Analysis, design and simulation of a combiner box inside an industrial photovoltaic facility

Abstract

As technology progresses unstoppably and so does the economic markets, corporations must stay sharp and innovative to be competitive and prosperous. On this premise, the main objective of the work has been to improve the conception of the photovoltaic combiner boxes while optimising the design, offering and the production processes. Moreover, the side objective has been to program an algorithm capable of simulating a photovoltaic generator and calculate the temperature reached at the interior of the box. Thereby obtaining a powerful tool capable of calculate the thermal analysis all the combiner boxes have to pass, with an endless range of eligible boundary conditions: type of solar module, different arrays as inputs of the combiner box, ambient temperature or irradiance conditions among others. This paper presents the theoretical basis and the equations for the calculation of a thermal analysis and the simulation of a photovoltaic generator with the graphical results obtained.