Effective cooling of a photovoltaic module using jet-impingement array and nanofluid coolant

Abstract

Cooling of photovoltaic panels is an important topic in the field of energy-efficient devices. An experimental setup is established in which SiC/water nanofluid with various flow rates acts as the coolant. This research aims at effective cooling the panel using suitable nozzle arrangement as well as simultaneous increasing the output power/enhancing the thermo-hydraulic characteristics. The results reveal that the photovoltaic module has comparatively more uniform temperature distribution when multi-orifice nozzles with relatively normal-concentration nanofluids are practically utilized. The module with the multi-orifice nozzle arrangement in which the coolant mass flow rate is 0.14kg/s and the nanoparticle concentration is 1.1 % wt (in the presence of 1000W/m2 irradiation) produces nearly 9.3W of electric energy, whilst is the most efficient layout in the proposed active cooling system. An increase in the flow rate and/or in the nanofluid concentration may lead to positive electrical and thermal outcomes while to negative hydrodynamic results. For a fixed circumstance, there is a particular mass flow rate and/or a special nanoparticle concentration beyond which the overall performance steadies. To evaluate electro-hydro-thermal characteristics in practice, three key parameters are introduced to assess the overall performance of the system in various conditions.