Efficiency enhancement of photovoltaic panel by heat harvesting techniques

Abstract

Electricity generation through photovoltaic panel (PV) has gained momentum and is considered as the best option. Some of the issues which need immediate attention include i) maintaining the top surface temperature in the operating range, ii) utilization of the dissipated heat from the panel, and iii) heating from unused infrared (IR) photons. Cooling with heat harvesting devices based on the Peltier effect requires comparatively less maintenance and is emerged as a cost-effective option. This study highlighted the potential application of heat harvesting devices (HHDs) to enhance electricity generation and thereby increasing the performance efficiency of the PV panel. Different approaches to photovoltaic cooling to maintain the surface temperature were also evaluated. It is observed that the electrical efficiency is almost 1.2–1.5 times higher in the case of functional PV panel in comparison to commercial (Blank) PV panels. Laboratory investigations using the solar simulator for comparing the different systems by illumination of similar solar light intensity revealed a significant impact on electrical efficiency. It was observed that blocking IR components at a time using cut-off filters enhances the efficiency by 0.8 times. This study has also shown that cooling techniques for PV maintain a low and stable operating surface temperature by extracting the thermal heat to improve the overall conversion efficiency of the commercially available photovoltaic panel. Engineers and stakeholders working on the photovoltaic system theory, design, scale-up, and/or application for providing cleaner energy might benefit from the reported study.