IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v318y2025ics0360544225004852.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optical-electrical-thermal model of flexible non-planar photovoltaic modules: Decoupling, validation, and photoelectric performance analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Tian, Xinyi
  • Wang, Jun
  • Lu, Guodong
  • Jiang, Mingjun
  • Khan, Shoaib Ahmed
  • Ji, Jie

Abstract

The advanced flexible photovoltaic (PV) module can be molded into three-dimensional shapes, allowing it to adapt to complex nonplanar building surfaces and generate electricity for building occupants. However, limited theoretical research has been done on multi-physics simulations to predict performance under dynamic operating conditions. This paper presents a comprehensive optical-electrical-thermal (O-E-T) model for flexible curved PV modules. The model incorporates an optical model to determine solar irradiance distribution, a thermal model to calculate operating temperature, and an electrical model to predict power output. A simplified approach assumes uniform solar irradiance across the curved surface while maintaining the total irradiance intensity of real-world non-uniform distributions. The model is validated through indoor and outdoor experiments. The parametric analysis related to the curvature and the azimuth angle demonstrates that vertical-installed curved PV modules show promising power generation potential in summer, particularly at larger central angles, as off-south orientations benefit from morning&evening smaller solar incident angles. A case study on a curved PV-tiled roof optimized using a genetic algorithm shows that flat-installed PV tiles on a sloped roof produce 10.32 % more energy than curved PV tiles (2413.11 kWh vs. 2187.42 kWh).

Suggested Citation

  • Tian, Xinyi & Wang, Jun & Lu, Guodong & Jiang, Mingjun & Khan, Shoaib Ahmed & Ji, Jie, 2025. "Optical-electrical-thermal model of flexible non-planar photovoltaic modules: Decoupling, validation, and photoelectric performance analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:318:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225004852
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.134843
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225004852
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.134843?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:318:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225004852. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.