Efficiency Decreases in a Laminated Solar Cell Developed for a UAV

Area of Science:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Materials Science
• Renewable Energy

Background:

• Energy autonomy is crucial for long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights, enabling continuous data collection and monitoring.
• Flexible solar cells on UAVs offer a promising energy harvesting solution but are vulnerable to damage and contamination.
• Protective coatings, particularly lamination, are necessary to preserve the integrity of solar cells on UAVs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of the lamination process on the performance of flexible photovoltaic (PV) panels for UAV applications.
• To determine optimal lamination parameters (temperature, feed speed) to minimize defects and performance degradation.
• To provide data for selecting the appropriate number of solar cells for UAVs, accounting for lamination-induced losses.

Main Methods:

• Flexible PV panels were laminated using controlled temperature and feed speed settings.
• Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the PV panels were measured before and after the lamination process.
• Efficiency changes were calculated based on the I-V data to quantify performance loss.

Main Results:

• The lamination process, while protective, resulted in a reduction in solar cell performance.
• For flexible PV panels tested, efficiency decreased from 24.29% to 23.33% after lamination.
• Specific lamination parameters were identified as critical for minimizing structural defects and performance impact.

Conclusions:

• Lamination is a viable method for protecting flexible solar cells on UAVs, but efficiency losses must be considered.
• Optimizing lamination parameters is essential to balance protection and performance for energy-autonomous UAVs.
• The study provides crucial data for the design and power budgeting of UAVs utilizing laminated solar cells.