UC San Diego

Solar panels were mounted with different designs onto 1: 800 scale building models while temperature and radiation were measured. While there have been other studies aimed at finding the optimal angles for solar panels [9], in this study both the angle and the mounting method were tested. The three PV mounting designs that were considered to provide the most insulation to a building's rooftop were flush, offset (control), and angled. The solar panel offset height became a key component for rooftop insulation as well as the performance of the actual solar panel. Experimental results were given to verify the thermal behavior of the heat loads from the different designs of the photovoltaic panel. From the results, the angled PV design needed 16% more heat extraction than the offset and flush PV design needed 60% more heat extracted than the offset. In addition to the heat transfer analysis, thermal models were performed to incorporate main atmospheric conditions which were based on the effects of PV mounting structure