Development of solar panel floaters using recyclable materials
Abstract
The floating photovoltaic system is a new concept in solar technology that responds to the observable rise in electricity demand, limitations of land availability, along with the fast depletion of fossil fuels. Installation of PY modules has proven to be an intense burden on land requirements, which is a ceaseless premium commodity. Hence, floating photovoltaic systems have numerous advantages over the conventional land mounted ones; such as higher power generating efficiency and ease of installment. However, the investment cost of floating PY plants raises doubt for commercialization due to the high manufacturing cost of each unit. Essentially, the flotation device called the pontoon constitutes nearly 50% of the investment cost. Hence, this paper highlights the developments made to model and optimize the pontoon design to lower the fabrication cost per unit. On the other hand, the pontoon structure modelled in this paper is designed to cater for the surrounding climate conditions in Malaysia and non-flowing water bodies only. As a result, cost efficient materials such as PYC and plywood were selected using the Ashby method. The pontoon design was then modelled in SolidWorks and evaluated for its buoyancy using a design study, followed by an iterative topology optimization process to minimize the mass of the model. Overall, a mass reduction of 56.65% was achieved at the end of the optimization process and the resulting cost of the modelled assembly was also compared with other types of existing pontoon structures.
- Publication:
-
American Institute of Physics Conference Series
- Pub Date:
- May 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1063/5.0001355
- Bibcode:
- 2020AIPC.2233b0006C