Prototyping Roof Mounts for Photovoltaic (PV) Panels: Design, Construction and CFD Validation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37934/cfdl.14.2.5971Keywords:
CFD, Roof Mounting, Building-integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) PanelsAbstract
Many countries have committed to using renewable energy and increasingly encourage the use of solar panels in residential dwellings part of achieving sustainability goals. However, building regulations and standards are often slow to catch up. In New Zealand, there is no specified standard for the mechanical structure when mounting the solar panels to the roof. Solar panel mounts can cause significant damage to the roof in the presence of environmental stressors, such as heavy rain and high-speed wind gusts. This paper presents the process of designing a novel mounting unit for solar panels using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools to prototype the unit. The prototype unit is easy to install and can accommodate a range of solar tiles manufactured by leading manufacturers. The proposed mount design addresses issues identified with current mounts, such as roof leaks, tilting of the tiles, and corrosion of mounting units by design optimization and proper material selection. Additionally, we compare the maximum temperature for each part of the unit to the CFD results and come up with an average error of 3.14-3.82%.
References
Boukhriss, Mokhless, Kamel Zarzoum, Med Ali Maatoug, and Mahdi Timoumi. "Innovation of Solar Desalination System Coupled with Solar Collector: Experimental Study." Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences 80, no. 1 (2021): 94-111. https://doi.org/10.37934/arfmts.80.1.94111
Emeara, Mohamed S., Ahmed Farouk AbdelGawad, and Ahmed H. El Abagy. "A Novel Renewable Energy Approach for Cairo International Airport “CIA” based on Building Information Modeling “BIM” with Cost Analysis." Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences 85, no. 2 (2021): 80-106. https://doi.org/10.37934/arfmts.85.2.80106
Nahoui, Azzedine, Redha Rebhi, Giulio Lorenzini, and Younes Menni. "Numerical Study of a Basin Type Solar Still with a Double Glass Cover Under Winter Conditions." Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences 88, no. 1 (2021): 35-48. https://doi.org/10.37934/arfmts.88.1.3548
Panda, Sudharani, and Rakesh Kumar. "A Review on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Solar Air Heater Using Various Artificial Roughed Geometries." Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences 89, no. 1 (2022): 92-133. https://doi.org/10.37934/arfmts.89.1.92133
Jubayer, Chowdhury Mohammad, and Horia Hangan. "Numerical simulation of wind effects on a stand-alone ground mounted photovoltaic (PV) system." Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 134 (2014): 56-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2014.08.008
Meroney, Robert N., and David E. Neff. "Wind effects on roof-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays: CFD and wind-tunnel evaluation." In The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE 2010). 2010.
Aly, Aly Mousaad, and Girma Bitsuamlak. "Wind-induced pressures on solar panels mounted on residential homes." Journal of Architectural Engineering 20, no. 1 (2014): 04013003. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000132
Cao, Jinxin, Akihito Yoshida, Proshit Kumar Saha, and Yukio Tamura. "Wind loading characteristics of solar arrays mounted on flat roofs." Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 123 (2013): 214-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2013.08.014
Bellavia, Carmen. "Light weight molded roof tile with integrated solar capabilities." U.S. Patent 9,038,330, issued May 26, 2015.
