Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Gravity Assisted Heat Pipe on Photovoltaic Panel as Passive Cooling

The uncertainty regarding the capacity of photovoltaics to generate adequate renewable power remains problematic due to very high temperatures in countries experiencing extreme climates. This study analyses the potential of heat pipes as a passive cooling mechanism for solar photovoltaic panels in the Ecohouse of the Higher Colleges of Technology, Oman, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A baseline model has been set-up comprised of 20 units, 20 mm diameter water-filled heat pipes, with a length of 992 mm attached to a photovoltaic panel measuring 1956 mm × 992 mm. Using the source temperature of 64.5 °C (337.65 K), the findings of this work have established that a temperature reduction in the range of up to 9 °C is achievable when integrating heat pipes into photovoltaic panels. An optimum spacing of 50 mm (2.5 times the diameter of the heat pipe) was determined through this work, which is also a proof-of-concept towards the use of heat pipe technology for passive cooling of photovoltaic panels in hot climates.

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Solar pv system with pulsating heat pipe cooling

Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science ◽

10.11591/ijeecs.v14.i1.pp311-318 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 311 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

E. Roslan ◽

I Hassim

Keyword(s):

Heat Pipe ◽

High Irradiance ◽

Passive Cooling ◽

Solar Photovoltaic ◽

Solar Panels ◽

Pulsating Heat Pipe ◽

Photovoltaic Panel ◽

Output Efficiency ◽

Materials Used ◽

It Efficiency

<span>Malaysia is blessed with high irradiance, making it suitable for solar photovoltaic installation for electricity generation. However, due to the broad wavelength of the solar irradiance, not all wavelength can be converted to electricity due to the limitation of the materials used for the photovoltaic. The infrared radiation absorbed produces heat, and coupled with high surrounding temperature, increases the temperature of the photovoltaic panel thus decreasing it efficiency. This paper presents the study of the effect of attaching pulsating heat pipe at the back of solar panel as a means of passive cooling. Pulsating heat pipe is a recent discovery in the heat pipe industry, introduced in 1996 by Akachi but has not been used for the purpose of cooling solar panels. This study shows the maximum difference between 5 Celsius between the pulsating heat pipe cooled panel and the reference panel without any cooling, resulting in 0.77% increase in electrical output efficiency</span><span>Malaysia is blessed with high irradiance, making it suitable for solar photovoltaic installation for electricity generation. However, due to the broad wavelength of the solar irradiance, not all wavelength can be converted to electricity due to the limitation of the materials used for the photovoltaic. The infrared radiation absorbed produces heat, and coupled with high surrounding temperature, increases the temperature of the photovoltaic panel thus decreasing it efficiency. This paper presents the study of the effect of attaching pulsating heat pipe at the back of solar panel as a means of passive cooling. Pulsating heat pipe is a recent discovery in the heat pipe industry, introduced in 1996 by Akachi but has not been used for the purpose of cooling solar panels. This study shows the maximum difference between 5 Celsius between the pulsating heat pipe cooled panel and the reference panel without any cooling, resulting in 0.77% increase in electrical output efficiency.</span>

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