Dr Nicolas Thantsha
Field of Expertise/Research Interests:
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Photovoltaic material characterization
Photovoltaic module evaluation
Opto-electronics
Current Projects:
Performance of Solar Water Heating (SWH) evacuated tube-based collectors due to
discolouration of the tubes
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In recent years, there has been an increase in South Africa (SA) on the usages of
Solar Water Heating systems (SWHs). The government has embarked on rolling out
SWHs based on evacuated tubes, to residential homes. The figure below shows a
picture of a SHW evacuated tube taken from a home in the eastern region of
Tshwane Metropolitan. The tubes are designed in such a way that air is evacuated
from the space between an inner and outer glass tube. The inner tube is coated to
increase absorption and reduce reflection. Any loss on the coating material could
have a direct effect on the collector’s efficiency. The aim of this research is to
investigate the cause of discolouration of evacuated tube solar collectors. This study
also focuses on the effect of the discolouration on the performance of the tubes.
A picture of an inner evacuated glass tube used for SWH. Discolouration is clearly indicated
on the right
Selected Publications:
i.
Thantsha N.M., Macabebe E.Q.B., Vorster F.J. and van Dyk E.E. (2009). Optoelectronic analysis of silicon solar cells by LBIC investigations and current-voltage
characterization. Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter, 404 (22), pp 4445-4448.
ii.
Thantsha N.M. and van Dyk E.E. (2005). Analysis of electrical characteristics of
photovoltaic modules. South African Journal of Science, 101, pp 288-289.
iii.
Thantsha N.M. and van Dyk E.E. First Annual CRSES Student Conference, 11 and
12 November 2010, Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies,
Stellenbosch, South Africa. Oral presentation: Characterization of defects in
multicrystalline silicon solar cell mesa diodes.