Abstract:
Solar PV panels are designed to generate electrical voltage when exposed to
sunlight. As sunlight incident on the active area of the PV panel the temperature of
the PV cell surface increases. The rising surface temperature of the PV cell leads to
the reduction of output voltage which further results in the reduction of the output
power of the PV module. In this study, a new type of heat sink composed of pin fins
filled with phase change material (PCM) is used to optimize the thermal and
electrical performance of the PV module by reducing its temperature. The proposed
thermal management model is investigated both experimentally and by using
numerical simulations. The thermal and electrical performances of the modified PV
module were compared with the unmodified PV module using experimental data.
Fins absorb heat from the rear surface of the PV panel through a conduction heat
transfer and increase the heat transfer area. The PCM absorbs the heat from the PV
module in the form of latent heat transfer by changing its phase. The experimental
results showed a decrease of 5.18℃ in the temperature of the PV module. Resulting
in increased output voltage by 0.53-Volts and the efficiency of PV-PCM was
increased by 2.9%. Moreover, a detailed parametric sensitivity analysis is performed
using the validated numerical model to study the effect of wind speed and angle of
attack on the modified PV module integrated with PCM. The numerical results
showed an increase of 0.4 m/s in wind speed decreases the temperature of the tedlar
wall to 0.4196℃ and the temperature of the solar cell also reduces by the rise in the
angle of attack of air from 30-90. Overall, the application of the PV-PCM solar
module is effective in optimizing the output of the PV module.
