Optimal Design for Photovoltaic and Photothermal Hybrid Solar Cells of Solar Powered Aircraft

Cell temperature can reach as high as 70 oC while working, using only photovoltaic battery in the solar plane will result in a waste of energy. Combined with the wing configuration, a hybrid energy design method with higher efficiency is presented: photovoltaic cells will be distributed on the wing surface and photothermal cells will be arranged in the wing box section. The back of photovoltaic battery can be used as high temperature heat source and the lower wing surface can be a low temperature cooling source. Through the research of photovoltaic cells maximum power output, the envelope method ensures the output power, improves the power tracking reliability, and reduces difficulty in the design. The structure design of thermoelectric battery P-N junction is optimized by using the maximum power and maximum power to-mass ratio as objective function. The optimal solution of P-N junction structure of a certain type thermoelectric battery is given for acquiring maximum power-to-mass ratio.