Investigation on Water Immersing and Spraying for Cooling PV Panel

Abstract

The use of photovoltaic cells has increased dramatically in recent years. However, the photovoltaic cells convert most of the solar radiation into heat, and this heat negatively affects the PV productivity. Therefore, a cooling system can get rid most of this heat. An experimental and theoretical examination is conducted for the augmentation of PV power and efficiency by using two different water cooling systems. The PV cooling has been equipped with two types of water-cooling systems, i.e. immersion, and spraying. For the immersion cooling, the temperature decrease is achieved but the power output has been low. On the other hand, the water spraying cooling has been studied at three different chilled water flow rates. The solar simulator having an average radiation of 1300 W/m2 is generated through 50 W halogen lights for testing. It has been found out that a 60% temperature reduction has been achieved, with a remarkable increase in power output by 59% and efficiency by 8%. However, no remarkable difference has been achieved by varying water flow rates. Therefore, cooling by spraying system has given better results than immersion. Finally, the experimental results have been found to be consistent with the numerical results.