Aly, Aly Mousaad, Chanachock Chokwitthaya, and Raymond Poche. "Retrofitting building roofs with aerodynamic features and solar panels to reduce hurricane damage and enhance eco-friendly energy production." Sustainable Cities and Society 35 (2017): 581-593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2017.09.002
Alafita, Theresa, and Joshua M. Pearce. "Securitization of residential solar photovoltaic assets: Costs, risks and uncertainty." Energy Policy 67 (2014): 488-498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.12.045
Branker, Kadra, M. J. M. Pathak, and Joshua M. Pearce. "A review of solar photovoltaic levelized cost of electricity." Renewable and sustainable energy reviews 15, no. 9 (2011): 4470-4482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.104
Wittbrodt, B. T., and Joshua M. Pearce. "Total US cost evaluation of low-weight tension-based photovoltaic flat-roof mounted racking." Solar Energy 117 (2015): 89-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.04.026
Peng, C., Y. Huang, and Z. Wu. "Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) in architectural design in chinaEnergy." Energy and Buildings 43, no. 12 (2011): 3592–3598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.09.032
Lu, Hao, and Li-zhi Zhang. "Numerical study of dry deposition of monodisperse and polydisperse dust on building-mounted solar photovoltaic panels with different roof inclinations." Solar Energy 176 (2018): 535-544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.10.068
Whitmore, David William. "Cathodic corrosion protection with solar panel." U.S. Patent 11,105,001, issued August 31, 2021.
Nakazima, Ichiro, Teruki Hatsukaiwa, Fumihiro Tanigawa, Takuji Nomura, Isao Yoshida, and Kazuhito Hirai. "Roofing tile having photovoltaic module to generate power." U.S. Patent 6,453,629, issued September 24, 2002.
Nürnberger, Ulf, and Esref Cenk Köse. "Durability of galvanised fasteners in timber construction." Materials and Corrosion 71, no. 5 (2020): 834-848. https://doi.org/10.1002/maco.201911489
Fedorova, Anna, Bjørn Petter Jelle, Bozena Dorota Hrynyszyn, and Stig Geving. "Quantification of wind-driven rain intrusion in building-integrated photovoltaic systems." Solar Energy 230 (2021): 376-389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.10.030
Pearce, Joshua M., Jay Meldrum, and Nolan Osborne. "Design of post-consumer modification of standard solar modules to form large-area building-integrated photovoltaic roof slates." Designs 1, no. 2 (2017): 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs1020009
Baumann, Thomas, Hartmut Nussbaumer, Markus Klenk, Andreas Dreisiebner, Fabian Carigiet, and Franz Baumgartner. "Photovoltaic systems with vertically mounted bifacial PV modules in combination with green roofs." Solar Energy 190 (2019): 139-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.08.014
Kurnik, Jurij, Marko Jankovec, Kristijan Brecl, and Marko Topic. "Outdoor testing of PV module temperature and performance under different mounting and operational conditions." Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 95, no. 1 (2011): 373-376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2010.04.022
Nurnberger, Ulf and Kose, Cenk. "Causes and mechanisms of corrosion for supporting structures of rooftop photovoltaic systems." Otto-Graf-Journal 18 (2019): 221-238.
Mani, Monto, B. V. V. Reddy, M. Sreenath, S. Lokabhiraman, and N. Anandrao. "Design of a climate-responsive BIPV research facility in Bangalore." In Proceedings of ISES World Congress 2007 (Vol. I–Vol. V), pp. 356-360. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75997-3_61
Becerril-Romero, Ignacio, Sergio Giraldo, Simón López-Marino, Marcel Placidi, Yudania Sánchez, Diouldé Sylla, Alejandro Pérez-Rodríguez, Edgardo Saucedo, and Paul Pistor. "Vitreous enamel as sodium source for efficient kesterite solar cells on commercial ceramic tiles." Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 154 (2016): 11-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.04.035
Siebentritt, Susanne, and Susan Schorr. "Kesterites-a challenging material for solar cells." In Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications 20, no. 5, 512–19, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2156
Peters, I. M., and A. M. Nobre. "Deciphering the thermal behavior of floating photovoltaic installations." Solar Energy Advances 2 (2022): 100007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seja.2021.100007
Grygiel, Piotr, Jan Tarłowski, Marta Prześniak-Welenc, Marcin Łapiński, Jacek Łubiński, Aleksandra Mielewczyk-Gryń, Krzysztof Mik, Michał Bartmański, Daniel Pelczarski, and Maciej Kwiatek. "Prototype design and development of low-load-roof photovoltaic modules for applications in on-grid systems." Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 233 (2021): 111384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111384
