Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 764–771

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Development of walkable photovoltaic floor tiles used for pavement T

a,b,⁎ b a a a
Tao Ma , Hongxing Yang , Wenbo Gu , Zhenpeng Li , Siyun Yan
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
b
Renewable Energy Research Group (RERG), Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Solar road panel is a technology that has the ability to revolutionize the way that roads are built and how
Solar PV pavement electricity is generated. In the current study, the walkable solar PV floor tile is proposed for installation on
PV floor tile pavements and cycling tracks for a Green Deck in Hong Kong. Specifically, two solar PV floor tile prototypes are
Prototype development fabricated, and its electrical and thermal performance are tested in the lab and under real conditions. The
Thermal and electrical performance
mathematical model of the developed solar PV floor is also developed, and the simulated result is compared with
outdoor tests. Results show that the developed PV floor can achieve satisfactory performance in solar energy
conversion, anti-slip performance, heat-resistance and compressive strength, demonstrating that such PV floor
tiles can be used as a replacement of the pavements. The developed PV floor can generate power and reduce the
material utilization, providing an innovative and green solution to integrate sustainable energy technologies into
the park and to achieve the target of zero greenhouse gas emission.

1. Introduction
The modern city, such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, locating at a
lower latitude area, is suitable for solar energy application, especially
building-integrated solar photovoltaic (BIPV) application for power
generation in urban environments [1–4]. The BIPV system is highly
dependent on the available installation area on a building, because
usually the PV panels are placed on roofs or vertical facades of a
building due to their broad and open surfaces for receiving more sun-
light. However, a previous study demonstrates that the available roof
and vertical facade area for PV installation is very limited due to green
areas and other facilities on the proposed green deck [5–7]. To find
more possible areas for solar power generation, this research project is
conducted to explore the possibility of installing PV panels on pave-
ments and cycling tracks, so that part of the electricity consumed by the
surroundings can be supplied by solar energy. Therefore, walkable solar
PV-paneled pavement is proposed to replace traditional floor tiles for
pavements and cycling tracks, which receive a lot of sunshine every
day.
The pavements play a significant role in the urban climate and en-
ergy provision as they cover about 30–45% of the surface of a city [8].
Currently, there are several demonstration projects of solar roads or
solar pavements in the word. In 2013, the Netherlands built the world's
first solar road, which is an energy-harvesting bike path paved with
glass-coated solar panels [9]. The area of entire solar road element is
9.45 m2, giving an overall annual efficiency of 8.6% and a total energy
yield of 87 kWh/m2/year [10]. However, this cutting edge technology
is under its infant development stage and still has some problems, for
example, such solar panels are very heavy so it is very difficult to install
it, and the anti-slip coating, which provides grip to the surface, has
become delaminated due to long term sun exposure and temperature
fluctuations. Another innovative technology is the walkable solar PV
pavement developed by the Spanish company Onyx Solar [11]. To
demonstrate the capabilities of the technology, The George Washington
University created what is claimed to be ‘the first walkable solar-pa-
neled pathway in the world’. However, the PV material is based on
amorphous silicon technology with relative low efficiency. Besides, the
front glass is translucent so the received solar radiation is reduced.
Therefore, the power output is very limited. The third technology is the
solar block or solar brick light, which are integrated with a self-con-
tained illuminating device. They can add both day and night-time
colour to walkways and other outdoor surfaces without additional
wiring. This technology is commonly used in parks and walkways.
However, the major problem is that each PV tile can only generate
several watt electricity for powering LED lights, and is not suitable for a
large scale power generation system. There is also another project on
solar road tiles, which are made of a transparent concrete on top, solar
panels underneath, and an insulation material as the base, with plans to
power future charging stations for electric cars [12,13]. However, the
cars themselves are a major obstacle to the light anyway, especially

