Theoretical and experimental research to development of water‐film cooling system for commercial photovoltaic modules

Abstract

This work aims at developing and validating mathematical models and empirically evaluating a water-film cooling system for commercial photovoltaic modules. Methodologically, thermal, electrical and climatological data measured in a specific purpose on-grid outdoor test unit were used. In this work they are used to study the improvement in the performance of photovoltaic energy production due to temperature reduction. The first-order state-space linear parametric model presents the best performance to predict the temperature of the uncooled photovoltaic modules, with normalised mean square error (NRMSE) of 86.75%. In contrast, the non-linear model performance of cooled photovoltaic modules is lower, with NRMSE of 44.5%; however, the results show that the performance of the complete thermoelectric model is satisfactory, with NRMSE of 76.38%. On the other hand, empirical tests showed that the cooling system reduces temperature in 15-19%, on average, and to a maximum of 35%. In terms of power, there are average gains of 5-9%, and maximum gains of 12%. Regarding gross generation, there are average gains of 2.3-6%, and maximum gains of 12%. It was concluded that it is possible to mathematically model and predict this generation using non-linear models with a 0.2% error between modelled and measured generation. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Modeling and Experimental Studies on Water Spray Cooler for Commercial Photovoltaic Modules

“…Power output increases from 5% to 9% on average, and up to 12%. The total yield is increased by a maximum of 12% and an average of 2.3-6% (da Silva et al 2021).…”

“…The efficiency of the module can be ranged from 5% to 24% (Aste et al 2017, da Silva et al 2021 depending on the type of PV cell technology used. However, the exposure to solar radiation in conjunction with high ambient temperatures causes a significant increase in the operating temperature of the PV module.…”

“…The Author(s). Published by CBIORE or dripping onto the upper surface of the PV module (Dorobanţu and Popescu 2013, Mohanraj et al 2019, da Silva et al 2021. The surface of the PV module is cleaned by the cooling water system.…”

Enhancing the renewable energy payback period of a photovoltaic power generation system by water flow cooling

“…They optimized the hourly water flow and found that the difference in average cell surface temperature for a cooling system with an optimal flow rate compared to a system with a constant flow rate without cooling in the module was 16.63 °C and 54.07 °C, respectively. Da Silva et al [47] investigated the effect of water film cooling on the solar module and found that this method reduces the panel temperature by about 15 to 19%.…”