Abstract
The purpose of this study is to fabricate and analyze an active cooling system for reducing photovoltaic (PV) module temperature and increasing its efficiency. An active cooling system was devised to cool the PV module. Two modules of same specifications were used for this study. One module was cooled, and other was left un-cooled for performance comparison. Solar radiations, wind speed, ambient temperature and temperatures at different points of the fabricated system were measured. The modules were mounted on a frame facing true south at the inclination of the latitude of the location. The measurements were taken during daytime with one hour intervals for two weeks. The temperatures at various points on cooled and un-cooled photovoltaic modules were noted using two different flow rates with 1 lit/min and 2 lit/min. It was discovered that the efficiency of PV module was enhanced from 6% to 7% during study period. The flow rate of 1lit/min was found more feasible for heat extraction as compared to the flow rate of 2lit/min. The wind speed was found to be more helpful for heat extraction from the modules as compared to other climatic parameters.
Highlights
Solar energy is an environmental friendly source of electric power generation and at the same time cannot be affected by escalation of fuel price
The maximum average temperature of cooled (Tcc) and un-cooled (Tcw) PV module at flow rate of 1lit/min was recorded as 50.6°C and 54.5°C respectively
It was discovered from the analysis that the flow rate of 1lit/min is more feasible for heat extraction as compared to the flow rate of 2lit/min
Summary
Solar energy is an environmental friendly source of electric power generation and at the same time cannot be affected by escalation of fuel price. A solar photovoltaic (PV) system converts sunlight directly into electricity It comprises of cells, modules, panels, arrays and other auxiliary components, such as storage batteries, inverter/convertor and charge controller. Polycrystalline cells are produced using several particles of single-crystalline silicon, and they have more disarranged atomic structure, leading to lower efficiency of about 12%. These are less expensive and more resistant to degradation due to irradiation. An amorphous silicon cell is composed of silicon atoms in a thin identical layer and absorbs light more effectively than crystalline silicon. These cells have lower efficiency of around 6%. Besides the above type of cells, numerous other favorable materials, such as cadmium telluride and copper indium diselenide are used currently for photovoltaic applications [3]
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