ESTIMATION OF PV MODULE SURFACE TEMPERATURE USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

This study aimed to use the artificial neural network (ANN) method to estimate the surface temperature of a photovoltaic (PV) panel. Using the experimentally obtained PV data, the accuracy of the ANN model was evaluated. To train the artificial neural network (ANN), outer temperature solar radiation and wind speed values were inputs and surface temperature was an output. The ANN was used to estimate PV panel surface temperature. Using the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm the feed forward artificial neural network was trained. Two back propagation type ANN algorithms were used and their performance was compared with the estimate from the LM algorithm. To train the artificial neural network, experimental data were used for two thirds with the remaining third used for testing. Additionally scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) back propagation and resilient back propagation (RB) type ANN algorithms were used for comparison with the LM algorithm. The performances of these three types of artificial neural network were compared and mean error rates of between 0.005962 and 0.012177% were obtained. The best estimate was produced by the LM algorithm. Estimation of PV surface temperature with artificial neural networks provides better results than conventional correlation methods. This study showed that artificial neural networks may be effectively used to estimate PV surface temperature.