New-Tech Europe | June 2017

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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

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

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.

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