An Investigation On The Optimum Tilt Angle Of PV Modules Installed In Wuhan

Solar photovoltaic power generation is a power generation technology using photovoltaic effect of semiconductor materials to transfers solar radiation to electrical energy directly. The power generation process is simple, with no mechanical moving parts, no fuel consumption, no pollution, no emissions, compared with these new power generation technologies such as wind power, biomass power generation and nuclear power, it is the most ideal characteristic of sustainable development of renewable energy power generation technology.There are many factors that influence the efficiency of photovoltaic module power, the module itself features, installation angle, installation height and weather conditions, these changed conditions will affect the efficiency of the modules in different extents. In order to obtain the maximum capacity, the monthly mean daily solar radiation irradiated on the photovoltaic modules in Wuhan area is calculated in this thesis; and CFD simulation is carried out on the PV modules model to obtain the relationship curves between module temperature and installation angle in 12 months. According to the relationship between temperature and efficiency, and the relationship between the efficiency and capacity, the installation tilt angle is established when the maximum power is occurred in each month, then the tilt angle is the optimum installed tilt angle.The solar radiation was calculated in this topic first. Considering the way of unparalleled installation on the roof of PV modules, the decade data of total radiation on horizontal plane was first identified from 2001 to 2010 in Wuhan.The total solar radiation on the horizontal plane include the direct radiation and sky diffuse radiation, and solar radiation received by the tilted surface include three parts: direct radiation, sky diffuse radiation and ground reflected radiation. the solar radiation calculation formula on a tilted surface of PV modules is received by inclination factor. Referring to the literature, the received solar radiation of the photovoltaic modules under different installation angle in Wuhan area was calculated.Second, the temperature of the photovoltaic modules was simulated by CFD, the change of angle ranges from 0 ° to 50 °, step length is 2 °, a total of 312 sets of data is got, the curves between module temperature and installation angle in 12 months were obtained.Finally, the optimal tilt angle for month, season, years of the PV modules installed in Wuhan were calculated through the relationship between temperature and the efficiency of the module.The results show that suitable tilt angle for photovoltaic modules installed in Wuhan of the spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively is 31 °, 16 °, 37 °, 47 °; Winter and summer half year, respectively is 45.6 ° and 23.4 °.And the best installation angle of year is 33°, which is not the Wuhan latitude(30.37°). Compared with the data from experiment, it is found that the end result from simulation is close to the actual experimental observation, and it is also proved that the numerical simulation can be applied to the heat transfer process in the study of photovoltaic modules.The final result also has a certain practical reference value fors the development of photovoltaic industry in Wuhan area.