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Norwegian company Sunlit Sea has designed a floating assembly consisting of an integrated cold-pressed aluminum floating unit with a near-standard solar panel attached to the top surface. A 22.7% efficient mono PERC photovoltaic panel has been bonded to the top of the float, bringing the total thickness of the unit to 85mm.
Norwegian company Sunlit Sea has developed a novel floating photovoltaic system consisting of a single-unit float made of embedded cold-pressed aluminum and a near-standard solar panel attached to the top surface.
“In order to obtain the required energy output, an array is made up of several individual units,” the companys marketing director, Christoffer Isdahl, told pv magazine . “Normally those individual units are first brought together in a chain and then all the chains are joined.”
The floats are attached with polyurethane hinges and each measures 1,880mm x 1,880mm x 85mm. Its weight is 60 kg and a rope made up of 14 floats reaches 840 kg. “The aluminum float itself is made from two dimpled 1.5mm pressed blanks,” explains Isdahl. "The two blanks are symmetrical, placed opposite each other and clamped together to form the float."
A special photovoltaic panel is attached to the top of the float, bringing the total thickness of the unit to 85mm. “The photovoltaic panel is made up of 3.2mm thick solar glass and a laminate that encloses the photovoltaic cells, circuitry, and plastic shielding,” says Isdahl. “The laminate is 1.5mm thick and is bonded to the glass by the PV panel manufacturer. The total thickness is then 4.7 mm”.
The solar panel has a power of 537 W and is based on 100 monocrystalline PERC cells of 158.75 mm x 158.75 mm. It features a power conversion efficiency of 22.7%, an open circuit voltage of 68.7V, and a short circuit current of 9.57A. In addition, it is equipped with small bags that use seawater for liquid cooling.
To connect the floats in a large array, a system consisting of two aluminum brackets and several hinges is mounted on each side of the panel, and one hinge is shared between two panels. “The brackets are the centerpiece of the mechanical fastening of the system,” explains Isdahl. “On the one hand, they are screwed to the aluminum float with a set of aluminum blind riveted nuts, where each riveted nut offers a tensile load resistance of 17.5 kilonewtons, and on the other hand, they enclose the polyurethane hinges inside of the parallelepiped socket in which they are formed”.
The individual solar floats that make up the cords are delivered electrically and mechanically connected. “Subsequent electrical work is not part of the Sunlit Sea handover,” Isdahl further explained.
The Norwegian certification body DNV has recently approved the design of the system. Sunlit Sea collaborates closely with the University of Oslo, the Norwegian test center Stadt Towing Tank and the Institute of Energy Technology, which was born as a Norwegian nuclear research entity. |
