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Cooling of Solar Pv Panels Using Evaporative Cooling

Article in Journal of Thermal Engineering · October 2016

DOI: 10.18186/jte.72554

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 Technical Note – JTEN – 2015 - 87
Journal of Thermal Engineering http://eds.yildiz.edu.tr/journal-of-thermal-engineering/Articles
Yildiz Technical University Press, Istanbul, Turkey Manuscript Received May 29, 2015; Accepted July 17, 2015
Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 928-933, October, 2016.

This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Regional Editor Omid Mahian

COOLING OF SOLAR PV PANELS USING EVAPORATIVE COOLING

* Zeyad A. Haidar J. Orfi

Mechanical department, King Saud University, Mechanical department, King Saud University,
College of Engineering, P. O. 800, Riyadh 11421,KSA College of Engineering, P. O. 800, Riyadh 11421,KSA

H. F. Oztop Z. Kaneesamkandi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical department, King Saud University,
Firat University, Elazing, Turkey College of Engineering, P. O. 800, Riyadh 11421,KSA

Keywords: PV panel; cooling; evaporation; modelling

* Corresponding author: Z. Haidar
E-mail address: z.haidar1@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT At the present level of technological development, the

efficiency of solar photovoltaic systems is around 15%. Thus,
The efficiency of solar collection systems particularly the solar PV panels with 10 m2 area with an average daily radiation
photovoltaic panels is generally low. This is due to several of 250 W/m2 could produce only 375 W of electrical power.
reasons including dust formation and thermal losses. For The efficiency of such systems is based on the standard
instance, the PV panels efficiency is affected by the increase of test temperature of 25 oC. However, the practical situation of rise
their surface temperature. This increase is associated with the in temperature of the panels results in much reduction of the
absorbed solar radiation that is not converted into electricity efficiency which could come down to as low as 8%. This would
causing a drop in the PV module efficiency. reduce the power production to lower values.
Several cooling methods are available to reduce the Cooling the panels using a suitable cooling method
cells temperature and their respective effectiveness has been helps to partially tackle this problem. This would help to improve
investigated in several previous works. This study deals with PV the power output per square meter area and reduce the overall
panels cooling using evaporative cooling of water. A theoretical cost. Many cooling techniques were proposed to cool the PV
model based on the heat and mass transfer occurring in the panels and enhance their electrical performance. This includes
vicinity of the bottom side of a solar PV panel has been active and passive cooling with different cooling media.
developed. The model incorporates the heat and mass exchange Andreev et al. [1] reported that the photocurrent
occurring between a layer of water and ambient air as well as the increases with the temperature at a rate of 0.1% °C−1 due to the
heat transfer with the PV panel. The obtained results show the reduction of the energy gap of the solar cell and that the open-
effect of some geometrical parameters as well as the air flow rate, circuit voltage decreases at −2 mV °C−1 between 20 and 100 °C
temperature and humidity on the cooling process. It was found due to a decrease of the energy gap and an increase of the
in particular that when the air inlet temperature decreases, the saturation current. These two effects lead to a reduction in the
temperature of the PV panel decreases significantly. maximum available power equal to 0.35% °C−1. More recently,
this influence has been estimated to vary between -0.3 and -
INTRODUCTION 0.5% °C−1 [2].
Flat Photovoltaic panels produce electricity from global Mattie et al [3] calculated the temperature of
solar radiation. The efficiency of their electricity generation polycrystalline PV cells (the most common type) using a simple
decreases as their temperature increases. This temperature rise is method of energy balance. The importance of solar cells
associated with the absorbed solar radiation that is not converted operating temperature for the electrical performance of silicon
into electricity causing a drop in the PV module efficiency. based photovoltaic installations is discussed by Skoplaki et al

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 Technical Note

[4]. Royne et al. [5] reviewed the main techniques adopted to temperatures of air, water, interface saturated layer and PV panel
reduce the temperature of concentrating photovoltaic systems change in the flow direction (x axis).
using active and passive cooling techniques. Del Cueto [6] Ambient air enters the channel at known conditions of
studied the thermal performance of different PV module temperature, humidity and mass flow rate (Tai, wai and ). It
technologies. exchanges heat and mass with the water layer as well as the solar
The degradation of the PV efficiency with temperature PV bottom surface. The PV panel receives solar radiation G and
is also a significant area of research and several formulas were exchanges heat also with ambience.
introduced in the literature. The most known formula is:

η= 1 − β( − ) (1)

where is a reference efficiency and β value is about 0.004 K-1.

