In this paper, the fundamental overview of theoretical and practical aspects of thermodynamics analysis for mainly used fuel cells (FCs) are presented. The FC converts the chemical energy of fuel (normally hydrogen) directly into electrical energy resulting heat and liquid water as a waste products. In first part, governing equation of mass, energy, entropy and exergy are presented according to first law of thermodynamics (FLT) and second law of thermodynamics (SLT), more specifically energy and exergy analysis are covered for fuel cell system. Basic criteria of energy and exergy analysis of flowing and non-flowing system, energy and exergy efficiencies, analysis procedure and models of reference environment are discussed in detail. In the second part, electrochemical reactions and thermodynamics modeling of proton exchange membrane or polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), and molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) are presented.

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This paper presents the comparative performance evaluation of three commercially available photovoltaic modules (monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and single junction amorphous silicon) in Taxila, Pakistan. The experimentation was carried out at outdoor conditions for winter months. Power output, module efficiency, and performance ratio were calculated for each module and the effect of module temperature and solar irradiance on these parameters was investigated. Module parameters showed strong dependence on the solar irradiance and module temperature. Monocrystalline and polycrystalline modules showed better performance in high irradiance condition whereas it decreased suddenly with decrease in irradiance. Amorphous solar module also showed good performance in low irradiance due to its better light absorbing characteristics and thus showed higher average performance ratio. Monocrystalline photovoltaic module showed higher monthly average module efficiency and was found to be more efficient at this site. Module efficiency and performance ratio showed a decreasing trend with increase of irradiance and photovoltaic module back surface temperature.

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The air borne dust deposited on the surface of photovoltaic module influence the transmittance of solar radiations from the photovoltaic modules glazing surface. This experimental work aimed to investigate the effect of dust deposited on the surface of two different types of photovoltaic modules (monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon). Two modules of each type were used and one module from each pair was left exposed to natural atmosphere for three months of winter in Taxila, Pakistan. Systematic series of measurements were conducted for the time period of three months corresponding to the different dust densities. The difference between the output parameters of clean and dirty modules provided the information of percentage loss at different dust densities. The dust density deposited on the modules surface was 0.9867 mg/cm2 at the end of the study. The results showed that dust deposition has strong impact on the performance of photovoltaic modules. The monocrystalline and polycrystalline modules showed about 20% and 16% decrease of average output power, respectively, compared to the clean modules of same type. It was found that the reduction of module efficiency (?clean ? ?dirtv) in case of monocrystalline and polycrystalline module was 3.55% and 3.01%, respectively. Moreover the loss of output power and module efficiency in monocrystalline module was more compared to the polycrystalline module.