ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR OF A DOUBLE SIDED PV SOLAR PANEL

An innovative low power (5W) consumer grade dual face PV solar panel assembly is presented in this research. The authors propose capitalizing indirectly on the shadowed face of a typical solar panel by augmenting the panel’s total active area of exposure (via the panel’s “back side” and respective “deflectors”) and aiming at an increase in the overall efficiency of the assembly. Standard environmental operating conditions were taken into account. No CPV were used. The resulting power output profile of this unit is presented in detail and compared with the output of a single sided “standard” solar PV module configuration. In addition, under similar design and operating environmental variables, the behavior of crystalline cells panels is intended to be contrasted with thin film panels’ as variants of this proposed solution.