On the other side, the performance of the hybrid PV/T

has been studied analytically, numerically and experimentally in
several investigations [7-9]. Florschuetz [7] modified the Hottel–
Willier [8] analytical model developed for solar flat plate
collectors to be applied to PV/T collectors. Zondag et al. [9]
studied numerically the dynamic and steady state PV/T
performance. They developed a 3D dynamic model in addition
to three steady state models (1D, 2D and 3D). An important
conclusion was that the 1D steady state model can be used to
predict accurately the performance of the PV/T collectors.
Figure 1 A schematic diagram for the PV panel with
Sandberg and Moshfegh [10] developed expressions for
evaporative cooling
optimizing the air gap behind roof mounted PV panels in order
to minimize the temperature. Other methods include water flow
The present model is based on a previous model
over the front of the panels, heat pipe cooling and simultaneous
developed by Boulama et al. [19] for the heat and mass transfer
hot air/water generation [11-15]. Phase change material (PCM)
between a wetted surface and a gas stream flowing in a duct. It
is able to absorb large amounts of energy as latent heat at the
assumes the existence of a very thin film of saturated air between
phase transition temperature. Pal and Joshi [16] proposed to use
the water and gas streams. The temperature and mass flow ratio
PCM as heat sinks for cooling of electronic components. The
for this mass-less layer depend on the axial position but are
possibility of adding fins to enhance the heat transfer rates was
related by the appropriate saturation equation corresponding to
explored. PCMs are characterized among others by their low
the line for 100% relative humidity on the psychrometric chart.
thermal conductivity. Evaporative cooling was also used but in
The solar radiation gained by the PV panel and the heat losses to
only in few studies [17-18].
its surrounding are included in the present model.
It is also assumed that, the air and water vapor are ideal
MODEL DESCRIPTION
gases and their specific heat capacities are independent of
The physical model consists of a PV panel attached to
temperature. Energy balances on the PV panel, air and water
an inclined duct. The dimensions of the duct is 3 cm height, 140
layers as well as the water mass balance form the main governing
cm long and 67 cm width. On the lower side of the duct, water
equations of the model. They are expressed as follows:
flows on a piece of cloth. Air is blown inside the duct via a fan
in same direction of water flow (co-current configuration). A
schematic diagram on the considered physical model is shown in ( − )+ , ( − )+
figure 1. The lower part of the duct is adiabatic. The PV panel is
subjected to a uniform solar radiation intensity and heat losses to ( , + , ) (2)
the ambience. As the air flows over the wetted surface inside the
duct, water evaporates and cools the air which in turn, absorbs U P(T − T ) + U (T − T ) = m h (3)
the heat from the PV panel. As the heat is transferred to the air,
the temperature of the PV panel decreases and electricity
production enhances. U P(T − T ) = m C , (4)

MODELLING SP = G (τα)P − U P(T −T ) (5)

A uni-dimensional steady state model of heat and mass
transfer is used in this work. This model assumes a mass-less G (τα)P = U P T −T +U P T −T (6)
layer of saturated gas between the liquid and air. The

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 Technical Note

Equations 5 and 6 concern the solar energy, heat 30

exchanges between the PV panel and air. P refers to the air-water Ta,exact Ta

interface length.

Water and moist air temperature

Tl,exact Tl
Ut and Ua are the overall heat transfer coefficients on
the top and bottom of PV panel respectively. 25
The change in the water concentration in the flowing air
is accounted by the following equation:

