Improvement of Thermal Performance on PV Inverter Rooms Under High Solar Irradiation Desert Conditions
Abstract
The harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert have been shown to affect both PV performance and lifetime of mechanical and electronic systems. In this sense, inverters inside containers have been the configuration that has presented the highest number of failures by excess temperature. In order to analyze this problem, a simulation of a real PV plant installed in the Atacama Desert and the specific modelling of the inverter rooms inside containers were done. Five solutions were evaluated to mitigate the excess temperature. An adequate combination of ventilation and cooling proved to be the best solution in a condition of high irradiation. On the contrary, in a range of medium-low irradiation, ventilation of the inverter rooms is enough to reach the maximum production of the PV plant.