Finned PV Natural Cooling Using Water-Based TiO 2 Nanofluid

Ahmad Al Aboushi, Eman Abdelhafez () and Mohammad Hamdan
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Ahmad Al Aboushi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman 11733, Jordan
Eman Abdelhafez: Department of Alternative Energy Technology, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman 11733, Jordan
Mohammad Hamdan: Renewable Energy Technology Department, Applied Science Private University, Amman 11931, Jordan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: The efficiency of PV (photovoltaic) modules is highly dependent on the operating temperature. The objective of this work is to enhance the performance of PV by passive cooling using aluminum fins that have been nanocoated (like those on an automobile radiator). A rise in the cell temperature of the module PV leads to a decrease in its performance. As a result, an effective cooling mechanism is required. In this work, the performance of the PV module has been improved using natural convection, which was achieved by placing three similar PV modules next to each other in order to test them simultaneously. The first panel will be the base panel and will be used for comparison purposes. An automotive radiator (with aluminum fins) was firmly fixed onto the rear of the other two PV modules, and the fins of the third PV panel had titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) water-based nanofluid applied to them. The power produced by the PV modules, as well as their rear side temperatures, were recorded every 30 min over four months. A temperature reduction of 4.0 °C was attained when TiO 2 water-based nanofluid was sprayed onto the panel’s finned rear side. This was followed by the scenario where the rear side was only finned, with a temperature drop of 1.0 °C. As a result of the temperature reduction, the percentage of power produced by the coated-finned PV and the finned PV increased by 5.8 and 1.5 percent, respectively. This caused an increase in PV efficiency of 1.1 percent for coated-finned panels and 0.4 percent for finned PV.

Keywords: PV; solar energy; finned PV; nanoparticles; titanium oxide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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