Solar photovoltaic (PV) plays a major role in the renewable energy sector in the field of power production. Production of electricity from solar PV is gaining rapid importance due to its cleaner energy production capacity and it’s adaptability to various climatic conditions. PV cells suffer noticeable drop in efficiency as their operating temperature increases beyond a certain limit. In such cases cooling of the PV cells becomes mandatory. Since the efficiencies of PV cells are in the lower range (a maximum of 18%), a highly effective, inexpensive cooling system is necessary to be employed. Air cooling provides a solution to this cause and is meant to be an better counterpart to water cooling since it overcomes the problems of water cooling such as silt formation, evaporation, soiling and reflection losses. This paper presents a simple mathematical PV/T model to design the cooling system using plate-pin fin extended surface heat exchanger model. A relationship between the heat dissipated and the number of fins along with its dependence on individual fin area is also developed. This model will provide the researchers to design their cooling system according to their PV system geometry.

T. Mukesh

Papers

Theoretical Study and Mathematical Modeling of Plate-Pin Fin Heat Exchanger for Solar Photovoltaic Cooling System