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tao.ma@connect.polyu.hk (T. Ma).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.01.035
Received 28 October 2018; Accepted 14 January 2019
Available online 05 February 2019
0196-8904/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T. Ma et al.
during a traffic jam or during rush hours [14]. In addition, solar panels
need ventilation to keep cool and perform optimally [15]. If they get
too hot, they won’t generate as much electricity.
In academia, the process of design, construction, and analysis of the
structural elements of a solar road panel prototype has been conducted
in Northmore [16]. A finite element modelling approach was employed
to predict the performance of solar road panels on a variety of structural
bases, concluding that the solar road panel can withstand the traffic
loading and even improve the expected structural performance of the
base [17]. Similarly, one study from China also developed a 3D finite
model to simulate the mechanistic characteristic of the solar PV pave-
ment numerically [18]. However, those study mainly focuses on the
mechanical performance and shows little concern for its energy per-
formance, including electric and thermal performance. A hybrid solar
panel system combined with solar-road and soil-regenerator was pro-
posed through theoretical study in terms of simulation model devel-
opment, sensitivity analysis and optimization [19,20]. However, there
are no prototype developed in those studies and lack of experimental
tests. More studies were carried out for the exploitation of urban pa-
vements for power generation and urban heat island mitigation, such as
[21]. A cool PV pavement was developed by a research group in Greece
[22] to achieve heat island mitigation in cities, and an experimental
study proved that the PV pavement can achieve a surface temperature
decrease of 5 K as well as a decrease in the ambient temperature of
almost 1 K. The road shaded by the solar panel and their influence on
the road was also investigated in [23] and [24], while the PV panels
involved in this study are typical solar panel installations, rather than
the new PV floor tile technology.
In this study, a green and innovative solution to integrate sustain-
able energy technology into the pavements and cycling tracks is pro-
posed. The major objective of this study is to develop new PV floor tiles
used for pavement and study its electrical, thermal and mechanical
performance theoretically and experimentally. Finally, a case study of
applying this technology on a Green Deck in Hong Kong is carried out,
to reduce energy consumption of the parks and achieve the target of
zero greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Design and development of PV pavement prototype
As a first step, a new type of solar PV pavement panel was developed
by our research group, collaborating with a solar PV engineering
company. Fig. 1 shows the layout design of the PV floor configuration,
which is sandwiched between anti-slip front tempered glass, EVA/PVB
foils, solar cells, and rear support tempered glass. The total front size is
500 × 500 mm, similar to the general pavement tiles. The thickness is
about 20 mm. In each floor tile, 9 mono-crystalline silicon solar cells are
connected in series, so that the expected power generation and effi-
ciency are about 30–40 Wp and 15%, respectively.
2.1. PV floor configuration and sample
The raw materials, including tempered glass and solar cells, were
purchased from manufacturers in mainland China, and then they are
laminated by a company in Hong Kong. Fig. 2 shows the two developed
prototypes of the PV floor tiles with different anti-slip surfaces, i.e.
cross-line pattern and dot pattern. In general, the floor tile with cross-
line layer has higher anti-slip performance but lower sunlight trans-
missivity.
2.2. Major features
The major features of the developed solar PV floor tile are sum-
marized in Table 1. Most of the data was provided by the manufacturers
of the tempered glass and solar cell. The static coefficient of friction of
the PV floor is higher than the suggested values in Chinese National
Standard, indicating that it has high anti-slip performance. It also has
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Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 764–771
high transparency, with solar light transmissivity of 90%. The heat-
resistance temperature can be up to 288 °C, so there is no need to worry
about whether it will be broken under long time sun exposure. The
energy efficiency of the solar cell and the module can be up to 18% and
15%, respectively.
3. Mathematical model development and determination
procedure
3.1. Mathematical model
In this section, the simulation model of the developed solar PV floor
prototype is developed based on the five-parameter model [25,26]. It is
widely acknowledged that the solar cell is traditionally represented by
an equivalent circuit composed of a current source, an anti-parallel
diode (D), a shunt/parallel resistance (Rp) and a series resistance (Rs).
As shown in Fig. 3, the available electrical power from the PV cell is
modeled with this well-known equivalent circuit.
The photovoltaic generator is neither a constant voltage source nor
a current source. It is modeled and described by the relationship be-
tween current and voltage. Based on the Shockley diode equation, the
mathematical model (I-V characteristic) for the individual PV cell is
[27–30]:
V + IRs
( )
V + IRs
I = Iph − ID − Ip = Iph − I0 e Vt −1 −
Rp (1)
where Iph is the photo current (A); I0 is the diode saturation current (A);
Rs is the series resistance (Ω); Rp is the shunt/parallel resistance (Ω);
nKT
Vt = q is the diode thermal voltage and n is the diode ideality factor.
This equivalent circuit can not only be used for an individual PV
cell, but for a module with many cells. Therefore, the mathematical
model for a PV floor’s power output could be deduced based on this PV
cell model [25]:
1 ⎛ Vm + I R ⎞ 1 ⎛ Vm
Im = Iph − I0 ⎛⎜e Vt ⎝ Ns m s
⎠ − 1⎞⎟ − ⎜+ Im Rs ⎞ ⎟
Rp ⎝ Ns (2)
⎝ ⎠ ⎠
where Ns represents the number of solar cells connected in series in
each module. In this study, Ns is equal to 9.
In Eq. (2), there are totally five unknown parameters to be de-
termined, i.e. Iph , I0 , Vt , Rs and Rp . To solve the five parameters, at least
five equations based on the specification provided by the manufacturer
are requested [25]. However, in this study, this PV floor tile is produced
in the lab without any electrical performance data on standard test
conditions. To obtain some preliminary operating data for determining
the five parameters, the developed PV floor tile was tested in the Solar
Simulator Laboratory.
3.2. Lab test for preliminary operating data
Fig. 4 shows the test rig in the laboratory. The solar simulator is a
commercial and standard one which is developed by a company called
Hönle Group from Germany [31]. The light spectrum is produced by gas
discharge lamps containing metal halides. The light source has been
tested by the contractor, and the lamps generate class B spectrum by
using of appropriate filters, according to IEC60904-9 [32,33]. The in-
strument EKO MP-11 is employed to collect the I-V curve and power
output every minute. The pyranometer is used to measure solar radia-
tion intensity at the same level with the PV floor tile, and a certain
level/height of the test-rig was kept during the measurements. The size
of developed PV floor tile sample is quite small with only 9 solar cells,
which is placed under the centre of the solar simulator (the total size of
solar simulator is 1.00 m × 1.65 m with 8 lamps in total), therefore the
spectrum distribution on the panel is considered as uniform and equal
to the value collected by the pyranometer.
Fig. 5 shows an example of the collected I-V curves and P-V curves
T. Ma et al. Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 764–771

