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Description
The operating temperature of photovoltaic (PV) modules has a strong impact on the expected performance of said modules in photovoltaic arrays. As the install capacity of PV arrays grows throughout the world, improved accuracy in modeling of the expected module temperature, particularly at finer time scales, requires improvements in the

The operating temperature of photovoltaic (PV) modules has a strong impact on the expected performance of said modules in photovoltaic arrays. As the install capacity of PV arrays grows throughout the world, improved accuracy in modeling of the expected module temperature, particularly at finer time scales, requires improvements in the existing photovoltaic temperature models. This thesis work details the investigation, motivation, development, validation, and implementation of a transient photovoltaic module temperature model based on a weighted moving-average of steady-state temperature predictions.

This thesis work first details the literature review of steady-state and transient models that are commonly used by PV investigators in performance modeling. Attempts to develop models capable of accounting for the inherent transient thermal behavior of PV modules are shown to improve on the accuracy of the steady-state models while also significantly increasing the computational complexity and the number of input parameters needed to perform the model calculations.

The transient thermal model development presented in this thesis begins with an investigation of module thermal behavior performed through finite-element analysis (FEA) in a computer-aided design (CAD) software package. This FEA was used to discover trends in transient thermal behavior for a representative PV module in a timely manner. The FEA simulations were based on heat transfer principles and were validated against steady-state temperature model predictions. The dynamic thermal behavior of PV modules was determined to be exponential, with the shape of the exponential being dependent on the wind speed and mass per unit area of the module.

The results and subsequent discussion provided in this thesis link the thermal behavior observed in the FEA simulations to existing steady-state temperature models in order to create an exponential weighting function. This function can perform a weighted average of steady-state temperature predictions within 20 minutes of the time in question to generate a module temperature prediction that accounts for the inherent thermal mass of the module while requiring only simple input parameters. Validation of the modeling method presented here shows performance modeling accuracy improvement of 0.58%, or 1.45°C, over performance models relying on steady-state models at narrow data intervals.
ContributorsPrilliman, Matthew (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
Desorption processes are an important part of all processes which involve utilization of solid adsorbents such as adsorption cooling, sorption thermal energy storage, and drying and dehumidification processes and are inherently energy-intensive. Here, how those energy requirements can be reduced through the application of ultrasound for three widely used

Desorption processes are an important part of all processes which involve utilization of solid adsorbents such as adsorption cooling, sorption thermal energy storage, and drying and dehumidification processes and are inherently energy-intensive. Here, how those energy requirements can be reduced through the application of ultrasound for three widely used adsorbents namely zeolite 13X, activated alumina and silica gel is investigated. To determine and justify the effectiveness of incorporating ultrasound from an energy-savings point of view, an approach of constant overall input power of 20 and 25 W was adopted. To measure the extent of the effectiveness of using ultrasound, the ultrasonic-power-to-total power ratios of 0.2, 0.25, 0.4 and 0.5 were investigated and the results compared with those of no-ultrasound (heat only) at the same total power. Duplicate experiments were performed at three nominal frequencies of 28, 40 and 80 kHz to observe the influence of frequency on regeneration dynamics. Regarding moisture removal, application of ultrasound results in higher desorption rate compared to a non-ultrasound process. A nonlinear inverse proportionality was observed between the effectiveness of ultrasound and the frequency at which it is applied. Based on the variation of desorption dynamics with ultrasonic power and frequency, three mechanisms of reduced adsorbate adsorption potential, increased adsorbate surface energy and enhanced mass diffusion are proposed. Two analytical models that describe the desorption process were developed based on the experimental data from which novel efficiency metrics were proposed, which can be employed to justify incorporating ultrasound in regeneration and drying processes.
ContributorsDaghooghi Mobarakeh, Hooman (Author) / Phelan, Patrick (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Wang, Robert (Committee member) / Calhoun, Ronald (Committee member) / Deng, Shuguang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Description
This dissertation will investigate two of the most promising high-capacity anode

materials for lithium-based batteries: silicon (Si) and metal lithium (Li). It will focus on

studying the mechanical behaviors of the two materials during charge and discharge and

understanding how these mechanical behaviors may affect their electrochemical

performance.

In

This dissertation will investigate two of the most promising high-capacity anode

materials for lithium-based batteries: silicon (Si) and metal lithium (Li). It will focus on

studying the mechanical behaviors of the two materials during charge and discharge and

understanding how these mechanical behaviors may affect their electrochemical

performance.

In the first part, amorphous Si anode will be studied. Despite many existing studies

on silicon (Si) anodes for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), many essential questions still exist

on compound formation, composition, and properties. Here it is shown that some

previously accepted findings do not truthfully reflect the actual lithiation mechanisms in

realistic battery configurations. Furthermore the correlation between structure and

mechanical properties in these materials has not been properly established. Here, a rigorous

and thorough study is performed to comprehensively understand the electrochemical

reaction mechanisms of amorphous-Si (a-Si) in a realistic LIB configuration. In-depth

microstructural characterization was performed and correlations were established between

Li-Si composition, volumetric expansion, and modulus/hardness. It is found that the

lithiation process of a-Si in a real battery setup is a single-phase reaction rather than the

accepted two-phase reaction obtained from in-situ TEM experiments. The findings in this

dissertation establish a reference to quantitatively explain many key metrics for lithiated a

Si as anodes in real LIBs, and can be used to rationally design a-Si based high-performance

LIBs guided by high-fidelity modeling and simulations.

In the second part, Li metal anode will be investigated. Problems related to dendrite

growth on lithium metal anodes such as capacity loss and short circuit present major

barriers to the next-generation high-energy-density batteries. The development of

successful mitigation strategies is impeded by the incomplete understanding of the Li

dendrite growth mechanisms. Here the enabling role of plating residual stress in dendrite

initiation through novel experiments of Li electrodeposition on soft substrates is confirmed,

and the observations is explained with a stress-driven dendrite growth model. Dendrite

growth is mitigated on such soft substrates through surface-wrinkling-induced stress

relaxation in deposited Li film. It is demonstrated that this new dendrite mitigation

mechanism can be utilized synergistically with other existing approaches in the form of

three-dimensional (3D) soft scaffolds for Li plating, which achieves superior coulombic

efficiency over conventional hard copper current collectors under large current density.
ContributorsWang, Xu (Author) / Jiang, Hanqing (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Thesis advisor) / Chan, Candace (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Qiong, Nian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018