= ( − ) (7) 20

where ws stands for the saturation humidity evaluated using the

Engineering Equations Solver (EES) software [20].
The value of Um is the mass transfer coefficient in 15
[kg/m2 s] and is obtained from the heat transfer coefficient and 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Lewis number according to the following equation: Dimensionless axial coordinatesX
Fig. 2. Validation of
the proposed model for parallel-flow heat exchanger
Le = Ua/Um(Cp,a + WCp,v) (8)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The above set of equations was solved using EES [20].
The proposed model has been used to simulate the
The developed model was validated using a specific case with
temperature distributions of the air, water in the duct and PV
no mass transfer and previous results of reference [19]. The
panel bottom surface under various conditions of solar radiation,
validation case with no mass transfer represents a parallel heat
air mass flow rate and inlet air and water temperatures. The
exchanger with the following conditions: Tli =15 oC, Tai=30 oC
following parameters were fixed as: Le=0.9; ( ) = 0.8; Ut =10
Wi=0.02, = = 0.1 kg/s and uniform heat flux q = 100W/m2
Wm-2 K-1, Ul =51 Wm-2 K-1, Ua=8 Wm-2 K-1.
is supplied to the lower duct (the wetted side). In this case, the
term in equ. (2) is zero. Equ. (3) is modified also when adding
Effect of Solar Radiation
the contribution of the external heat flux q. Therefore, equations
Fig. 3 shows the variation of the air and water
(2-4) become under the above conditions:
temperatures with flow direction at different solar radiation
intensities. One can first observe that the water temperature is
( − )= ( , + , ) (9) almost constant even with high radiation values due to its large
specific heat capacity.
U P(T − T ) + U (T − T ) = 0 (10) However, air temperature changes mainly at the exit of the duct.
With solar radiation, air temperature increases as it flows inside
( − )+ = (11) the duct due to heat exchange from the PV panel. The slope of
,
the air temperature curve increases as solar radiation intensity
increases. However, when the solar radiation is zero, the air
Equations (9-11) was solved analytically. Fig. 2 shows
temperature decreases since the required heat for water
the variation in the air and water temperatures with respect to the
evaporation is absorbed from air.
dimensionless coordinate X, where X= P x Ua/( Cp,a). The dots
Fig. 4 shows the variation of PV panel temperature for
in Fig. 2 represent the exact solution obtained from equations 9-
different solar radiation intensity values. It is seen that the PV
11 and the lines represent the numerical solution of the general
surface temperature is almost constant along the x direction. It
model under the above specific conditions. A very good
increases however as the solar radiation intensity G rises. High
agreement can be observed.
temperatures approaching 90 oC can be reached when G
The validity of the present numerical model has also
approaches 900 W/m2.
been checked by comparing the results obtained using this model
with those of the previous model of [19].

930
 Technical Note

50 80
Air and water temperature oC

Tp v
45

A ir and P V panel tem perature o C

Tg
70
40

G=800W/m 2
35 G=600 W/m 2
G=400 W/m 2 60
30 G = 0 W/m 2

25
50
Tl
20 Ta

0 0.5 1 1.5 2
X [m] 40
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Figure 3 Effect of solar radiation on air and water temperatures x [m]
along the duct ( =0.048 / , = 0.1 kg/s, Tli = 20 oC and
Figure 5 Effect of inlet water temperature on the PV panel
Tai = 40 C.)
o
and air temperatures (at G=800 W/m2, =0.048 /
80 , =0.1 / and Tli=20,30,40 oC)

70 90
P V panel tem perature o C

80

Air and PV temperature oC

60
70
50 60

40 50

40
30
G=800 W/m2
G=600 W/m2 30
20 Tpv at Ta=50 oC
G=400 W/m2 20
G=0 W/m2 Tpv at Ta=40 oC
10 10 Tpv at Ta=30 oC

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 x[m]
X [m]
Figure 6 Effect of air inlet temperature on the temperature
Figure 4 Effect of solar radiation on PV panel temperature of PV panel (at G=800 W/m2, =0.048 /
( =0.048 / , = 0.1 kg/s, Tli = 20 oC and Tai = 40 oC.) , =0.1 / and Tli=20 oC)

The impact of the evaporative cooling method used in

Effect of Inlet Air and Water Temperatures
this study can be shown in Fig. 7 where one can see a decrease
Fig.5 shows the effect of the inlet water temperature on in the PV panel temperature of about 6oC. Off course, this
the temperature of PV panel and air in the duct. Three water reduction in PV surface temperature is not too high. It can be
temperatures (Tli=20,30,40 oC ) are considered. Fig. 5 shows two higher and the cooling process can be more effective.
almost parallel curves in which the change in both air and PV
panel temperatures is very small. Therefore, the effect of inlet
water temperature can be considered as weak and can be ignored.
Similarly, the effect of inlet air temperature on PV
temperature is shown in figure 6. As the inlet air temperature
increases the PV temperature increases significantly although it
keeps the same behavior. It was also found that the temperature
of water is not affected by the change of air temperature.

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 Technical Note

70 : Efficiency
: transmisivity
TPV1 Subscripts
PV temperature [°C]

65 TPV2 a : air
ev: evaporation
l: liquid
60 s: saturated layer
v: vapor
m: PV module/panel
55 amb: ambient
i: inlet condition
r: reference condition
50
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