500mm

156mm
500mm
Anti-slip front tempered glass (10mm)
20~24mm

PVB/EVA foils (encapsulation )

Solar cell
PVB/EVA foils (encapsulation )
Rear tempered glass (10mm)

Fig. 1. PV floor tile configuration.

Rs
I ph I
ID Ip

Rp
V

Fig. 3. Modified equivalent circuit for a solar cell.

Fig. 2. PV floor tiles with different anti-slip surfaces (left: cross-line pattern,
right: dot pattern).

Table 1
Solar simulator
Major features of the developed solar PV floor tile.
Features Parameters

Anti-slip Static coefficient of friction (COF):

0.78 for dry surface
0.54 for wet surface
Chinese national standard COF ≥ 0.5
High efficiency module: 15% pyranometer
High transparency transmissivity: 90%
High compressive strength max load: 74 kPa PV floor tile
High heat-resistance temperature up to 288 °C

and Table 2 gives some typical characteristic data of an I-V curve. It can Computer
be observed that the maximum power output is 20.5 W when the solar
radiation is 890 W/m2, and the calculated electrical efficiency is 10%. Data logger I-V checker

3.3. Parameter determination procedure

Based on above lab test, some operating data have been obtained Fig. 4. Test rig in solar simulator laboratory.
under general conditions. It is necessary to determine the five para-
meters of the model under Standard Test Conditions (STC), and then the

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8 24 (3) Photo current

Current
Power
7 21
The Photo current is usually considered as equal to the short-circuit
current, therefore it can be expressed as in Eq. (5):
6 18
Iph ≈ Isc (5)
5 15

Power (W)
Current (A)

(4) Diode saturation current Io

4 12

3 9 It is well known that the diode saturation current is primarily pro-

portional to temperature raised to the third power [37], and the re-
2 6 lationship can be described as [38–42] in Eq. (6):

