Comparative study of PV modules with and without a tilted plane reflector

This paper presents a comparative experimental study on the performance of a PV module augmented by a south facing tilted plane reflector and another identical one without reflector. The tilt angles of the two PV modules and reflector and the reflector overhang are selected to be optimum from a previous theoretical study by the authors. The reflector tilt angle is changed once a month so that the reflected beams from the plane reflector cover the total surface area of the PV module all days of every month during the high solar radiation period (i.e. 3 h before and after solar noon). The study has been conducted on the two PV modules for a complete year under the actual atmospheric conditions of Cairo, Egypt. The measuring system used in the study is comprised of a data acquisition system, a computer, an electronic load and a weather station. The experimental results indicate that the plane reflector enhances the yearly output energy of the PV module by about 22%. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.