Abstract
In this research, semi-transparent PV is proposed as building integrated PV roof for residential application. To understand its characteristics, field measurement was carried out to examine the power generation, thermal and visible light transmission performance of poly-crystalline silicon single glass, poly-crystalline silicon double glass and amorphous silicon single glass semi-transparent PV panels in prototype scale. To confirm parameters needed in accessing semi-transparent PV panels which are seldom provided by manufacturers, calculation models were constructed and verified with field measurement data. This paper reports the findings of experimental and modeling work, which will be fundamental for evaluating semi-transparent PV in overall building energy performance in a later stage of the research. In this study, power generation temperature coefficients are obtained for each panel. For thermal characteristics, various material properties of panels are confirmed. The overall heat transfer coefficients are 4.587 W/m2K, 2.007 W/m2K and 4.379 W/m2K for p-Si single glass, p-Si double glass and a-Si single glass panel respectively. With respect to visible light transmission, semi-transparent PV possesses similar light transmission characteristics with glazing material, and thus could be modeled in the same way as normal glazing material.
