Experimental Investigation of Active Cooling System for Photovoltaic Cell

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume V, Issue IV, April 2018 | ISSN 2321–2705

Experimental Investigation of Active Cooling System for Photovoltaic Cell

Nikhil Kadam¹, Ritesh Kumar Singh², Darshan S Kumbar³, Bhimanagouda S B⁴

^1,2,3,4 Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Alva’s Institute of Engineering and Technology Karnataka, Moodbidri, Mangalore 574225, India.

Abstract—In the present situation of energy crisis, the utilization of renewable energy sources has got great scope due to depletion of fossil fuels and stringent rules on exhaust gases. Increasing prices due to limited resources and rising demand pose serious problems even for rich countries. A clean inexhaustible source of energy is needed, that is, the sun. Solar energy can be used in various indirect (Biomass, hydropower, wind) and direct forms (solar thermal power, photovoltaic system).The electrical efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) cell is adversely affected by the increase of cell operating temperature during absorption of solar radiation. The design of cooling system to enhance the efficiency of photovoltaic cells has got a great potential.

This paper deals with the design, fabrication and experimental investigation of active cooling system for PV cells. To actively cool the PV cells, where the type of heat exchanger called fins are to be attached at the back of a panel for the air cooling. An experiment is performed with and without active cooling and performance analysis is presented. The use active cooling system has resulted in increase in conversion efficiency by 2-3%.

Keywords— photovoltaic cell, coolant, water, heat exchanger, temperature.

I. INTRODUCTION

Now a days, renewable energy resource is widely used in many countries. In which photovoltaic cell is one of the most popular energy resources in the world. The photovoltaic cell will utilize solar energy to produce electricity, where the solar radiation is directly converted to electricity only about 15% of it and remaining 85% of solar radiation is converted to heat. And the generated electricity can be used for the household appliances. Where the efficiency of the photovoltaic module decreases due to increase in photovoltaic module temperature. Therefore decreasing the photovoltaic module temperature will increase in electrical efficiency. To reduce the photovoltaic module temperature there are several different techniques in which fins type of cooling system is used for the experimentation and the comparison is made with and without active cooling system.

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