
    Salt Lake City, UT
  • ISSN
    1093-5142
  • Print_ISBN
    978-1-4673-4914-7
  • Type

    conf

  • DOI
    10.1109/COMPEL.2013.6626427
  • Filename
    6626427