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An active cooling system for photovoltaic modules

Author

Listed:
  • Teo, H.G.
  • Lee, P.S.
  • Hawlader, M.N.A.

Abstract

The electrical efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) cell is adversely affected by the significant increase of cell operating temperature during absorption of solar radiation. A hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar system was designed, fabricated and experimentally investigated in this work. To actively cool the PV cells, a parallel array of ducts with inlet/outlet manifold designed for uniform airflow distribution was attached to the back of the PV panel. Experiments were performed with and without active cooling. A linear trend between the efficiency and temperature was found. Without active cooling, the temperature of the module was high and solar cells can only achieve an efficiency of 8–9%. However, when the module was operated under active cooling condition, the temperature dropped significantly leading to an increase in efficiency of solar cells to between 12% and 14%. A heat transfer simulation model was developed to compare to the actual temperature profile of PV module and good agreement between the simulation and experimental results is obtained.

Suggested Citation

  • Teo, H.G. & Lee, P.S. & Hawlader, M.N.A., 2012. "An active cooling system for photovoltaic modules," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 309-315.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:90:y:2012:i:1:p:309-315
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.01.017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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