A modified photovoltaic wind hybrid system

Abstract

This paper introduces a modified design of photovoltaic wind (PVWH) hybrid systems. In this design, the customized photovoltaic modules (PV) are attached at the blades of a vertical-axis wind turbine. The expected added values of this design are: first, a minimum area will be utilized compared to the existing PV wind hybrid systems. Second, rotating PV modules will be self-cooled (i.e. lower operating temperatures compared to fixed modules), resulting in an enhanced output power. Third, there is no need to build a sun tracker since at least one of the rotating PV modules will face the sun at a time. Fourth, the blades reflect back some of the incident sunlight toward the other PV modules resulting in an increase of the PV modules' output current. Fifth, the chance for dust build-up is less on the top of rotating PV modules. To validate the proposed design, four systems will be used; System A consists of a fixed PV module tilted at horizontal angle 25°. System B has one fixed vertical PV module. System C has only wind turbine without PV modules just to test the loading effect of the PV modules on the blades rotation. The aforementioned systems are used as control systems for the proposed system used in this work. System D is the proposed design where the PV modules are attached on the surfaces of the rotating wind blades. The wind turbine has five vertical blades separated by 72°. A comparison study between the energy yields of the above mentioned systems are going to be conducted in order to validate the potential of the modified PV wind hybrid system.