Photovoltaic system design, installation and performance evaluation: PV Lab test rig
The aim of the thesis is to design, install and evaluate photovoltaic system performance at various operational conditions.
Background
The utilization of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems gains importance day by day in many countries. Companies and universities offer various training sessions, short courses, and certificate programs in order to close the gap of the experienced professionals in designing and utilizing the PV systems. Modeling, analyzing, and designing of PV solar energy systems are taught in various courses delivered to MS and BS students also here at KTH. Hands-on experience plays a crucial part in understanding the underlying physical phenomena of PV and also obtaining practical experience in system operations, to complement the theoretical knowledge delivered through the courses. Such hand-on experience could be obtained from hardware and remotely accessible PV system simulator that allows to study photovoltaic phenomena by utilizing advance solar simulator, industrial sized PV panels, real DC and AC loads with invertor and battery storage capabilities, relevant measuring instruments and equipment for identifying PV panels characteristic, comparing characteristics of different PV panel designs, studying environmental effect on PV panels performance and PV system design and implementations.
Thesis objectives
The aim of the thesis is to design, install and evaluate photovoltaic system performance at various operational conditions.
Methods/material
In this work, the student is supposed to get practical exposure to design system configuration, identify and purchase required components and to realize the commissioning and system performance under various operational conditions.
Expected Results
Design and installation of a lab scale photovoltaic system with remote access for monitoring and data collection. Identify and describe the variances of operational performances due to the variations in main environmental parameters.
Create system model to forecast annual energy supply of the system under different geographical locations for the system sustainability assessment.
Requirements
Sound performance in Renewable Energy courses (especially PV area), knowledge and experience on programming language such as Python/Matlab or good proficiency in Microsoft Excel to perform system modelling. Prior knowledge in LabVIEW desirable, but not a requirement.
Duration
The project should start in January 2022 the latest, with a duration of 6 months.
Contact persons
Supervisors at KTH, Department of Energy Technology
