An evaluation of the use of air cooling to enhance photovoltaic performance

Abstract

The rapid rise in global energy consumption and its consequences on climate change has made incorporating renewable energy sources like solar photovoltaics into the building envelope easier. However, in spite of extensive uses and significant technological advances, the lower solar panel efficiencies caused by high temperatures remain a significant barrier to the viability of deploying photovoltaic technology in regions with hot climates utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This research examines the cooling effectiveness of air-cooled photovoltaic (PV) under the climate of Nablus - Palestine. This study presents a numerical model designed to cool solar panels using various air-cooled channel configurations. Rectangular fins made of high thermal conductivity materials such as copper were used in this study. The parametric study was based on the changing baseplate thickness, fin spacing, height, and thickness through a stepwise optimization process to enhance the heat transfer mechanism. The results show that the optimum design of average volume temperatures for the PV cell models in air-cooled channel configurations with and without fins were 40.28 °C and 42.58 °C, respectively. The optimum design was obtained at 3, 110, 60, and 4 mm for baseplate thickness, fin spacing, height, and thickness, respectively. This optimum design was responsible for the average PV panel temperature drop by 1.6 %, 1.3 %, 5.9 %, and 6.2 % for baseplate thickness, fin spacing, height, and thickness, respectively. The optimum design of an air-cooled cooling channel for PV is an important insight provided by this work, and it may help in the future development of more effective and affordable cooling methods.