Abstract
Increase in the surface temperature of Photovoltaic (PV) module affects its efficiency and life adversely. This relationship between efficiency and surface temperature of a PV module is defined as the temperature coefficient. Since solar parks are long-life projects, a small drop in efficiency of modules might result in a significant reduction in overall power output for large projects making this option unfeasible, for both economical and energy yield perspectives. This loss in power can be reduced by cooling of PV modules. A hybrid Photovoltaic and Thermal system (PV/T) was developed in this study to investigate the impact of this system on overall efficiency. In addition to producing electrical energy, the heat gained by the circulating fluid was utilized for domestic usage. A critical temperature of the PV module was identified in this study beyond which the drop in efficiency was higher than the temperature coefficient. This critical temperature was noted to be a function of radiation intensity and decreased with decreasing intensity. Incorporation of the cooling system resulted in a decrease in surface temperature of the module by 20% with an increase in electrical efficiency of up to 2.3%. The overall efficiency of the PV/T system of at least 70%, with a maximum overall efficiency of 85% was observed at different radiation intensities, making this system a viable alternative to the conventional PV or thermal systems being used currently.
Highlights
The world is shifting towards renewable resources due abundant and freely available [1,2]
Results at the higher irradiation of 950W/m2 shown in Fig. 7 show an increase in electrical efficiency of the module by 1.43% caused by the introduction of cooling water i.e. as the temperature dropped from 77°C to 67°C, the efficiency of the module increased from 14.78% to 16.21%
A Photovoltaic and Thermal system (PV/T) system was developed in the current study to evaluate its ability at increasing the overall efficiency of a standard PV module
Summary
The world is shifting towards renewable resources due abundant and freely available [1,2]. Albeit complicated that have been investigated and found effective in increasing the power output include use of condenser evaporator heat pipe system [18,25,26], and thermoelectric cooling consisting of N and P-type semiconductors [10] Innovative ideas, such as spectral splitting of the solar energy into photo and thermal components are being explored. They observed that the thermal efficiency of the collector increases with an increase in solar radiation and decreases with increasing inlet temperature of the water It is evident from the above discussion that cooling the operating surface helps in achieving efficient PV systems. The thermal efficiency (ηTh) and the overall efficiency (ηOA) of the panel were determined using equations 2 and 3 [36]: ηTh mCp∆T A*G (2)
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