Influence of Phase Change Material Application on Photovoltaic Panel Performance

Abstract

This study investigated the application of phase change material and fins into photovoltaic panel. The experimental design was divided into 2 cases: conventional photovoltaic and photovoltaic with phase change material and fins. The thermal performance and electrical efficiency was tested under the solar radiation simulator between 500 and 1000 W/m2. The insolation intensity was tested by an incident-light photometer. The power of the nine halogen lamps was controlled by a simple voltage control device. It was found that temperature of normal PV module is constant after the tested time of 20 minutes. The temperatures of PV module with phase change material and fins were lower than a normal PV module throughout the testing duration. Approximately 2-6% of photovoltaic module temperatures have decreased and this have improved the electrical efficiency of about 1-4%. This indicated the use of phase change material and fins is able to decrease the photovoltaic module temperature and thus increase the efficiency of photovoltaic module cooling.