EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFICIENCY ENHANCEMENT USING FRONT-SURFACE WATER COOLING

Abstract

A temperature increase in the solar panels has several significant effects on the efficiency of the output power. The output voltage in the solar panels decreases in accordance with the increase in their vicinity temperature; hence, the efficiency of the solar panels becomes lower. The impact of the temperature increase of the solar panels is very important and has an influence on their output power efficiency. The output voltage of the solar panels will decrease due to an increase in temperature in the vicinity of these panels, thereby resulting in a reduction in output power and efficiency of the system. There is a need to carry out an analysis of the effects of an increase in temperature of solar panels and to improve the efficiency of the solar panels under high temperatures in the surrounding environment. In this study, the thermal electrical behaviour of monocrystalline and polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules in warm climate conditions is investigated using the front-surface water cooling technique. From experimental results, it was found that polycrystalline modules run at higher surface temperatures by about 2 - 4°C compared to monocrystalline modules but have similar temperature increase by about 25-30°C over ambient during peak irradiance. Heat accumulation takes place at the central part of the panel surface and therefore reduces the efficiency of power generation. As a solution, a front-surface water cooling technology was used, whereby both cell temperature was reduced, dust deposit minimization and power efficiency improvement were achieved.

Keywords

Solar energy, Power efficiency, Active water cooling, PV electrical performance.