Improving photovoltaic panel performance via an autonomous air cooling system – experimental and numerical simulations

ABSTRACT

The temperature rise of a PV panel during its functioning is known to induce losses of its performances. We propose to minimise these losses via a simple and autonomous air cooling system composed by a fan activated by the electricity produced by the panel. This fan blows ambient air on the rear face of the panel. Experimental measurements of the current intensity as well as voltage delivered by the panel and its front face temperature ensure the validation of the numerical code. Numerical and experimental results are in good agreement. As the main results of this autonomous cooling, when compared to the uncooled panel situation, the efficiency for harsh climatic condition increases of 29.52% while the panel temperature lowered of 39.29°C. Such results achieved with this quite simple autonomous cooling system on the improvement of the PV panel efficiency suggest interesting economic and commercial arguments.

KEYWORDS:

• Air cooling
• CFD
• efficiency
• fan
• photovoltaic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.