−V
1 3 I0 = ISC exp ⎛ OC ⎞
⎜ ⎟

⎝ Ns Vt ⎠ (6)
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5
(5) Series resistance and parallel resistance
Voltage (V)
The parallel resistance Rp represents the leakage current, which is
Fig. 5. An example of the collected I-V curves and P-V curves.
lost mainly in the p–n interface of the diode and along the edges [42].
The study [37] and software PVsyst [43] reported that the sensibility of
Table 2 the model to the value of shunt resistance is minor, in view of that a
Data summary of the collected example I-V curve.
fixed Rp does not affect the I-V characteristic greatly. At the maximum
Parameter Value power point at the collected P-V curve, the derivative of power with
respective to current is zero, therefore the parallel resistance can be
Test Time 11:35:00, 10/28/2015
expressed as below after a rewriting transformation:
Irradiance (W/m2) 890
Module Temperature (℃) 56
(Vmp − Imp Rs )(Vmp − Ns Vt )
Maximum Power: Pmax (W) 20.5 Rp =
Open Circuit Voltage: Voc (V) 5.05 (Vmp − Imp Rs )(Isc − Imp) − Ns Vt Imp (7)
Short Circuit Current: Isc (A) 6.42
Maximum Power Point Voltage: Vmpp (V) 3.7 Similarly, at the maximum power point of the collected I-V curve,
Maximum Power Point Current: Impp (A) 5.53 the following expression can be obtained through inputting Vm and Im
Fill Factor: FF 63%
into Eq. (2):
Eta: η 9.2%

Vmp + Imp RS ⎞ Vmp + Imp RS

Imp = Iph − I0 ⎡exp ⎛ ⎜ ⎟ − 1⎤ −
⎢ ⎝ Ns Vt ⎠ ⎥ Rp (8)
overall 5-p model can be extended for other general conditions with ⎣ ⎦
different irradiance and module temperature.
Therefore, substituting Eq. (7) into Eq. (8), the value of the only
unknown Rs can be obtained through the fezero solver in Matlab.
(1) Thermal voltage
Therefore, based on the five parameters under real conditions, it is
easy to obtain the parameters under STC, as illustrated below:
Based on the collected open circuit voltage, temperature coefficient
of the open circuit voltage and short circuit current, the thermal voltage GSTC
Iph, STC = Iph − α (Tc − TSTC )
can be obtained as follows: G (9)

βTc − Voc T
−3
Eg 1 1 ⎞⎤
Vt =
Ns Tc α Ns Eg I0, STC = I0 ⎛ c ⎞
⎜ ⎟ exp ⎡ ⎛ − ⎜ ⎟

− 3Ns − T
⎝ STC ⎠ ⎢ K ⎝ Tc T ⎥
STC ⎠ ⎦ (10)
Iph KTc (3) ⎣

where Eg is band gap energy/voltage in eV (in this study Eg is simply Rs, STC = Rs (11)
considered as 1.121 eV [34]).
G
Rp, STC = Rp
(2) Cell operating temperature GSTC (12)

PV module performance depends greatly on its cell temperature, TSTC

Vt , STC = Vt
which is influenced by many factors, such as solar irradiance, wind Tc (13)
speed, ambient temperature and thickness of the module substrate [35].
As a result, the I-V curve under STC can also be obtained. Table 3
Generally, the temperature of the module’s rear surface can be recorded
summaries the calculated parameters for the PV tile under real oper-
by thermocouples, while it is usually lower than the cell temperature.
ating condition and standard test conditions.
The relationship between the module’s rear surface temperature and
the cell temperature can be simplified as in Eq. (4) [35,36]:
Table 3
Calculated parameter values for the PV floor tile (degree of preci-
G
Tc = Tm + ΔT sion = 1e−13).
G0 (4)
Parameters Iph Io Rs Rp Vt n
where Tm is the model back temperature, and ΔT is the temperature
General test condition 6.42 2.33E−10 0.108 8.064 0.029 1.009
difference, which depends on the solar PV module configuration and Standard test condition 7.09 2.02E−10 0.108 7.177 0.026 1.009
the installation method. In this study, ΔT is set to 3 K.

