Effect of Water Cooling Temperatureon Photovoltaic Panel Performance by Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Leow Wai Zhe; Mohd. Irwan Yusoff; Amelia Abd Razak; Muhammad Irwanto Misrun; Safwati Ibrahim; Muhammad Izuan Fahmi; Afifah Shuhada Rosmi

Authors

Leow Wai Zhe Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Mohd. Irwan Yusoff Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Amelia Abd Razak Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Muhammad Irwanto Misrun Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Safwati Ibrahim Institute of Engineering Mathematics, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Muhammad Izuan Fahmi Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Afifah Shuhada Rosmi Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia

Keywords:

PV panel, water cooling system, inlet water temperature, finite element analysis, temperature distribution

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) panel is directly converted solar irradiance into electrical energy. The temperature of the PV panel increased as it absorbs solar irradiance lead to a reduction in its output power. This undesired impact can be prevented through the use of a cooling system with PV panel. In this research, a water cooling system was designed to the PV panel in order to reduce its temperature. The objective of this research is to predict the temperature distribution of the PV panelswithout and with water cooling system. In the water cooling system, the water flow over the front surface of the PV panel in order to reduce the temperature of the PV panel. In addition, this research also focused on the impact of inlet water temperature on the performance of water cooling effect. The result of this research shows that the average temperature distribution of the PV panel without water cooling system is higher than that with water cooling system. The average temperature of the PV panel without cooling system is 50.68 °C. For the water cooling system, the PV panel with the inlet water temperature of 20 °C can be reduced the temperature of PV panel by 15.63 °C as compared to the PV panel with inlet water temperature of 45 °C. This research could be beneficial for researchers and students to understand the effects of temperature to the PV panel.