Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer for Cooling of Photovoltaic Cells

Abstract

AbstractPhotovoltaic cells are devices which convert solar radiation directly into electricity. However, solar radiation increases the photovoltaic cells temperature [1] [2]. The temperature has an influence on the degradation of the cell efficiency and the lifetime of a PV cell. This work reports on a cooling water technique for cells, whereby the cooling system was placed at the front surface of the cells to dissipate away excess heat and to block unwanted radiation. Using water as a cooling medium for the cells, the overheating of closed panel is greatly reduced without prejudicing luminosity and water acts as a filter to remove a portion of solar spectrum in the infrared band but allows transmission of the visible spectrum most useful for the PV operation. The aims of this study are to develop a 3D thermal model to simulate the cooling and heat transfer in Photovoltaic panel and recommend a cooling technique for the PV panel. In order to have a good estimation for the temperature distribution, the three‐dimensional flow and heat transfer across the cooling block is investigated numerically by solving the continuity, momentum and energy equations using FLUENT. The second objective of this work is to study the influence of the geometrical dimensions of the panel, water mass flow rate and water inlet temperature on the flow distribution and the solar panel temperature. The results obtained by the model are compared with experimental results from testing the prototype of the cooling device. (© 2014 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)