Delft University of Technology Design Features of Product-Integrated PV an Evaluation of Various Factors Under Indoor Irradiance
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Delft University of Technology Design Features of Product-Integrated PV An Evaluation of Various Factors under Indoor Irradiance Conditions Apostolou, Georgia DOI 10.4233/uuid:869ccea8-f765-418c-881f-96689f49b19d Publication date 2016 Document Version Final published version Citation (APA) Apostolou, G. (2016). Design Features of Product-Integrated PV: An Evaluation of Various Factors under Indoor Irradiance Conditions. Delft University of Technology. https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:869ccea8-f765- 418c-881f-96689f49b19d Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons. Takedown policy Please contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights. We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. This work is downloaded from Delft University of Technology. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to a maximum of 10. Georgia Apostolou Georgia Beer Design Features of Product-Integrated PV Johnston An Evaluation of Various Factors under Cornwell Indoor Irradiance Conditions Self Design Features of Product-Integrated PV of Product-Integrated Design Features Georgia Apostolou Design Features of Product-Integrated PV: An Evaluation of Various Factors under Indoor Irradiance Conditions Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof.ir. K.C.A.M. Luyben; voorzitter van het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 27 juni 2016 om 12:30 uur door Technische Universiteit Delft, June 2016 Georgia APOSTOLOU Mechanical Engineer National Technical University of Athens geboren te Athene, Griekenland II This dissertation has been approved by the promotor: Prof.dr. A.H.M.E. Reinders Composition of the doctoral committee: Rector Magnificus, Chairman Prof.dr. A.H.M.E. Reinders, Delft University of Technology Independent members: Prof.dr.ir. J.M.P. Geraedts, Delft University of Technology Prof.dr.ir. J.C. Brezet, Delft University of Technology Prof.dr. S.C. Pont, Delft University of Technology Prof.dr.ir. A.L.P. Rosemann, Eindhoven University of Technology Dr. W.G.J.A.M. van Sark, Utrecht University Design Features of Product-Integrated PV: An Evaluation of Various Factors under Indoor Irradiance Conditions Thesis Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Design for Sustainability Program ISBN : 978-94-6186-662-2 Book design by Panagiota Sampani Printed by Tziolas Copyright © 2016 by Georgia Apostolou. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro- duced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without any written permission from the author. III To Yannis IV SUMMARY his thesis explores the field of product-integrated photovoltaics (PIPV), a term which is used for all types of products that contain Tsolar cells in one or more of their surfaces, aiming at providing power during the product’s use. Product-integrated photovoltaics (PIPV) began to be widely introduced around 2000, although the use of PV systems in products dates back to the 70s. PIPV includes products such as PV-powered boats, aircrafts, cars, bicycles, camping tents, street lights, recycling bins, decorative lights, PV-powered watches, calculators, PV-powered lamps, sensors, chargers, toys, low-powered kitchen appliances, entertainment appliances or PV-powered art objects. The incorporation of PV systems in products could offer various benefits, such as enhanced functionality of the product as a result of energy autonomy, and independence and freedom of use due to the absence of a connection to the electricity grid, as well as the opportunity to reduce the capacity of batteries in portable products and therefore making them more sustainable. Furthermore, photovoltaic products represent a very reliable solution for the supply of electricity in areas, which lack access to an electricity grid. This thesis focuses on the development of scientific and technological knowledge concerning product-integrated PV (PIPV), as it focuses on the aspects that designers need to take into consideration when designing PV products. This research is interdisciplinary by nature due to its embedding in the field of industrial design engineering, regarding the technological aspects of PV technologies in products and user interaction with PV products. This research focuses on aspects related to design engineering of indoor PV products and to the design of products with an acceptable performance for users, issues that have not been completely addressed by other researchers. Its multi-disciplin- ary character is the point where this work significantly differentiates from previous studies. Based on the relevance of sustainable product design for product- integrated PV, this thesis combines the technical knowledge of PV technologies, indoor irradiance conditions and performance of PV cells and PV products in environments with low irradiance together with the typical behavior of users with these products and the way this behavior influences the performance of the products themselves. Besides being directed towards researchers, results of this study are useful for industrial designers who are developing PV products. Manufacturing of PIPV and the combination of PV with other renewable energy sources have not been addressed in this dissertation. V In order to clarify the two types of PV-powered products, it is necessary to explain here that there are products that have integrated PV cells in one or more of their surfaces (and these are the PIPV, as we refer to them in this thesis) and those that are powered by PV cells, which are not attached on the product’s surface, but constitute an accessory of the basic product. The study approached the aforementioned issues by investigating: • Why research on product- integrated PV is important? • What is product-integrated PV and what are PV products? For example: What are the design features and function materials that these products use? • Where are the PV products used? That is to say under which conditions and irradiance are they used? • How do users interact with the PV products? The sub-questions, which helped to approach the main research question in a systematic and logical way, were: • What are the design features that existing PV products have? • Which are the indoor irradiance conditions? • What is the efficiency of different PV technologies indoors? • How do users interact with PV products? How could users’ interaction with indoor PV products influence the performance of the products? Finally, this thesis intents to support designers by exploring the topic mentioned above which they should take into consideration if they want to design indoor PV products with a better performance than the existing ones. It is worth noting that since 2011, when this research study started, many aspects of photovoltaic powered products have changed. Firstly, more PV products of various product categories for both outdoor and indoor use were launched on the markets. The PV products that were used during the tests and the field trials of this research study are the products that were commercially available at the time of the beginning of this research. Over four years of research, it was observed that many aspects and design features improved in PV products, such as their technical features (e.g. materials, use, electrical and mechanical components, etc.) and their aesthetics. In this research the technical features of PV products have mainly been analysed, because this knowledge is essential for the improvement of the products, mainly regarding their performance and usability. This analysis is useful for designers and researchers, as other researchers in the field have not addressed all the information that it offers as yet. VI In Chapter 1 a short market analysis on PV-powered products for indoor use shows that most of the available products at present offer sub-standard and poorly designed solutions. While investigating commercially available PV lighting products, which is currently the largest area of PIPV, it can be concluded that apart from being PV-powered and portable, most products do not have any additional features. The majority of PV products that are commercially available at present are of low quality and perform insufficiently. However, there are a few PV products that have sufficient performance and that are of good quality. In Chapter 2 various PV technologies and the basic knowledge concerning the integration of PV cells in consumer products were briefly discussed, serving as an introduction to the most common PV technologies that are used for commercial PV product applications, which are mono-crystalline, multi-crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells. It was found that several factors exist that greatly affect the performance of PV cells in products, such as indoor irradiance conditions, the efficiency of PV cells in an indoor environment, the area of the PV cell surface, shad(ow)ing of PV cells, as well as the combination of the PV cell and battery technologies. Subsequently, Chapter 3 focuses on identifying which