Experimental study of efficiency of solar panel by phase change material cooling

Abstract

Abstract. The dependence of efficiency of photovoltaic panels on their temperature during operation is a major concern for developers and users. In this paper, a phase change material (PCM) cooling system was designed for a 60W mono-crystalline solar panel. Tealights candle was selected as the cooling medium. The solar irradiance was recorded using Kipp & Zonen CMP3 pyranometer and Meteon data logger. Temperature distribution on the surface of solar panel, output voltage and output current of solar panel were measured. The average irradiance throughout data collection was found to be 705W/m 2 and highest irradiance was 1100 W/m 2 . The average solar panel temperature was 43.6º C and a maximum temperature of 53º C was at the center of solar panel. Results showed that average power output and efficiency of the solar panel were 44.4W and 15%, respectively. It was found that the higher the solar irradiance, the lower the efficiency of solar panel and the higher the temperature and power output of solar panel. This is due to the fact that high irradiance results in high power input and high solar panel temperature. But high PV panel temperature reduces its power output. Therefore, the increase of power input outweighs that of power output, which leads to the decrease of efficiency of solar panel with the increase of solar irradiance. Compared with solar panel without cooling, the power output and efficiency of solar panel did not increase with PCM cooling. It indicates that Tealights candle as PCM cooling is not efficient in improving the efficiency of solar panel in this study.

Computational study and experimental validation of a solar photovoltaics and thermal technology

“…For instance, Stropnik and Stritih [7] identified that one major reason which significantly influences Photovoltaic (PV) solar panel efficiency is the working or panel surface temperature. Tan Jian Wei et al [8] in another study demonstrated that temperature has an adverse effect on the cell efficiency as, if the temperature of solar cells is increased, the energy conversion of the module is decreased. Moharram et al [9] specifically mentions that the efficiency of the module drops with the rise in temperature with the rate of approximately 0.5%/˚C.…”

Efficiency and performance ratio of photovoltaics on a 50 kWp Universitas Pamulang Viktor rooftop solar power plant

“…While the input power (Pin) is the amount of solar radiation in units (W/m 2 ) multiplied by the surface area of the PV in units (m 2 ) [25], as shown by (3):…”

Study of the energy parameters of the system “solar panels – solar inverter – electric network”

“…Polycrystalline solar panels have an efficiency of 15.5-18%, and monocrystalline solar panels have an efficiency of 18.5 to 23.5%. However, monocrystalline solar panels have a higher cost, which is due to the fact that monocrystalline panels use monocrystalline silicon with a very high degree of purification above 99.99% [5,6].…”