Novel Design for Thermal Management of PV Cells in Harsh Environmental Conditions

Nasser Ahmad, Amith Khandakar, Amir El-Tayeb, Kamel Benhmed, Atif Iqbal and Farid Touati
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Nasser Ahmad: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Amith Khandakar: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Amir El-Tayeb: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Kamel Benhmed: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Atif Iqbal: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Farid Touati: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: The abundance of solar energy is a blessing in the Arabian Peninsula, where more than 2000 kWh/m 2 density has been recorded annually. This has resulted in sincere consideration of PV harvesting in the energy matrix and smart grid. However, artefacts such as degradation of PV efficiency due to the high temperature effect have to be addressed. This paper presents a novel design of a PV cooling system using water to mitigate the effect of high temperature. Several experiments have been conducted, and the results have been analyzed. It has been found that the collected water from the panel after 40 min of cooling gained a temperature of 10 °C approximately, during December 2016. Eventually, the efficiency was improved by 10.35% (without using MPPT) using water at ambient temperature (24 °C) compared to the non-cooled panel. Moreover, the temperature of the panel during solar peak hours dropped from 64.3 °C to 32 °C and from 59 °C to 27 °C in 3 min for the back and front surface, respectively. These results, which are the first of their kind in Qatar, constitute good incentives and pave the way for further investigation to enhance PV efficiency in harsh environments. This would be of paramount significance, especially for scaling up PV deployment, as is planned in Qatar and GCC countries in their 2030 vision.

Keywords: water cooling; heat transfer; efficiency; photovoltaic; overheating; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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