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T. Ma et al.
Fig. 6. Outdoor test system.
4. Electrical and thermal performance evaluation
4.1. Electrical performance
Outdoor tests on the developed PV floor title prototype were also
conducted in the university campus in an open and space without any
shading (Fig. 6). The electrical and thermal performance data were
collected. Two I-V curve checkers from EKO were employed. The solar
radiation and temperature of ambient and module were collected.
The real operating data were compared with the simulated electrical
and thermal performance of the system. As illustrated in Fig. 7, it is
obvious that both curves have close relationship with solar radiation
from 12:00 to 15:00. Since the solar radiation during daytime was not
very good because the weather was cloudy, ranging from 200 to 800 W/
m2, the power output from the PV floor tile was from 5 to 20 W, and
resultant efficiency was about 10%.
The simulated power output agrees quite well with the measured
power, with a slightly lower value. It is highly likely that the collected
solar radiation has a lag time, i.e. the collected solar radiation and
power output are not synchronous. As a whole, during the three hours,
the simulated total electricity output is 29 Wh, which is 6.6% lower
than the measured electricity output (31 Wh).
4.2. Thermal performance
As mentioned, the temperature of the rear side of the PV floor tile
1000
Irradiance
Simulated power
Measured power
800
Irradiance (W/m2)
600
400
200
0 0
12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30
Time
Fig. 7. Collected solar radiation and power output.
Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 764–771
55
Module temperature
Cell temperature
50
Temperature (degC)
45
40
35
30
12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30
Time
Fig. 8. Thermal profile of the developed PV floor.
was measured during the outdoor test and the temperature of the solar
cell was simulated based on the mathematical model provided in
Section 3, to evaluate its thermal performance. Fig. 8 presents the
profiles of module and cell temperature. The ambient temperature is in
the range of 23–28 °C on that day, while the PV tile cell temperature is
in the range of 42–53 °C, about 3 °C higher than the rear surface tem-
perature. Such high temperature has negative impact on power output
by −0.5%/°C, therefore, the temperature difference of 25–30 °C can
result in about 13% (4 W) decrease in power output.
The simulated and experimental test results demonstrate that the
power output are lower than the rated values. The major reason is that
the transmissivity of the tempered glass is reduced by the additional
anti-slip surface, which means that the received solar radiation on solar
cells is decreased. Another reason is that the measured temperature of
the PV floor is very high, which can reduce power generation by
10–20%. In addition, the solar radiation on that day fluctuated greatly
and did not reach the standard test condition of 1000 W/m2.
4.3. Comparison with available product in the market
A sample walkable PV floor tile available in the market was also
purchased for comparison. This product, developed by the Spanish
company Onyx, has been applied in the demonstration project in
George Washington University. A local distributor, Jebsen Building
Products Limited, was responsible for this product. The cost of one
25
sample is HK$6,790. Table 4 shows the detailed technical data in-
cluding electrical and mechanical parameters.
The electrical performance of the PV floor has been tested. An ex-
20 ample of the collected I-V curves are presented in Fig. 9. The maximum
power output at the solar radiation intensity of 1194 W/m2 is 28.6 W,
which is equivalent to 22.1 W when solar radiation intensity is con-
verted to standard test conditions. Because such a floor tile is made of
Power (W)
15
amorphous silicon solar cells, the solar energy conversion efficiency is
only 6.1%, which is much lower than the prototype developed in this
10 study (over 10%). The efficiency may be further reduced if they are
placed in real conditions, due to the influence of high floor tempera-
ture.
5
5. Mechanical performance evaluation
14:00 14:30 The mechanical performance was tested in the Structural
Engineering Research Laboratory at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University. As shown in Fig. 10, the force is added gradually through
the load cell. The maximum load and compressive strength can be
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T. Ma et al. Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 764–771

Table 4
Technical specifications of Onyx PV glass floor [44].
Photovoltaic Glass cell type a-Si Thin Film Mechanical description
Electrical Data test conditions (STC) Area 600 × 600 mm
Nominal peak power (Pmpp) 22.11 W Thickness 16.72 mm
Open-Circuit Voltage (Vac) 45.35 V Transparency 0%
Short-circuit current (Isc) 0.72A Front glass 6 mm anti-slip glass
Voltage nominal power (Vmpp) 34.02 V PV glass 3.2 mm float glass
Current nominal power (Impp) 0.65A Rear glass 6 mm tempered glass
Power tolerance (not >) ± 5% encapsulation 1.52 mm PVB Foils

1.0
Current
30 Fig. 12 shows the test process of adding load on PV floor tiles. The
Power maximum compressive strength for samples #1 and sample #2 are
15.4 MPa and 16.2 MPa, indicating that the developed solar PV floor
0.8 24 tile has very high mechanical strength and durability. As a reference,
the compressive strength of a concrete tile is usually in the range of
20–50 MPa, indicating that the mechanical strength of the PV floor tile

Power (W)
Current (A)

0.6 18 is very close to the general concrete.

