Simulation of an active cooling system for photovoltaic modules
- Széchenyi István University of Applied Sciences, Department of Mathematics, P.O.Box 701, H-9007 Győr (Hungary)
Photovoltaic cells are devices that 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 water cooling technique for photovoltaic panel, whereby the cooling system was placed at the front surface of the cells to dissipate excess heat away and to block unwanted radiation. By using water as a cooling medium for the photovoltaic solar cells, the overheating of closed panel is greatly reduced without prejudicing luminosity. The water also 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. To improve the cooling system efficiency and electrical efficiency, uniform flow rate among the cooling system is required to ensure uniform distribution of the operating temperature of the PV cells. The aims of this study are to develop a 3D thermal model to simulate the cooling and heat transfer in Photovoltaic panel and to recommend a cooling technique for the PV panel. The velocity, pressure and temperature distribution of the three-dimensional flow across the cooling block were determined using the commercial package, 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.
- OSTI ID:
- 22609021
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1738, Issue 1; Conference: ICNAAM 2015: International conference of numerical analysis and applied mathematics 2015, Rhodes (Greece), 22-28 Sep 2015; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Performance evaluation of photovoltaic/thermal–HDH desalination system
Parabolic dish photovoltaic concentrator development
Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COOLING SYSTEMS
DISTRIBUTION
EFFICIENCY
FILTERS
FLOW RATE
HEAT
HEAT TRANSFER
LIFETIME
PANELS
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
SIMULATION
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR RADIATION
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TRANSMISSION
VISIBLE SPECTRA
WATER