Abstract
Photovoltaic (PV) systems are well-known systems that convert solar energy into electrical energy. Increases in operating temperature induce a drop in conversion efficiency and, thus, in the output power produced by the panel. This paper investigates the effectiveness of using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in cooling PV modules. Due to its high storage density with limited temperature fluctuations, the latent heat storage in a PCM is an important factor. This depends on the thermophysical properties of PCMs such as the melting point, specific heat capacity, latent heat, density, etc. This paper aims to make a comparison between four types of PCM with different melting points and physical properties. Indoor experimental studies were performed using five prototypes. A halogen lamp was used as a solar simulator to ensure that experiments were carried out under the same irradiance. The first prototype was the reference, which consisted of a PV panel, a stand, and an electric circuit without PCMs. Four other prototypes were investigated, consisting of a PV panel with a container added at the rear face, with each having different types of PCM: sodium sulfate decahydrate, sodium phosphate dibasic dodecahydrate, decanoic acid, and calcium chloride hexahydrate, respectively. The results clearly show the effect of PCMs’ properties on PV temperature profile and power generation.
Highlights
Solar energy is one of the most attractive sources of green energy production nowadays.Photovoltaic cells—a type of solar energy production mainly used to convert sunlight energy into electricity—suffer from a drop in efficiency at peak temperatures
An experimental setup was made in order to improve the power generation of a PV module using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) cooling techniques
Different types of PCM were used, where the selection was based on different parameters such as the melting point, latent heat of fusion, cost, and availability on the market
Summary
Solar energy is one of the most attractive sources of green energy production nowadays. Photovoltaic cells—a type of solar energy production mainly used to convert sunlight energy into electricity—suffer from a drop in efficiency at peak temperatures. A cooling technique should be used in order to deal with this issue. Several passive and active cooling techniques are found in the literature. A passive technique such as buoyancydriven air flow in a duct was used by Brinkworth [1]. PCM cooling techniques were used by other researchers [2,3,4,5,6]. Active techniques are mainly water and air flow-based techniques [7]. Due to the weight of water required, water cooling may be unsuitable [7]
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