Table 5 lists some examples of ground pressure values from humans,
bicycles and passenger cars [6]. It is obvious that all of them are within
0.4 12
the scale of kPa, much smaller than the measured compressive strength
of the PV floor, indicating that there is no problem for people, bicycles
and even cars to pass over the floor tiles.
0.2 6

6. Case study
0.0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 A case study about the evaluation of potential installation area and
power generation is conducted. A PV system is highly dependent on the
Voltage (V)
available installation area. In our previous report, the roofs of the Hong
Fig. 9. An example of I-V and P-V curve for the Onyx product. Kong Coliseum and the university buildings in PolyU campus are pro-
posed for PV installation, but these areas are not within the Green Deck
boundary. Therefore, only the walkways and other constructions, such
as sports complex and art gallery can be equipped with solar panels.
The walkways on this deck can be one of the major contributors for PV
installation, using the developed solar PV floor technology.
As presented in Fig. 13, based on our calculation using CAD soft-
ware, an estimation of about 5500 m2, 12.8% of the total deck area, can
be used for PV floor installation. Based on solar radiation and ambient
data collected by Hong Kong Observatory [46,47], the total electricity
generation from the PV floor system can be estimated as in Eq. (14):
E = G × A × η × PR (14)
2
where G is the yearly average solar radiation is 1544 kWh/m [48,49],
Load cell A is the total area of PV system (5500 m2), η is the efficiency which is
PV floor tile
measured at about 10% in this study, and PR is the performance ratio of
Rubber pad the PV system, which is assumed as 65% according to the previous
studies on PV system performance evaluation (in the range of 60–80%)
in Hong Kong [4,50,51].
Therefore it is estimated that such PV installation can generate
Support
approximately 550,000 kWh per year, accounting for about 26% of the
total electricity consumption of the Green Deck. If the new roofs and
vertical facades of the hotels and other buildings within the Green Deck
are counted for PV panel installation, there is no doubt that 100% of
electricity will be generated from solar panels in the Green Deck, which
means that zero carbon emission target can be achieved from the new
development.
Fig. 10. Compressive strength and durability test of a PV floor tile.
7. Conclusions

calculated once the PV floor is damaged.

In this study, the walkable solar PV floor tile is proposed for in-
Fig. 11 shows the PV floor tiles after damage. It can be observed that
stallation on pavements and cycling tracks for a Green Deck in Hong
both of the two tiles are damaged at the rear side. Even though the glass
Kong. The feasibility and potential area of applying this innovative PV
is broken, it still a complete tile and does not fly to pieces, indicating
floor on the green deck was investigated. Two solar PV floor tile pro-
that it could be safe if it is broken due to some external reasons. It is
totypes were developed and tested in the laboratory and under real
interesting that the solar cells are not damaged and can still generate
outdoor conditions to evaluate its electrical, thermal and mechanical
electricity even though the glass is damaged.
performance. Results show that the developed PV floor can achieve

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T. Ma et al. Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 764–771

Sample #1 Sample #1

Sample #2 Sample #2

Fig. 11. PV floor tiles after damage.

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275

18 18

16 16
Compressive strength (MPa)

14 14

12 12

10 10

8 8

6 6

4 4 Fig. 13. Potential PV pavement installation area on the Green Deck.

Sample #1 (cross-line pattern )
2 Sample #2 (dot pattern ) 2
and green solution to integrate sustainable energy technologies into the
0 0 deck and to achieve the target of zero GHG emissions of the deck. The
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 future work would be focusing on developing more eco-PV floor tiles by
Curing time (s) introducing the eco-glass block as the rear support layer.

Fig. 12. Compressive strength of the two developed PV floor tiles (durability
Declaration of interests
performance).

Table 5
Example ground pressures values [45].
Example Ground Pressures Values
Human
Road racing bicycle
Mountain bicycle
Passenger car
satisfactory performance in solar energy conversion efficiency, anti-slip,
heat-resistance, durability and compressive strength, demonstrating
that such PV floor tiles can be used as a replacement for the pavements
and cycling tracks in the Green Deck. Such PV floor can combine active
elements, i.e. power generation, with passive elements which can use
waste material for back panel manufacture, providing an innovative
None.
Acknowledgements
The authors would appreciate the financial supports provided by
5–50 kPa
Shanghai Pujiang Program through the Grant 18PJ1406000 and the
620 kPa
245 kPa
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) through the
205 kPa Grant 51506183. Special thanks would be given to Prof. C.S. Poon and
the colleagues from Renewable Energy Research Group in The Hong
Kong Polytechnic University who provided great support in this re-
search.
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