The Impact of Roof Material Profile and Pigmentation on the Performance of Photovoltaic Modules
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Date
2023-11
Authors
Aigbedion, Nosakhare
Njoka, Francis
Munji, Mathew
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
This study combines simulations and experiments to study the heat interactions between
various types of roofs and the photovoltaic (PV) modules installed on them. Specifically, the performance of PV modules on a clay roof was compared with their performance on two types of metal
roofs, a Box-profile metal roof and an Orientile metal roof, which differ in shape and geometry.
Additionally, this study examined the cooling potential of three common metal roof pigments, iron
(iii) oxide (Fe2O3
), titanium dioxide (TiO2
) and basalt, on roof-installed PV modules. An unpigmented roof was also studied for comparison purposes. Model development and simulation were
implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics, and the simulation results were validated and compared
with field experiments. The maximum open-circuit voltages of the PV installations were found to be
21.096 V for the clay roof, 20.945 V for the Box-profile metal roof and 20.718 V for the Orientile metal
roof. This study revealed that the unpigmented roof had higher solar cell temperatures compared
to the pigmented models, with temperature gains ranging from 2.2 ◦C to 2.71 ◦C. Moreover, the
unpigmented model displayed significantly higher surface radiosity than the pigmented models.
The performance output of the modules also varied depending on the metal roof sheet shape and
geometry, with the Box-profile metal roof yielding better results than the Orientile metal roof sheet.
These results indicate that a specific roof pigmentation may have a small impact on a single PV
module, but it can become significant in a large array of modules, especially if cooling through
natural convection is hindered.
Description
Article
Keywords
metal roof pigmentation, roof profile, heat transfer, solar cell temperatures, PV performance, COMSOL Multiphysics
Citation
Aigbedion, N., Njoka, F., & Munji, M. (2023, November). The Impact of Roof Material Profile and Pigmentation on the Performance of Photovoltaic Modules. In Solar (Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 618-637). MDPI.