Photovoltaic Cell Temperature

The nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT) is defined as the cell or module temperature
that is reached when the cells are mounted in their normal way at a solar radiation level of
800 Wm-2, a wind speed of 1 ms-1, an ambient temperature of 20C and no-load operation
(Duffie & Beckman 2006).
tc ta Gt [( ) ] / U L
NOCT 20 800( ) / U L, NOCT
( ) / U L, NOCT ( NOCT 20) / 800
U L, NOCT

800( )
( NOCT 20)

At a wind speed approximately 1 ms-1, the cell temperature can be estimated by:
tc ta Gt [( ) ] / U L, NOCT

ta Gt [( ) ]
ta

( NOCT 20)
800( )

Gt
1
( NOCT 20)

800 ( )

The cell temperature at any wind speed is estimated by (Duffie & Beckman 2006):

G U L, NOCT
1
tc t a t
( NOCT 20)

800 U L
( )
The overall heat loss coefficient (UL) of PV module includes convection and non convection
(i.e. radiation etc.) losses:
U L=hc+hnc
The convective heat transfer coefficient (Wm-2K-1) estimated by Watmuff et al. (1977) is
hc=2.8+3.0V , where V is wind speed (ms-1). UL,NOCT is measured at wind speed 1 ms-1 and
the non-convective component of heat losses can be estimated by:
hnc U L, NOCT 5.8

Therefore the overall heat loss coefficient of PV module can be expressed as:
U L=U L, NOCT +3(V-1)

References
Duffie, JA & Beckman, WA (2006) Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, 3rd Ed., Wiley,
ISBN: 0471698679.
Watmuff, JH; Charters, WWS & Proctor, D (1977) Solar and wind induced external
coefficients for solar collectors, Cooperation Mediterraneenne pour lEnergie Solaire,
Revue Internationale dHeliotechnique (COMPLES), 2nd Quarter, no. 2, p. 56.