Experimental Performance Investigation of Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV–T) System

Abstract

Abstract. Photovoltaic solar cells convert light energy from the sun into electricity. Photovoltaic cells are produced by semi-conducting materials to convert the energy into electricity and during this process heat is absorbed by the solar radiation. This heat causes a loss of electricity generation efficiencies. In this study, an experimental setup was designed and established to test two separate photovoltaic panel systems with alone PV and with water cooling system PV/T to examine the heat effect on PV systems. The absorbed heat energy behind the photovoltaic cell's surface in insulated ambient was removed by means of a water cooling system and the tests for both systems were simultaneously performed along the July 2011. It is found that without active water cooling, the temperature of the PV module was higher during day time and solar cells could only achieve around 8% conversion efficiency. On the other hand, when the PV module was operated with active water cooling condition, the temperature dropped significantly, leading to an increase in the efficiency of solar cells as much as 13.6%. Gained from absorbed solar heat and maximum thermal conversion efficiencies of the system are determined as 49% and 51% for two different mass flow rates. It is observed that water flow rate is effective on the increasing the conversion efficiency as well as absorption and transition rates of cover glass in PV/T (PV-Thermal) collector, the insulation material and cell efficiency. As a conclusion, the conversion efficiency of the PV system with water cooling might be improved on average about 10%. Therefore, it is recommended that PV system should be designed with most efficient type cooling system to enhance the efficiency and to decrease the payback period.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Air Cooling for Photovoltaic Panels Using Aluminum Heat Sinks

“…Although solar energy harvesting using solar cell technology is highly promising, there are challenges to maximizing the efficiency of solar cells [8][9][10]. PV modules based on silicon material can convert 8-20% of solar radiation into electrical energy [11][12][13] but the rest of the solar radiation is reflected back to the surrounding environment and converted into heat energy that can increase the temperature of the PV device and consequently reduce the total power output [14][15][16]. Radziemska [12] adjusted the working temperature of solar cells and showed an inverse linear relationship between the temperature and the power output of solar cells.…”

An experimental study on thermal management of concentrated photovoltaic cell using loop heat pipe and heat sink

“…The depletion region present between the two layers of semiconductor separates the charge carriers before recombination, which are collected with the help of electrodes, thereby producing the electric current. However, only 10% to 20% of the incident solar radiation can be converted into electric current using commercially available solar cells and the rest is dissipated as heat energy …”

Simplified Methodology for Temperature Calculation of Operation and Photovoltaic Modules Yield in Non-Standardized Environmental Conditions

“…Whittaker 8 showed that the temperature coefficients can be considered constant over the normal operating temperature range of the modules. Sun et al 9 used the finite element technique to demonstrate that irradiance and wind speed are important parameters for determining the temperature of the module Literature review shows one study 10 which demonstrates the impact of water cooling on the module efficiency due to the temperature decreasing. In other paper 11 the author proposes a simplified and practical way to polycrystalline module temperature calculation from the method of balance of energy.…”