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received awards and prizes for their innovative research,
including 22 “Best of Category” winners, who each
received a US$5,000 prize. The Intel Foundation also awarded a
US$1,000 grant to each winner’s school and to the affiliated fair
they represent.
“The breakthrough ideas presented at the Intel International
Science and Engineering Fair by Ivo Zell, Amber Yang and Valerio
Pagliarino truly have the capacity to change our world for the
better,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for
Science & the Public and publisher of Science News. “As our world
grows increasingly complex, we need innovative, transformative
ideas to identify new solutions to our world’s most intractable
challenges. Congratulations to all our finalists as well as our top
three winners on their extraordinary research projects.”
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair encourages
millions of students to explore their passion for developing
innovations that improve the way we work and live. All finalists
are selected by an affiliated, local competition and receive an
all-expenses-paid trip to the Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair. At the competition, finalists are judged by
hundreds of science, engineering and industry professionals
who have a Ph.D. or equivalent (six years of related professional
experience) or are senior graduate students with doctoral-level
research in one of the 22 scientific disciplines listed above.
A full listing of finalists is available in the event program. The 2017
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is funded jointly
by Intel and the Intel Foundation with additional support from
dozens of corporate, academic, government and science-focused
sponsors. This year, approximately US$4 million was awarded.
Imec Presents Highly Accurate Model for Energy Yield
Prediction of Photovoltaic Modules
imec, the world-leading research and
innovation hub in nano-electronics,
energy, and digital technology, and partner
in EnergyVille, will introduce simulation
software that accurately predicts the
daily energy yield of solar cells and solar
modules under varying meteorological
and irradiation conditions. Imec’s model
combines optical, thermal and electrical
parameters to provide detailed insight on
thermal gradients in the solar module. The
model integrates the effect of these gradients, resulting in a
significantly better accuracy (root mean square error of only
2.5 percent) than commercially available software packages
for energy yield estimation.
Solar cell efficiencies and photovoltaic module performances
are typically only measured under standard lab conditions.
However, in reality, photovoltaic modules are operated in the
field under conditions that are substantially different from
these standard lab conditions. They are exposed to varying
meteorological conditions in terms of irradiation, temperature
and wind, which, in addition, all vary during the course of
the day. In contrast to most existing models for energy yield
calculation, imec’s model starts from the physical parameters
of the solar cells and the used materials, and includes on top
of that their variations due these changing external conditions.
In this way a ‘closer to reality’ model
is obtained, enabling a more precise
assessment of the effects of solar cell
and module technology changes on
the energy yield of these photovoltaic
cells and modules.
Imec’s simulation software features
a coupled optical-thermal-electrical
approach and provides detailed
insight on thermal gradients in the
solar module and their effect on
energy yield. The incorporation of wind and thermal transient
effects produced a highly accurate calculation of daily energy
yield with a root mean square error of only 2.5 percent, under
strongly varying meteorological conditions (e.g. clouds passing
by, changes in wind speed, ….) compared with the actual
measured output. This is significantly better than energy yield
calculations that could be obtained using commercial software
packages under these varying weather circumstances.
“This record accuracy was obtained thanks to validation tests
under controlled circumstances, such as wind tunnels, as well
as from detailed data series with fine time granularity from
PV modules in the field,” stated Hans Goverde, researcher at
imec.
“It is an excellent tool to make a rapid assessment of material
and technology changes at the cell and module level
18 l New-Tech Magazine Europe