The performance of photovoltaic (PV) arrays are affected by the operating temperature, which is influenced by thermal losses to the ambient environment. The factors affecting thermal losses include wind speed, wind direction, and ambient temperature. The purpose of this work is to analyze how the aforementioned factors affect array efficiency, temperature, and heat transfer coefficient/thermal loss factor. Data on ambient and array temperatures, wind speed and direction, solar irradiance, and electrical output were collected from a PV array mounted on a CanmetENERGY facility in Varennes, Canada, and analyzed. The results were compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and existing results from PVsyst. The findings can be summarized into three points. First, ambient temperature and wind speed are important factors in determining PV performance, while wind direction seems to play a minor role. Second, CFD simulations found that temperature variation on the PV array surface is greater at lower wind speeds, and decreases at higher wind speeds. Lastly, an empirical correlation of heat transfer coefficient/thermal loss factor has been developed.

One direction in optimizing wind farm production is reducing wake interactions from upstream turbines. This can be done by optimizing turbine layout as well as optimizing turbine yaw and pitch angles. In particular, wake steering by optimizing yaw angles of wind turbines in farms has received significant attention in recent years. One of the challenges in yaw optimization is developing fast optimization algorithms which can find good solutions in real-time. In this work, we developed a random search algorithm to optimize yaw angles. Optimization was performed on a layout of 39 turbines in a 2 km by 2 km domain. Algorithm specific parameters were tuned for highest solution quality and lowest computational cost. Testing showed that this algorithm can find near-optimal (<1% of best known solutions) solutions consistently over multiple runs, and that quality solutions can be found under 200 iterations. Empirical results show that as wind farm density increases, the potential for yaw optimization increases significantly, and that quality solutions are likely to be plentiful and not unique.

The output of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells is strongly dependent on the abundance of solar radiation. However, electrical performance of PV cells is affected by their operating temperatures, and that high temperatures lead to decreases in efficiency of a PV module. Thus, to maximize the performance of a PV system, a number of technologies such as sun tracking and active cooling

The city of Los Angeles is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. As the city grows in size, the intra-city commuting infrastructure is increasingly pushed to its limits. As the traffic infrastructure becomes increasingly stressed, traffic congestions have become the norm. These congestions can lead to higher pollutant emissions. One pollutant of particular interest is CO, as its similar density to air will allow it to stay at street level for long periods. Previous studies have shown that long term exposure to CO may lead to higher health risks, particularly for pregnant women and their children. Thus, it is important to study the relationship between traffic and CO emissions, and how the pollutant travels through nearby communities. In this work, we simulate the flow of CO emission from vehicles on freeway as it flows through nearby communities, using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The CO emission from vehicles is modeled using the average speed-based emission method, which is coupled with our CFD model. The CFD simulation results are validated by comparing with field data of pollutant emission.

Pitot tubes, when used in conjunction with a differential pressure transducer can provide accurate velocity measurement of airflow. It does this by measuring the pressure difference between the static pressure and the dynamic pressure of the incoming flow. These devices are widely used in a number of fluid measurements, including wind tunnel experiments, and their small aerodynamic