Enhancing the Efficiency of Bi-Facial Photovoltaic Panels: An Integration Approach

Emad Abdelsalam, Hamza Alnawafah, Fares Almomani (), Aya Mousa and Hasan Qandil
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Emad Abdelsalam: Electrical and Energy Engineering Department, Al Hussein Technical University, Amman 11831, Jordan
Hamza Alnawafah: Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
Fares Almomani: Chemical Engineering Department, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar
Aya Mousa: Electrical and Energy Engineering Department, Al Hussein Technical University, Amman 11831, Jordan
Hasan Qandil: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76207, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: This work presents a novel approach to increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels by integrating them with a cooling tower (CT). An infusion of water cools the hot, dry ambient air at the top of the CT. Due to gravity, the cooled air drops toward the base of the CT, where it interacts with a turbine placed at the bottom of the CT to produce electricity. The air then exits the CT base, creating a cooled air jet stream. The PV panels were placed at the base of the CT, right at the stream’s exit. As the cooled air passes underneath the PV panels, it exchanges energy with the PV, reducing the panels’ temperature. The results showed that the maximum annual efficiency improvement (6.831%) was observed using two rows of PV panels. The efficiency declined incrementally from 6.831% to 4.652% when the number of rows of PV panels was increased from two to twelve. The results also showed a significant improvement in the temperature of the PV panels. The best results were obtained at noon (maximum ambient temperature), where the solar panel temperature was lowered to 25 °C from 55 °C. Furthermore, the annual electrical energy generated with two rows of panels was 39,207.4 kWh without the CT, compared to 41,768.2 kWh with the CT. In addition, the results showed that with a 10 m diameter and 200 m height CT, the maximum number of PV rows that can be effectively cooled is 24. Future work will investigate integrating additional techniques to improve the system’s efficiency further.

Keywords: photovoltaic cooling; cooling tower; efficiency; downdraft system; passive cooling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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