Photovoltaics Noise Barrier: Acoustic and Energetic Study

AbstractIn the light of global warming, renewables such as solar photovoltaics (PV) are important to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. An important issue regarding implementation of solar panels on large scale, is the limited available area. Therefore, it can be interesting to combine PV with alternative applications, as a ways of not requiring “additional” space. One example is a photovoltaic noise barrier (PVNB), where a noise barrier located along a highway or railway is used as substructure for PV modules. Even though PVNB is not a novel concept, in this paper it is studied the best shape of the barrier to optimize the acoustic and energy properties

A model for the evaluation of heat loss from underground cables in non-uniform soil to optimize the system design

With the proliferation of technologies and underground systems, analysis of thermal fields in soil has become a topic of great interest in the developing technology of buried structures. In this work, we have investigated the steady state temperature field (from linear heat sources - buried cable -) in a different type of soil and excavation geometry. In a laboratory, a physical model was built on scale, which reproduces an "undisturbed" area containing a linear thermal source. This scale model was produced for experimental activity. A measuring chain was made to analyze the thermal field in various types of soils, by varying the electrical current through the line source. The physical model was recreated using a finite volume calculation software. Analysis of the different field system configurations were completed and we have studied a model for the improvement of the design method