Investigation of Using Modified Photovoltaic Solar Panels for Battery Charge of Electric L1 Category Vehicles

In this study, comparative tests of 3 different PV panels were carried out under 3 different scenarios, in order to charge L1 class vehicles. The first regular PV panel (N-PV) was used as a reference for performance comparison with other modified panels. In order to increase its thermal conductivity, paraffin, a phase change material (PCM) weighing 300 g with 10% copper powder doped by mass, was added to the back of the second panel (PCM-PV). In the third panel (PCM-CPV), two planar concentrators with the dimensions of the PV panel are mounted in addition to the properties of the second panel. Thus, electrical power measurements of three different PV panels with equivalent power under three different scenarios, namely fixed angle to the sun, vehicle parking state and vehicle driving state, were performed respectively. The results of the study showed that the efficiency increase of the fixed angle PCM-CPV panel compared to the N-PV panel used as a reference is 36%. It has been observed that the PCM-PV panel produces 21% and 47% more electrical power than the N-PV panel for vehicle driving and vehicle parking situations, respectively. However, due to the shadowing problem, the PCM-CPV panel showed lower performance than the PCM-PV panel on vehicle driving and vehicle park situations.