Application of the solar glass in automotive industry

In recent years, building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications have gained not only the considerable interest, but also becoming widespread over the world. Different semi-transparent photovoltaic transparency levels can be used in such applications. This thesis aims to investigate the energy performance and utilization of a CdTe thin-film based semi-transparent PV in automotive world. Outdoor experimental setup was built in Avigliana, Italy, in order to investigate the performance of 35%, 25%, 20% and 5% CdTe thin-film based semi-transparent photovoltaic panels. The comparison was made with panels mounted with inclination of 89 deg., following the glass inclination of an electric bus, implied by Turin public transportation company. Data from the experimental setup was collected during different days and under different weather conditions. Following that, another experiment took part in the streets of Turin, Italy, with the goal of simulating the working conditions of the public transportation services. Three CdTe specimens were mounted on the food delivery backpack, positioning them on left, right and rear sides. This setup was then used by ordinary delivery rider during his working shifts, collecting the data about “real world” behavior of the solar panels and their actual efficiency, working in case of the light and shading disturbances. The last point of the thesis was the substitution of the public bus windows with semi-transparent solar panels, studying their efficiency, theoretical energy profit and the final cost calculation. Results of the first part of experiments proved that, CdTe panels with lower transparencies have better thermal insulation property than higher transparency ones. The outcomes of the second part, showed that disturbances decrease the overall efficiency of the panel by up to 20%. The last study, evaluated that the theoretical gain of the solar panels mounted to the bus can still provide a significant amount of energy.